Andrew Miller has been dominate
as of late so when the Red Sox called on him in the bottom of the ninth to keep
the game tied at 6 it was no big surprise.
In fact, in his previous 6 outings, Miller has allowed only 1 hit, 0
walks and has struck out 12 in his 6 innings of work.
It all came undone on one pitch
as the tall lefty let up a 2-run walk-off homer that gave the Twins the 8-6
victory in game 1 of the 3 game series.
It was a shame as the Sox battled
back from a 6-2 deficit and tied it up with a 3-run rally in the 7th
and a big reason was David Ortiz who had a monster night.
Ortiz went 4 for 5 with 2 homers
and 4 RBI. He moved into a tie for 3rd
place all-time on the Red Sox home run list with 382 homers in a Red Sox uniform. Unfortunately both of Ortiz’s homers were
solos and came early in the game (1st and 4th innings).
Ortiz loves hitting at Target
Field in Minnesota. He’s 25-48 with 7
homeruns and 20 RBI in his career there.
Overall the Sox had 11 hits and 6
runs while going 3 for 6 with runners in scoring position. They left 7 men on base and didn’t get much
production from the bottom of the order.
The 7-9 hitters were a combined 2 for 16 with 1 run scored and 0
RBI. Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley
Jr. both went 1 for 4 but A.J. Pierzynski struck out 3 times in 4 at bats and
Will Middlebrooks struck out twice in 4 at bats. Middlebrooks’ average is now down to .197 and
he is struggling yet again. The Sox will
have need to have some serious discussions regarding Middlebrooks but they can’t
just put him in the Minors like they did last year as they really have no
viable option to put there.
Shane Victorino had a good night
going 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and a triple. Grady Sizemore went 1 for 2 with a walk and
Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 5 with a run scored.
Jonny Gomes walked and drove in a run after he took over for Sizemore. The walk as very impressive as it was a
10-pitch grinder that tied up the game. Mike
Napoli went 0 for 4 but walked once.
The team showed resilience battling
back but couldn’t get enough out of their pitching staff to steal a game they
should have had no business getting back into.
Jake Peavy didn’t look quite like
himself in this one. He was flipped in
the pitching rotation with Felix Doubront to give the struggling lefty an extra
days rest but was pitching on his regular days off so I don’t think that had
anything to do with it. Whatever the
case, he didn’t pitch well as he went just 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs
on 9 hits while walking 2 and striking out only 1. He also let up a homer in his outing. His command looked off as he was leaving very
hittable pitches in the strike zone and the Twins made him pay for it.
Chris Capuano went 1 and 2/3
innings giving up 0 runs on 2 hits while working around 2 walks and striking out
2 hitters. Craig Breslow pitched one
inning and gave up a walk and struck out 2.
Junichi Tazawa also went an inning giving up 0 runs on 0 hits retiring
the 2 batters he faced.
Andrew Miller then came on for
the 9th to keep the game tied and he looked good at the beginning
striking out Plouffe and Colabello to start the inning. Kurt Suzuki kept the inning alive with a
single and then Chris Parmelee launched a 2-run walk-off homer on the 2nd
pitch he saw for the game winner. The pitch
was a good one too as it was out of the strike zone but Parmelee was able to
get good wood on it and put it out down the right field line. Game over.
A heart breaking loss but they’ll
go at it again tonight as the Sox will send Felix Doubront (1-3, 5.09) to the
mound. Doubront has not been very good
this year but is coming off one of his best starts of the year. On May 6th, he went 5 and 1/3
innings allowing only 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 3 and walking 3. Though his pitch count was high he pitched a
lot better and hopefully that will be a building block for a string of good
outings. He’ll be opposed by Kevin
Correia (1-4, 6.34) of the Twins.
Correia has also been pretty bad this year and was rocked in his last
outing on May 8th against the Indians. He went only 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 4
runs on 8 hits while walking 4 and striking out 5. The Sox have to get to him early because if
the gets rattled, the Sox can win this game.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
David Ortiz. Ortiz is warming up as the weather gets
warmer and this trip to Target Field is just what he needed. He had 4 hits and 4 RBI with 2 homers in the game.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
A.J. Pierzynski. Pierzynski had the hat trick with 3
strikeouts in 4 at bats.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Chris Parmelee’s walk-off homer
in the bottom of the 9th to give the Twins the win.
NEXT
Wednesday, May 14th in
Minnesota vs. the Twins.
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