The battery of Jon Lester and
David Ross came through last night as Lester fired a gem and Ross provided some
clutch hitting to down the White Sox 3-1 in cool U.S. Cellular Field last
night.
David Ross went the other way for
an RBI double down the right field line to snap a 1-1 lead in the top of the
ninth. It gave the Sox a two-game
winning streak and a series win heading back to Boston.
It seems like all series long, well
really, all season long so far, the Sox have been struggling to score and last
night was no different. Jon Lester was
in a duel with Chicago ace Chris Sale.
Both were marvelous but it was Lester that came out on top with Ross’
help.
In the top of the ninth, with the
game tied 1-1 and 1 out, Napoli singled to start a rally with Mike Carp (pinch
hitting for Gomes) singling to put runners on 1st and 2nd. David Ross then doubled down the right field
line to make it 2-1 with runners on 2nd and 3rd. After an intentional walk to load the bases
to Daniel Nava, Jonathan Herrera laid down a perfect bunt that he beat out to
plate another run and give the Sox a 3-1 advantage. It would be all the Sox would need.
Overall, the offense was terrible
again. 3 runs on only 5 hits with 3
walks and they struck out 11 times (10 by Sale himself). They were 2 for 6 with runners in scoring
position and left 6 men on base.
Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 3 with
his 1st homer of the year in the 6th to break up the
no-hitter by Chris Sale. It was an
absolute bomb to left-center that travelled about 425 feet. Very reminiscent of his 1st homer
of the year last year against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. He also reached base via hit by pitch.
Mike Napoli went 1 for 3 with a
single and a walk. Mike Carp went 1 for
1 and Jonathan Herrera went 1 for 1 with an RBI.
David Ross went 1 for 2 with a
double, 2 walks and that big RBI. Ross
hasn’t seen a ton of action this year but when he’s out there with Lester they
seem to have good chemistry and good things generally happen.
The biggest performance of the
night was from the ace of the staff, Jon Lester. Lester had a perfect game going for 5 and 1/3
innings but Tyler Flowers broke it up in the sixth with a seeing-eye single to
left that was just out of the reach of Xander Bogaerts.
Lester went 8 innings, giving up
only 1 run on 7 hits. He struck out 9
and didn’t walk anyone. His cut fastball
was downright filthy last night and he got a lot of swinging strikes on his
slider. Another solid outing for Lester
as he recorded his 2nd win of the season. The Red Sox are going to wish they had agreed
to an extension before the season because his stock is doing nothing but rising
at this point. His ERA is 2.17 and he’s
been nothing but outstanding to start this season.
Koji Uehara was back for ninth
inning duties and he allowed 1 hit and struck out 1 to record his 3rd
save of the year. I’m sure John Farrell
will monitor just how much he uses Uehara for the rest of the season hoping
that the shoulder stiffness isn’t a huge problem but it was nice to see him
come out and nail down the ninth again.
The Sox will return home to face
the Baltimore Orioles Friday night. As
we know, the O’s can mash and it’ll be a good 4 game series. Stepping to the mound for the Sox in Game 1
will be John Lackey (2-1, 3.86) who was stellar in his 1st 2 games
but allowed 4 long balls to the Yanks this past Saturday. Hopefully he can keep the long ball threat O’s
in the yard and get back to his winning ways.
Opposing Lackey will be Chris
Tillman (1-1, 0.84). Tillman has been
disgusting to start the season going 8 innings in his last outing and 8 and 1/3
in the outing before that. He faced the
Sox on Opening Day and allowed only 1 run on 7 hits while going just 5
innings. The Sox were able to hit him
pretty well but couldn’t put hits together to get him out of the game. Let’s hope tonight they can string a bunch
together.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jon Lester. Another great pitching performance to start
the year.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
David Ortiz. Ortiz went 0 for 4 with a strikeout on the night. He did have some bad luck in the 1st
as he was robbed of a homer by Adam Eaton in centerfield but on his next 2 at
bats against Chris Sale, he looked hopeless up there.
PLAY OF THE GAME
David Ross’ RBI double in the top
of the ninth to give the Sox a 2-1 advantage.
NEXT
Friday, April 18th at Home vs.
the Baltimore Orioles.
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