RESULT - LOSS – 8-5
I told you last post how nervous Joel Hanrahan made me and last night showed why. One strike from victory, one strike from converting his fourth save in as many chances it happened. Joel imploded! Given a nice 5-3 lead, Joel was knocked around for 3 hits, 5 runs and 2 walks in only 2/3 of an inning. While I knew he wouldn’t be perfect on the year, it was just brutal to watch. It was almost like déjà vu, as Chris Davis led off the inning with a home run much like on Monday when Adam Jones did the same thing. Joel then quickly got the next two outs, one on a strikeout and then next on a similar foul pop up to third. I thought for a second, whew, he’s going to escape again but I don’t know how much I can take of this, but then it happened, single, walk, walk, wild pitch to tie the game then BOOM a home run to go down by 3 runs. Again it looked like Joel was using his fastball exclusively after he got the first two outs. Joel, you have a nasty slider and good breaking balls, please use them as your out pitch, please! “One day you’re the goat, the next day you’re the hero. That’s just how it goes, I’ll come in tomorrow ready to go.” – Joel Hanrahan after the game. I like that attitude and hopefully he can shake this off and not let this happen again.
Ryan Dempster again was decent, not great but not all that bad either. He had a high pitch count again (93 pitches in 5 innings) but struck out 7 and only gave up 3 hits and 1 earned run (3 runs overall). I’d like to see Dempster get that pitch count down so he could go more than 5 innings but am impressed with how many swing and misses he’s getting. He gets deep into count with most batters and though he only walked 2 batters this game, he had a ton of 3-2 and 2-2 counts. Overall, I like what I’m seeing so far and I don’t think that first win is too far away.
The bullpen, minus Hanrahan was again lights out. Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa and Andrew Bailey were simply nasty going 3 straight innings without allowing a run and striking out 5 batters. Andrew Miller came on for Hanrahan after his implosion and struck out the only batter he faced. Overall the Sox struck out 14 Orioles on the day and if not for the Hanrahan mess, the pitching would have been very impressive on this cold rainy night in Boston
The Sox didn’t hit all that well, managing only 5 hits on the night, 3 coming from Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Nice to see Jarrod get going as he had only 3 hits in total before this game. He and Daniel Nava both homered in the 6th inning going back to back go give the Sox a 5-3 lead. Jackie Bradley started and went 0-2 with a walk. Jacoby Ellsbury tripled him home in a two run 3rd inning that saw Shane Victorino drive in his 5th run of the year on a sacrifice fly. Other than that though, there were a lot of 0 fers on the night. Mike Napoli went 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts and is now batting .176. Will Midddlebrooks went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts, Dustin Pedroia 0-3 with 2 strikeouts and in his debut game with the Sox, Stephen Drew went 0 for 4.
Defensively, the Sox made their first 2 errors of the season, the first coming in the first inning when Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino had trouble with a Manny Machado fly ball to right. It was bad communication as it looked like Jacoby called off Shane in right but Shane never moved out of the way. Shane Victorino was camped under it and perhaps should have called Jacoby off but either way, it dropped in and ended up leading to the first run of the ball game for the Sox. The second error was by Jackie Bradley Jr. in the 4th when he couldn’t pick up a ball hit by Matt Wieters and allowed Adam Jones to score. Just looked like he rushed it bit trying to get it into the infield and he couldn’t pick it up.
As for the Orioles, they didn’t hit the ball particularly well either, mustering only 6 hits on the night. However, 3 of those 6 hits were long balls, Manny Machado’s game winner, Chris Davis and Nick Markakis all homered in the game.
Let’s hope there aren’t a lot of these in store for us Sox fans. I’ll be interested to see how this team bounces back tonight after a tough loss. Last year’s team would have let this game affect them for the next two or three so it’ll be interesting to see how they can bounce back. Alfredo Aceves takes the mound which gives me exactly 0% hope in tonight but maybe he’ll surprise me. In his sport starts in the past he has looked good, so as much as I can’t stand the guy, I’ll be hoping he’s got his nasty stuff tonight so the Sox can get their 3 straight series win.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP
Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty went 3-4 with 2 RBI (both with 2 outs in an inning). He had 2 doubles and a HR. Last year was a breakout offensive season for Salty and I hope this game gets him going.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Joel Hanrahan. Plain and simple he cost them the game last night. 2/3 of an inning, 3 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 2 walks and 2 home runs allowed. His first blown save of the season. He better be careful as Andrew Bailey has looked very nasty this year and if Joel falters 2 or 3 games in a row, I can see John Farrell going with Bailey.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Manny Machado’s three run home run off Joel Hanrahan in the top of the 9th to put the O’s up 3 runs and the game pretty much out of reach for the Sox.
NEXT
Thursday, April 11th vs. the 
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