The Red Sox bats have still not
woken up but a clutch homer by Grady Sizemore and another stellar pitching
performance by Jon Lester help down the Yanks 4-2 in the Bronx Friday night.
It looked like another rough
night as the Sox had only 1 hit through the first 5 innings, marking the 3rd
straight game that they’ve had only 1 hit in the first 5 innings of play.
Jonny Gomes changed all of that
by leading off the sixth inning with a solo shot off of CC Sabathia. Then with 1 out, David Ortiz tapped an
infield bleeder past the mound on a check swing for a hit. Mike Napoli then singled bringing up Grady
Sizemore.
Sizemore then blasted a 0-1 pitch
deep into the night for a 3-run homer to give the Sox the lead. It seems that this is really happening. Not only is Sizemore staying healthy, but he’s
also hitting the ball incredibly well.
It’s a good thing they had those
2 clutch homers, because the offense didn’t do much besides those 2
blasts. They totaled only 7 hits with 3
walks and were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position leaving 6 men on base.
Jonny Gomes went 2 for 5 with a
run, homer and RBI. David Ortiz was 1
for 2 with a run scored and 2 walks.
Grady Sizemore was 2 for 4 with a run scored and 3 RBI. Napoli went 1 for 4 and David Ross went 1 for
4 with a double. Bogaerts had a walk on
the night as well.
Jon Lester was feeling it again,
going 6 and 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking
out 6. He gave up a solo shot to Alfonso
Soriano in the 2nd but seemed to settle down after that and get his
first win of the season.
The bullpen then nailed down the
rest as Junichi Tazawa went 1 and a third giving up just 1 hit and striking out
2.
I expected to see Koji Uehara
warming up for the ninth, but word came before the game that he’s dealing with
shoulder stiffness and would not be available.
He’s had this in the past when he pitched for Texas and missed about 2
months. The Sox don’t consider it to be
that serious but it’s something to watch and with his high work load last year
and age, the Sox were right to get some insurance during the offseason.
That insurance is in the form of
Edward Mujica, who saved 37 games for the Cardinals a year ago and came on for
the save Friday night. He looked awful in
his home debut during the week but redeemed himself nicely ending the game with
a 1-2-3 ninth, including 1 strikeout.
I still worry that the offense is
not clicking but the pitching staff seems to be doing really well right now
with the starters going deep into games and the bullpen shutting them down late. With the series tied at 1, they’ll go back at
it again Saturday afternoon in the Bronx with John Lackey taking the hill for
the Sox against Hiroki Kuroda. Lackey
has been really impressive in his first 2 starts of the year but Kuroda has
been equally as impressive. It really
doesn’t matter though how well the pitching has been, the offense has to come
around or it’s going to be a long season.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Grady Sizemore. Sizemore continues his feel good story of the
year with a big 3-run homer to give the Sox the victory.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Jackie Bradley Jr. JBJ was red hot coming into this series but
has cooled considerably. Last night he
was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Sizemore’s 3-run shot in the 6th.
NEXT
Saturday, April 12th in New York,
vs. the Yankees.
No comments:
Post a Comment