RESULT – WIN 4-3
Will Middlebrooks has been in
quite the slump lately. His average is
down to .211 and since his 3 homerun assault vs. the Blue Jays in early April
he has struggled mightily. The last week
or show, he’s shown some signs of coming out of this prolonged slump as he’s
hit .265 in his last 10 games with 7 doubles and 1 homerun. Last night he delivered in a big way.
Down 3-1 with the bases loaded
and the count 1-2 vs. the flame throwing Fernando Rodney, Middlebrooks rocketed
a line drive double to left-center field that cleared the bases and paved the
way to a Red Sox come from behind win.
The second strike thrown by
Rodney was a 100 mph fastball that Middlebrooks was terribly late on. Rodney then threw an 85 mph change-up that
somehow Will was able to stay back on and rip it into the gap. The Sox were able to win the series and have
now taken 5 of 6 from the Rays on the season.
The inning started with a 3-1
Rays lead but Rodney opened the ninth by walking both Pedroia and Ortiz. He struck out Napoli
but then walked Daniel Nava to load up the bases. Stephen Drew came up and all I could think of
was the grand slam from the night before but he struck out on 3 pitches and
looked lost up their against Rodney. It
looked like Fernando would escape the jam and get the save.
But he couldn’t put Middlebrooks
away. He started out 0-2 and the third
pitch was a tough outside pitch that somehow Will let go. He’s been chasing those pitches during this
tough slump so it was encouraging him to lie off then come up with the big hit
to give the Sox their first ninth-inning comeback win of the season.
The Sox didn’t have much else
offensively last night getting only 4 hits the entire game. Alex Cobb, the young Rays starter, was
brilliant on the night going 6 and 1/3 innings giving up only 3 hits, 1 run,
walking 2 and striking out 6. His
movement on his pitches is amazing. It
looks like he’s throwing wiffle balls out there.
David Ortiz went 1 for 3 with a
walk and an RBI. Shane Victorino went 1
for 4 with a run scored and a double.
Pedroia also went 1 for 3 with a walk and of course Middlebrooks went 1
for 3 with a walk and 3 big RBI.
Jacoby Ellsbury went 0 for 5 with
a strikeout and Mike Napoli went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts and also walked
once. Stephen Drew went 0 for 4 with 2
strikeouts and in total the Sox struck out 8 times on the night. Ellsbury is now down to .249 on the season
and is not producing at the top of the lineup.
It may be time to shuffle the top of the order and put Victorino in that
spot followed by Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli . Move Jacoby down a bit to try and figure some
things out.
Felix Doubront struggled with
efficiency and command on the night but was able to escape multiple jams
throughout the night. I was actually
impressed given how he’s struggled as of late.
Doubront went 5 innings, gave up 3 hits and 2 runs. He walked 6 batters and struck out 7. It took him 104 pitches to get through 5
innings of work. He seemed to be trying
to get the corners too much and reminded me of some of Dice-K’s old
performances. He needs to throw more
strikes and get ahead early in counts but this was a step in the right
direction.
Clayton Mortensen and Andrew
Miller weren’t able to stop the bleeding in the sixth as Doubront came out in
the sixth after a walk. Mortensen was
able to get a quick force-out but then walked the next 2 batters to load the
bases. Desmond Jennings then blooped a
single to give the Rays a 2-1 lead.
Miller then came in and gave up an RBI single to Luke Scott to make it
3-1. He was able to get out of the
inning but it looked like the damage had been done because the Rays pitching
staff was lights out on the night.
Breslow came in for the seventh
and shut them down getting a perfect inning.
Junichi Tazawa then pitched the 8th and 9th giving
up only 2 hits and striking out 2 to get the win. Tazawa made it a bit scary in the night by
giving up a lead-off single to start the inning. He settled down though and got the remaining
3 outs to secure the come from behind win.
Luke Scott was the big hitter for
the Rays going 3 for 4 on the night with an RBI and a walk. Ben Zobrist was on base twice with 2 walks
and Ryan Roberts went 1 for 3 with a solo homerun.
The Red Sox needed a series win
in a huge way and thanks to the clutch hitting by Will Middlebrooks they go
into Minnesota with some momentum and their ace on the mound in Clay Buchholz (6-0,
1.69 ERA). He’ll be opposed by Minnesota
Twins starter Vance Worley (1-4, 7.15 ERA).
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Will Middlebrooks. Will had the clutch 3-run double to put the
Sox up 4-3 in the top of the ninth with 2 outs and 2 strikes. Let’s hope he’s finally out of this month
long slump.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Mike Napoli. Naps took the hat trick, striking out 3 times
in 3 plate appearances. Mike is a guy
that strikes out a ton but last night he came up in some key situations and just
couldn’t put a bat on the ball.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Will Middlebrooks key clutch
double in the ninth to win the game.NEXT
Tonight, May 17th in
No comments:
Post a Comment