I wonder just how productive Mike
Carp would be if he had more playing time.
You never know exactly when you may see Carp, but when he does play, be
it for a spot start or a late inning pinch-hitting appearance, he usually
delivers.
John Farrell sent Mike Carp up
with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th on Wednesday night at
Tropicana against the Rays and Carp rewarded him with a game-breaking grand
slam to upend the Rays 7-3. It was the
first pitch Carp saw and his 2nd career grand salami.
It was the first pinch-hit grand
slam for the Red Sox since Kevin Millar did it back on June 7, 2003 in
Milwaukee. Carp’s was the first
pinch-hit, extra-inning grand slam in team history.
The offense before that left a
lot of opportunities on the field. They
were 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 6 men on base. Dustin Pedroia, filling in for Jacoby
Ellsbury at the top of the lineup, went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and a
walk. Daniel Nava went 2 for 3 with an
RBI.
Shane Victorino, Stephen Drew and
Jackie Bradley Jr. all had a hit in the win.
Mike Napoli remained red hot going 1 for 3 with a run scored, 2 RBI, 2
walks and his 36th double of the year.
Ryan Dempster pitched so-so as he
had way too many pitches, 106, for his 5 innings of work. The problem Wednesday night was walks as he
walked 5. He struck out 7 and gave up 1
run on 4 hits. Like I said, he didn’t
look bad, in fact, he came up with some big punch-outs when he needed them, and
the problem was the walks. You can’t
give good hitting team free base-runners.
Luckily the 5 walks came against the weak hitting Rays lineup.
Franklin Morales looked fantastic
in his 1 inning of work, getting all 3 batters he faced. Brandon Workman struggled in his 2 innings of
work giving up 2 runs on 2 hits and coughing up the 2-run lead. He did strike out 4 and only walk 1 but the
homer he gave up in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game could have
easily been a back breaker.
Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless
inning in the 9th, striking out 2 which extended his score-less
innings streak to 34 batters. He earned
the win; his 4th of the season and his 34 straight batters retired
is now the longest in team history. He
passed Ellis Kinder, who retired 32 straight in 1952.
Junichi Tazawa pitched around a
walk in the 10th while striking out 1 to close out the game. Again, a little shaky for Tazawa but he
rebounded to get the final outs of the game.
With 15 games left in the season,
the Sox are now 89-58 and own the best record in baseball. They extended their lead in the AL East to 9
and ½ games and their magic number to clinch is down to just 8 games.
They’ll go for the sweep tonight
as they send Jake Peavy (11-5, 4.01) to the mound against the Rays Jeremy
Hellickson (11-8, 5.04). Peavy has been
all he’s been advertised since he’s come over and let’s hope he can pitch well
tonight to send the Rays in a downward spiral.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Mike Carp. Carp’s 9th homer of the year was a
big one. A pinch-hit grand salami to
give the Sox the win in extras.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Will Middlebrooks. Will went 0 for 5 and left 5 men on base
himself. He looked lost up there on
Wednesday night.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Carp’s 10th inning
pinch-hit grand slam.
NEXT
Thursday, September 12th, in Tampa
Bay vs. the Rays.
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