David Price wasn’t as sharp as
his teammate Matt Moore was on Monday night but he was eerily similar. The Sox simply had no answers for the Rays’
ace lefty as they took a 5-1 lost in game 3 of a pivotal 4 game series at
Fenway Park.
Price pitched a complete game 5
hitter allowing only 1 run. He only
struck out 4 but pitched to contact and was able to down the Sox with only 97
pitches.
The only Sox batters that figured
him out were Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli who each had 2 hits a piece. Napoli’s 2 hits were for extra bases as he
hit his 26th double of the year and his 14th homer. He’s hot right now and hopefully he can keep
it going. David Ortiz had the only other
Red Sox hit on the night.
They had only 3 opportunities
with runners in scoring position all night and were 0 for 3 in those situations
with 3 men left on base. It was just a
case of domination by the Rays lefty.
Felix Doubront wasn’t awful last night;
he just wasn’t as good as his counter-part.
He gave up 6 hits and 3 runs in 6 and 2/3 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 2 and on most
nights that would have been good enough.
Not last night though as it was vintage David Price.
The bullpen wasn’t sharp last
night either as Pedro Beato have up a run in 2/3 of an inning and Matt Thornton
have up 3 hits and 1 run in his 2/3 of an inning. They let the game get out of control instead
of keeping it close but with Price going strong it really didn’t matter. Drake Britton provided an inning of one hit
no run ball as well. He hasn’t allowed
an earned run since his call up last week.
There were plenty of web-gems in
this game from both sides. Dustin
Pedroia and Jose Iglesias both made outstanding defensive plays in the
game. The play of the night however came
from Yunel Escobar who started a nifty 6-4-3 double play with one of the best
shortstop plays I’ve seen in a long time.
Go to MLB.com or YouTube this instant to check it out.
This wasn’t a complicated loss
for the Sox. They were simply
overmatched by a pitcher who had his best stuff. It’s one of those games you just tip your cap
to the opposing pitcher and get back it tonight.
The Red Sox saw their lead again
drop to only a ½ game in the AL East.
They’ll try to salvage a split behind John Lackey (7-7, 2.95) tonight. Lackey as you know has been good lately but
didn’t have his best stuff in his last outing against the Yankees as he gave up
4 earned runs in 6 innings of work. He’ll
need to have his best stuff tonight to keep the Sox in first place.
He’ll be opposed by Jeremy
Hellickson (9-3, 4.62) who I hope will not follow in Moore and Price’s
footsteps. He’s been up and down this
year and seems to be rattled if you get to him early. The Sox need to put pressure on him early and
get a split out of this series.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Mike Napoli. Naps is heating up getting 2 more hits
tonight, both extra base hits. I’ve
heard all year how he heats up in the 2nd half and once the summer
approaches he goes off. Well, it looks
like that might be happening and the Sox really need that right now.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
I’d like to put the 6-9 hitters
here as they all were atrocious last night.
Jonny Gomes, Stephen Drew, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jose Iglesias all
combined to go 0 for 12 with 2 strikeouts.
PLAY OF THE GAME
James Loney’s RBI single in the
top of the eighth to put the Rays up 4-1.
The Sox had just gotten closer with a Mike Napoli homer but the bullpen
gave it right back.
NEXT
Thursday, July 25th at
home vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.
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