Boy I hate being right. Yesterday I said that after the 17 run
outburst, the Sox would likely get blanked the next game. The Red Sox didn’t get blanked but only
scored 2 runs the entire game. A bad
outing by Koji Uehara and Craig Breslow led to a 3-2 loss. The Sox battled back but couldn’t conjure up
a late rally to overtake the Rangers bullpen.
John Lackey was solid in his fourth
straight start in a row. He gave up only
5 hits and one run in 6 innings of work.
He walked none and struck out 5 lowering his season ERA to 2.79. Lackey was sharp but unfortunately Rangers
starter Alexi Ogando was just as good as the pitchers were locked in a pitching
duel.
The Rangers struck first off of
Lackey when Adrian Beltre hit a homerun to dead centerfield (his 12th
of the year). It was really Lackey’s
only mistake on the night. The Sox would
get one back when Dustin Pedroia connected for his 4th homerun of
the year in the bottom of the sixth off Ogando.
It would be the only runs the starters would give up.
The problem is the Red Sox bullpen
wasn’t as strong as the Rangers Wednesday night. Craig Breslow came on to start the top of the
7th and promptly gave up a double to the first batter he faced. After a sacrifice bunt to move the runner to
third, Breslow then walked Gentry to put two runners on with only one out. Koji Uehara was then summoned from the
bullpen to put out the fire.
Uehara who has been so good at
stranding runners gave up a first pitch double to Elvis Andrus to plate 2 runs
and put the Rangers up 3-1. Koji would
get the next 2 batters but the damage had been done and the Sox would need the
bats to wake up to get a come from behind victory.
They would rally but came up
short in the last 2 innings. In the
bottom of the 7th, Stephen Drew opened up the inning with a walk and
Jose Iglesias went the other way for a single.
With 2 on and no outs, Jackie Bradley Jr. failed miserably to put a bunt
down then struck out. Daniel Nava
grounded out weakly to the catcher and then Jonny Gomes, who was pitch hitting
for Mike Carp, flew out weakly to right field to end the threat.
They would rally again in the 8th
when the Rangers reliever Tanner Scheppers would issue a two-out walk to Mike
Napoli. Jarrod Saltalamaccia would
follow that up with a double down the right field line that scored Napoli cutting the deficit to one but that would be as
close as they would come. Scheppers
would get Drew to groundout to end the inning and Joe Nathan got three straight
groundouts to end the game.
Offensively on the night the Sox
only had 5 hits but did get 7 walks. They
were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and couldn’t get the big hit when
they needed it. Daniel Nava went 0 for 5
out of the lead-off spot and Jackie Bradley Jr. went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts
at the bottom of the order.
Mike Carp had his 9th double
of the season and Stephen Drew and Jose Iglesias each had a hit in the loss as
well. Mike Napoli went 0 for 1 but
scored a run and had 3 walks. Big Papi
went 0 for 3 with a walk on the night.
Junichi Tazawa and Andrew Bailey
each pitched an inning of relief as well giving up no hits. It was only the 2nd outing for
Bailey in 10 days and he looked sharp.
Too bad the other 2 relievers couldn’t get the job done and this game
was spoiled in the 7th.
The Sox will go for the series
win tonight as they send Jon Lester (6-2, 3.53) to the mound to face Rangers
starter Derek Holland (5-2, 2.81). It
will be a battle of tough lefties as Holland
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
John Lackey. Lackey turned in another great start (his 4th
in a row) going 6 strong innings giving up only 1 run on 5 hits. He walked none and struck out 5 hitters. His only mistake on the night was a homerun
to Adrian Beltre.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Relievers Craig Breslow and Koji
Uehara. In the 7th inning,
the 2 relievers gave up 2 runs on 2 hits with a walk and allowed the Rangers to
jump ahead of the Sox 3-1 which their bullpen held onto for the win. Both have been really good this year so let’s
hope this is just a blip on the radar.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Elvis Andrus’ double to
centerfield that drove in 2. Elvis knew
that Koji would be aggressive and was all over Uehara’s first pitch and crushed
it to deep center for the game winning hit.
NEXT
Tonight, Thursday, June 6th
vs. the Rangers.
No comments:
Post a Comment