John Lackey didn’t let the
controversy get to him as he put in a stellar pitching performance Wednesday
night to get tie the series at 1 with a 5-1 victory over the rival Yankees.
The story of the last 3 games has
been the terrible starting pitching the Sox have been having. They needed someone to step up and not only
give the bullpen a break but someone to go out and throw a gem and hopefully get
the other starters going because we all know, good pitching is contagious and
these pitchers feed off each other.
Lackey did just that as he
pitched 8 outstanding innings, giving up just 7 run on 7 hits while striking
out 11 and walking none. He needed only
111 pitches to get through 8 innings and had the Yanks off their game all
night.
Though all the talk will be on
Michael Pineda, the Yankees starter who was ejected in the 2nd for
being caught with pine tar on his neck (we’ll get to that later), the real
story was the absolute dominate pitching performance put in by the big Texan.
He looked like the guy we saw the
first 2 starts of the season, not the last 2 starts that saw him give up 6 runs
in each game. It was a return to form
and it couldn’t come at a better time as the Sox really needed a pick-me-up
after the last 3 games.
Michael Pineda, wow, what can I say,
just incredibly dumb. Last time he faced
the Sox, he had what looked like pine tar on his hand. The Sox didn’t call him on it and it ended up
disappearing after a few innings. The
thing is, everyone noticed it, the Sox announcers, the Yankee announcers and
while it’s a pretty known thing that every pitcher uses a little something to
get better grip on the baseball, most pitchers do a way better job at
concealing it. If he had anything on him
this time, you had to figure John Farrell would call him on it.
In the bottom of the 2nd,
Farrell did just that as Pineda had a big smear of pine tar on the right side
of his neck. I mean, it wasn’t just a
little something; it was huge and very blatant.
Home-plate umpire, Gerry Davis called time, and went out and checked the
Yankee starter. He found the pine tar
and ejected him. There is almost certainly
going to be a suspension as well, I think the minimum is 10 games, so this was
really really stupid of Pineda.
To his credit, Pineda owned up to
it after the game saying, “In the first inning, I didn’t feel the ball, and you
know, I didn’t want to like hit anybody so I decided to use it.” That’s fine and all, but man, come on, do a
better job of concealing it.
I don’t think his ejection would
have mattered, because the Sox seemed to be taking some pretty good swings
against him anyway. Grady Sizemore broke
out of a 0 for 13 funk by leading off the game with a triple into the right
field corner. Dustin Pedroia followed
with an RBI single. Napoli kept the
inning rolling with a broken-bat blooper to right and A.J. Pierzynski followed
with a RBI single up the middle to make it 2-0 after one frame.
Overall the Sox scored 5 runs on
10 hits but left a lot more out there.
They were 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on
base. Mike Napoli was 3 for 4 with an
RBI and a double. Dustin Pedroia was 2
for 5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.
Brock Holt went 1 for 2 with an RBI and 2 walks and continues to shine
at the Major League level.
Pierzynski went 1 for 3 with an
RBI and a walk, Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 4 with a run scored. David Ortiz went 1 for 3 with a run scored
and a walk and Sizemore went 1 for 5 with that triple but also stuck out 3 times.
The bats were good enough for
Lackey who was just downright filthy.
The big righty put in a great pitching performance that John Farrell
really needed at a time when the bullpen was reeling with all the innings they
have pitched the last 3 days.
Koji Uehara pitched the ninth and
gave up one hit but also struck out the side in the non-save situation. Uehara was the only pitcher in the bullpen
that wasn’t taxed in the last few days so it was nice to see him get some work and
pitch so effectively.
The Sox will go for the series
win tonight at Fenway as they’ll send Felix Doubront (1-2, 5.48) to the
mound. Doubront has pitched well in his
last 2 starts against Baltimore and New York.
His last outing vs. the Orioles he went 6 and 2/3 innings giving up just
2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 7.
His last time out against the Yanks he went 6 and 2/3 giving up 3 runs
and striking out 2.
He’ll be opposed by C.C. Sabathia
(2-2, 5.19). Sabathia looked to be the
old Sabathia in his last start against Tampa Bay. He went 7 solid innings giving up just 1 run
on 7 hits while striking out 6. He didn’t
fare well against the Sox back on 4/11, when he went 7 innings and gave up 4
runs on 6 hits. He did strike out 9
however so he may be tough tonight.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
John Lackey. Was there any doubt he would be the game
MVP? Lackey looked like an ace out there
Wednesday night and he’s someone you can trust to give you a solid pitching performance
when you need it.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Mike Carp. Carp went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Carp hasn’t been all that good to start the
season this year but the Sox clearly value him more than Nava who was sent back
down to Triple-A Pawtucket to get out of his early season funk.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The pine-tar incident that made
the Yanks go to their bullpen early and hopefully that will help the Sox in
game 3.
NEXT
Thursday, April 24th at
Home vs. the New York Yankees.
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