The Red sox rout the Orioles 12-3
in Baltimore Friday night and clinched home-field advantage in the Division
series. The magic number is now down to
one for the top seed in the American League.
Though he led them to a big
victory, Clay Buchholz wasn’t as dominant as he’s been on many other occasions
this season. But the biggest takeaway in
this one was that he built his endurance back to where it should be heading
into the postseason.
For the first time since coming
off the disabled list, Buchholz pitched 7 innings and threw over 100 pitches,
113 in fact. It was his most since May
22nd.
His final numbers were 7 innings,
3 runs on 7 hits while striking out 4 and walking none. He did let up 2 homers but pitched fairly
well and got his 12th win of the season. He also finished with a career-best 1.74 ERA
and if not for missing 3 months of the season would have been a top contender
for the Cy Young Award.
Craig Breslow pitched the 8th
and worked around a walk and a hit but gave up no runs. Koji Uehara closed out the game with a
perfect 9th while striking out 1.
The offense, fresh off of
pounding out 15 runs in Colorado on Wednesday, had another big night. They put up 12 runs on 16 hits and walked 5
times as they were 5 for 6 with runners in scoring position. A stat that they have been doing better with
as of late and hopefully will continue into the postseason.
David Ortiz went 2 for 5 with 2
runs, 3 RBI and his 30th homer of the season. He now has 103 RBI on the season, the only
Red Sox with over 100 RBI. Daniel Nava
went 2 for 5 with 2 runs, 3 RBI and his 12th homer of the
season. Jonny Gomes went 3 for 4 with 3
runs, 1 RBI, a walk and his 13th homer of the season.
Dustin Pedroia went 3 for 4 with
2 runs and 1 walk. Stephen Drew went 2
for 4 with 3 RBI and his 8th triple of the season. Mike Napoli went 1 for 3 with a run, RBI and
2 walks. Jarrod Saltalamacchia went 1
for 4 with a run, an RBI and his 40th double of the season. It is the most doubles by a Red Sox catcher
ever in a season. What a year Salty has
had.
Xander Bogaerts and Will
Middlebrooks each had a hit in the win as well.
The offensive outburst of late is
extremely encouraging going into the postseason. They’ll have a week layoff between their last
game (Sunday) and their first playoff game (next Friday) so hopefully they can
keep it up.
With the win, the Sox now have 97
victories on the season, their most in a season since 2004. One more win or an Oakland loss and the Sox
will clinch home field for the duration of the playoffs. Even the World Series if they get that far
since the All Star game was won by the American League.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jonny Gomes. Gomes continues to have a really good year as
he went 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and his 13th homer of the season.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury went 0 for 4 from the top of the
order. He’s still trying to find his
timing from missing about 3 weeks so I’ll give him a pass. But the Sox need a healthy and productive Ellsbury
for the playoffs.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Stephen Drew’s RBI triple in the
top of the 1st to put the Sox up 5-0. They would never look back.
NEXT
Saturday, September 28th, in
Baltimore vs. the Orioles.
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