The Sox get their first win at
home on the young season behind another gem by John Lackey and some clutch
hitting and defensive plays by Jackie Bradley Jr.
Flashing some leather with 2
fantastic catches in right field and then coming up with 2 clutch RBI hits,
Jackie Bradley Jr. was able to back a nice pitching performance by John Lackey
to down the Texas Rangers, 5-1 for the first win of the season at Fenway Park.
Jackie Bradley Jr. showed
yesterday why there is so much hype around himself and the youngsters of the
organization. He went 3 for 4, drove in
2 runs and scored one as well. His bunt
single late in the game was picture perfect and aided by a terrible toss from
Prince Fielder to plate the go ahead run and eventual winning run of the game.
Before that, Bradley made a great
sliding catch to rob Donnie Murphy of a hit in the 2nd inning and
then a breathtaking over-the-shoulder catch in deep right field to rob J.P.
Arencibia in the 3rd inning.
The 3rd inning catch was marvelous to watch as Bradley made
up a ton of room to rob Arencibia of an extra base hit. Bradley may not be the fastest on the planet
but he has great closing speed on a baseball and is a treat to watch play
outfield.
The offense on a whole wasn’t bad
last night as they banged out 14 hits and 2 walks with 5 runs scored. They were 4 for 13 with runners in scoring
position and left 11 men on base which could definitely be improved upon but
they did come up with some clutch hits and scored some runs for John Lackey.
Mike Napoli went 3 for 5, Grady
Sizemore went 2 for 4 with a double and more importantly survived hitting a
wall in the outfield on a diving attempt on a ball. He didn’t make the catch, hit the wall hard
but stayed in the game and showed no effects or concerns. He’s likely to get a day off tonight to rest
and hopefully he’ll be ok in the long run.
A.J. Pierzynski went 3 for 4 with
2 runs scored; Jonathan Herrera went 1 for 2 with a run scored, a walk and a
hit by pitch. Xander Bogaerts went 1 for
4 with a run scored and Daniel Nava went 1 for 3 with an RBI, walk and hit by
pitch.
Dustin Pedroia went 0 for 5 but
drove in a run and David Ortiz went 0 for 5 as well.
Besides Jackie Bradley Jr., the
talk of the town has to be John Lackey and how good he looked for the second
consecutive start.
Lackey went 7 innings giving up
only 1 run, it was unearned, on 5 hits, while walking 2 and striking out
5. He earned his 2nd victory
of the year and looked really strong out there having command of all his
pitches. His curveball is especially
sharp this year and his fastball is consistently 92-93 and occasionally touches
94. If he can stay consistent during
this season, it’s really going to be a shot in the arm for the Sox.
Chris Capuano again proved to be
a valuable pickup late in the offseason as he pitched a perfect 8th
allowing only 1 hit and getting his 2nd hold of the year. Koji Uehara nailed down the 9th but
was a little shaky. He gave up 2 hits
but did strike out 1 and had to throw 19 pitches.
It was nice to get in the win
column at home and hopefully the bats will continue to wake up. They’ll go at it again today at 6:10 with
Felix Doubront (1-0, 5.06) taking the hill vs. Martin Perez (0-0, 3.18.
Doubront was so-so in his first
win of the season last week against the Orioles. He didn’t have great command but was able to
escape some jams. Perez went 5 and 2/3
giving up 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 7. He pounds the strike zone and isn’t known to
give up a ton of walks. The Sox will
have to be ready to jump on him early in the count.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jackie Bradley Jr. JBJ did it with the glove and the bat
yesterday. His 3 for 4, 2 RBI day and 2
tide changing catches really provided the spark the Sox needed last night.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
David Ortiz. Ortiz went 0 for 5 with a strikeout last
night and didn’t make great contact at all.
The Sox need the big fella to get going as he’s started off a little
slow this year.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Jackie Bradley Jr.’s RBI single
in the bottom of the 4th to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Finally a Sox player came through with
runners in scoring position.
NEXT
Tuesday, April 8th at home vs.
the Texas Rangers.
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