Jacoby Ellsbury’s big night helps
the Sox get their first win of the series as they down the Royals 5-3 Saturday
night.
Ellsbury has a career batting
average of .381 against Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie and it just went even higher. He went 4 for 4 against the right hander and
was 4 for 5 overall. Ellsbury had 2
doubles, 2 singles, 2 RBI and a steal on the night. He also made a spectacular sliding catch in
the outfield saving a run. He did it all
Saturday night!
Maybe the Red Sox view this blog
as I just mentioned that the Sox are getting nothing out of their 3rd
base platoon they had going and wondered whether it was time to bring back Will
Middlebrooks. Well, they brought him
back and he contributed right away going 2 for 4 scoring 2 runs and also
knocking in 2. It was a good return to
action and hopefully he can continue to hit and be that 3rd baseman
of the future the Red Sox thought they had.
Overall the Sox banged out 5 runs
on 12 hits and were 3 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Mike Carp went 2 for 3 with a walk and
Victorino, Pedroia, Salty and Stephen Drew each had a hit. Drew scored a run and drove in one as
well. Pedroia, Ortiz and Carp each
walked once as well.
Mike Napoli’s hot night on Friday
didn’t flow over to Saturday as he went 0 for 4 with 3 K’s. David Ortiz was also 0 for 4.
Ellsbury’s big day saved Felix
Doubront as he just wasn’t all that good.
Doubront lasted only 4 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. He struck out 3 but walked 4 and threw 98
pitches in just 4 innings of work. The erratic
pitching reminded me a lot of last year Felix Doubront. High pitch counts and early exits. Let’s hope he can return to form in his next
start.
The bullpen was rock solid,
beginning with Brandon Workman who came in and went 1 and 1/3 innings of work
allowing only 2 hits and striking out 3.
Next up was Craig Breslow who went 2/3 of an inning giving up nothing. Junichi Tazawa went 2 innings giving up only
2 hit while striking out 2. Koji Uehara
nailed down the night for his 12th save of the year in a perfect
inning.
The Sox will try and salvage a
split against a tough Royals team as they’ll send John Lackey to the mound
against Big Game James Shield. The Sox
have faced Shields a lot as he was a member of the Tampa Bay Rays for a long
time. Shields usually does work against
the Sox, so it’s going to be a tough game.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury was great on Saturday night banging
out 4 hits, 2 of them doubles, while also knocking in 2 and stealing his 42nd
base of the year.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Mike Napoli. Naps took a 0 for 4 with 3 K’s.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Ellsbury’s 2nd double of
the night that knocked in 1 putting the Sox up 5-3.
NEXT
Sunday, August 11th in Kansas
City vs. the Royals.
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