Well, it was bound to happen, and
if it was going to happen, mine as well be now instead of the playoffs. Koji Uehara, who’s been perfect for weeks
now, finally had an off-night as the Orioles beat him 3-2 at Fenway Park.
When Uehara entered in the top of
the ninth, the game was tied at 2. He
had retired 37 straight batters dating all the way back to August 17th
and hadn’t allowed a run even further back, since June 30th.
The streak ended when Danny
Valencia led off the inning with a triple that just ticked off the glove of
center-fielder Shane Victorino. Matt
Wieters then followed with a sacrifice fly to right and the Orioles had the
lead.
After the game, Shane Victorino
expressed frustration as he thought he could have caught the ball. “Every ball
is catchable,” Victorino said. “You know
what I mean? That’s how I look at
it. It eats at me that I came that close
and I didn’t catch it. That makes me
more upset. I got that far and I don’t
catch it. That’s the part that eats at
me. Every ball that’s hit, I look at it
as I should catch it.”
The Sox mounted a little comeback
in the bottom of the ninth but ultimately fell short. Saltalamacchia singled with one out but Jim
Johnson got Drew to ground-out weakly and struck out Bogaerts to end the game.
The Sox just didn’t hit on
Tuesday night. They had only 3 hits on
the entire night and were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position. They left 7 men on base and just couldn’t do
anything against O’s relievers and starter Scott Feldman.
Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 4 with
an RBI and his 9th homer of the year. Mike Carp went 1 for 4 with a double and
Jarrod Saltalamacchia had the only other hit.
Mike Napoli walked twice as did Stephen Drew. Xander Bogaerts had a sacrifice fly and a
walk in the loss.
Ryan Dempster put in a solid
effort as he went 6 strong innings giving up just 2 runs on 3 hits. He struck out 5 while walking 4 and that is a
bit concerning. His 100 pitches in just
6 innings is nothing new and my bet is that he’s the one that heads to the
bullpen when the playoffs come around.
He has experience in the bullpen and he’s been the least productive,
next to Felix Doubront, as of late.
Nothing against Dempster though as he’s been pretty consistent all year
long.
Brandon Workman worked around 2
hits in his one inning of work and struck out 1. Craig Breslow pitched brilliantly in his 1
inning of work allowing no runs or hits.
Then Uehara went the last inning giving up that 1 hit and 1 run. He did strike out a batter. His ERA ballooned up to 1.18.
The Red Sox did reduce their
magic number for clinching the AL East even thought they lost to just 3 games
as the Rays lost to the Rangers. Boston
can clinch a playoff berth with a win Wednesday night and a loss by the
Indians. The earliest they can clinch
the AL East is Thursday. I fully expect
them to clinch the AL East this weekend.
They’ll be back at it tonight as
the Sox will send Jake Peavy (11-5, 4.03) to the mound against O’s starter
Wei-Yin Chen (7-7, 3.99). Chen has given
the Sox fits in starts against them and hopefully the Sox can figure him out
tonight.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Dustin Pedroia. On a night where there was practically no
offense, Pedroia led off the game with a homer, his 9th of the
season.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
David Ortiz. Big Papi went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts on
the night.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Danny Valencia’s triple to lead
off the top of the 9th inning snapping Koji Uehara’s streak of
retired batters at 37 and set in motion the loss.
NEXT
Wednesday, September 18th,
at home against the Baltimore Orioles.
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