RESULT – WIN 9-2
The bats woke up Thursday night and just in time
too as Franklin Morales was making his first start and appearance of the
year. The Sox scored early and often and
had 4 runs in the first inning which is the total they scored in the last 2
games. It was also a historic night as
Jacoby Ellsbury did something no other Red Sox player has ever done before.
Ellsbury stole 5 bases on the night to set a new
Red Sox record. He became only the 3rd
player to accomplish the feat in the decade and was making the Phillies
pitchers and catcher Erik Kratz looked terrible. Jacoby went 3 for 4 on the night and also got
on base by a hit by pitch and a walk. He
continues to be hot since the game winning hit and is now batting .268 and has
21 steals on the season which is tops in the league.
While Ellsbury was providing the speed, Jonny Gomes
and David Ortiz both hit towering homeruns to provide the power on the
night. Ortiz was 1 for 2 with 2 walks
and Jonny Gomes was 1 for 1 with a pitch hit homer.
The Sox banged out 14 hits and scored 9 runs with
Jarrod Saltalamacchia going 2 for 5 with 3 RBI, Jose Iglesias also went 2 for 5
with an RBI. Mike Carp went 1 for 3 with
an RBI and Dustin Pedroia also had a hit and an RBI in the effort. It was an all around good offensive day for
the Red Sox and hopefully it will continue this weekend with a great matchup against
the Yankees.
Franklin Morales who was making his appearance of
the year in a spot start for Clay Buchholz.
He did well in his first outing and I like having another lefty option
in the rotation. Felix Doubront better
be very careful because it seems the Red Sox are putting some pressure on him
to perform with Morales waiting in the wings.
It also bodes well for the Red Sox that spot starts by Morales and Alfredo
Aceves went well and it looks like the Sox have plenty of pitching depth going
into the middle of the season.
Morales’ final line on the night was 5 innings, 4
hits allowed and 2 runs. He walked 2 and
struck out 2 and seemed to have good velocity on his fastball. The Sox will likely stretch him out a bit
more each outing but I was impressed and hope young Felix was watching.
The bullpen was rock solid as they allowed only 2
hits through 4 innings and struck out 6 on the night. Craig Breslow went 1 and 1/3 innings and
struck out 2 and Mortensen, Tazawa and Bailey all pitched well for the final 3
innings to nail the door shut on the Phillies.
The series was split as each team won a game in the opposing team’s
venue.
I wanted to give a little recognition to the
opposition today as Dominic Brown, the Phillies starting left fielder was an
absolute beast this series. In 4 games,
he batted .375/.375/1.125 and had 4 homeruns and 5 RBI. He also stole a base and is looking like the
player the Phillies thought they were getting when they called him up to the
bigs a few years ago.
The Sox start a big 3 game series today in the
Bronx. The Yankees have lost 4 straight
and are still in 2nd place but behind by 2 games. It’s early but this series is huge as both
teams know they can’t fall too far behind with the AL East being so tough and
wide open this year. The Sox will send
Jon Lester (6-1, 3.34 ERA) to face C.C. Sabathia (4-4, 3.96 ERA) in a matchup
of aces and a rematch of Opening Day.
Sabathia has been roughed up in his last 2 starts and looks to rebound
against the Sox tonight. The Yankees are
also getting back Kevin Youkilis and Mark Texiera and it comes at a great time
with the team in a bit of skid right now.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP
Jacoby Ellsbury.
He went 3 for 4 and was on base 5 times but he also set a team record
with 5 stolen bases. Anytime you can set
a single game record on a team that has been around for over 100 years it is
impressive.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Stephen Drew.
Drew went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and was the only Red Sox starter
without a hit.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Jacoby Ellsbury’s 5th swipe of the
game in the top of the 8th.
NEXT
Today, Friday 5/31 in the Bronx vs. the Yankees.
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