Missed opportunities continue to
haunt the Red Sox. Last night they
couldn’t capitalize on early chances and then the bats went silent the rest of
the game, allowing the Giants to come back for a 3-2 walk-off (literally)
victory.
The Red Sox had golden 2 golden
opportunities to put a lot of runs on the board and they let them slip away.
In the first, Ellsbury singled
then stole 2nd, Victorino was hit by a pitch and Pedroia singled to
load the bases with no outs. Mike Carp
then hit a sacrifice fly to plate the first run of the game. After a Will Middlebrooks single to again
load the bases with only 1 out, Daniel Nava flew out and Xander Bogaerts
grounded out to end the inning. Twice
they had the bases loaded and they came away with only 1 run in the inning.
In the 3rd, Shane
Victorino led off the inning with a homer to put the Sox up 2-0. The Sox would then have runners on 2nd
and 3rd with 2 outs after a Daniel Nava double. Xander Bogaerts would ground out to end the
inning. Yet another threat that they
couldn’t capitalize on.
The bats went silent after
that. They were 2 for 8 with runners in
scoring position and left 7 men on base.
Jacoby Ellsbury went 1 for 4 with a run scored and his 45th
steal of the year. Shane Victorino went
1 for 3 with an RBI and his 8th homer of the season. Will Middlebrooks remained hot going 2 for 4
and David Ross went 1 for 4 with a double in his return to the lineup after his
DL stint for a concussion.
Dustin Pedroia and Daniel Nava
each had a hit on the night as well but the team as a whole could muster only 7
hits on the night.
Making his Major League debut,
top prospect, Xander Bogaerts had a rough night. He went 0 for 3 with a strikeout and came up
twice with a chance to give the Sox some runs but couldn’t come through. I’m sure there were a lot of nerves for the
20 year old and I’m sure he’ll get better but you know he wanted to have a
really good debut. He did make a nice
play at shortstop to help Jake Peavy escape a jam.
Speaking of Jake Peavy, he looked
pretty good. He went 5 and 2/3 innings,
giving up just 1 run on 5 this while striking out 4 and walking 1. His pitch count was a bit high, 92, as the
Giants made him work going deep into counts all game. If the game was in an American League stadium
and the rules were different, I believe Peavy would have stayed in longer but
due to him coming up 2nd in the 7th, John Farrell had to
make a switch to try and get his offense going.
Craig Breslow went 1 and 1/3
perfect inning out of the pen getting all 4 batters he faced out. Junichi Tazawa pitched 1 inning and allowed 1
run on 2 hits. He wasn’t sharp again and
seems to be going back and forth with one good outing and one bad. Franklin Morales took the loss as he went 2/3
of an inning giving up 1 run on 1 hit while also walking one. Making his first appearance in a Red Sox
uniform, Brayan Villarreal didn’t make a good first impression as he walked the
only batter he faced to plate the winning run.
The bases were loaded and he missed on 4 straight pitches. I know Farrell was trying to save Koji for a
save opportunity but he would have at least thrown some strikes.
The Sox will go for the series
win today as they send Felix Doubront (8-6, 3.95) to the mound. Doubront was atrocious in his last 2 outings
against the Royals and Yankees. He
lasted just 4 innings in each game and allowed a total of 9 runs on 14
hits. He’s also been a bit wild as he’s
walked 6 batters over that time. Doubront
needs to come in today and throw strikes early and pitch to contact. San Francisco’s ballpark is huge and he needs
to trust his stuff today.
He’ll be opposed by Barry Zito
(4-8, 5.34). Zito had been relegated to the
bullpen in his last 4 outings but he’ll get the start today. Zito doesn’t throw very hard and sometimes
walks the ballpark so the Sox need to be patient and wait for their pitch.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Shane Victorino. Victorino went 1 for 3 with his 8th
homer of the year and was also on base again as he was hit by a pitch. It was the 9th time he’s been hit
by a pitch this year.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Brayan Villarreal. In his first appearance for the Sox, he
walked in the game winning run on 4 straight pitches. Not a good start.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The 4 pitch walk to end the game.
NEXT
Wednesday, August 21st in San
Francisco vs. the Giants.
No comments:
Post a Comment