The good news is the Sox scored
one more run than on Friday night; the bad news is that it was only 1 run. The offense again is held in check by Detroit
pitching as the Tigers take game 2 on a picture perfect Saturday night at
Fenway to the tune of 6-1.
Offense has not been a strong
point this season and it roared its ugly head again on Saturday night as the
Sox had just 1 run on 7 hits. They left
6 men on base and were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and are 0-9 in
the series.
Mike Napoli went 3 for 4 and
Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 3 with a solo homer but that was about it on the
night. David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia
each had a hit apiece but the 5, 6 and 7 hitters (Sizemore, Carp and
Pierzynski) were a combined 0 for 11 with just 1 walk. With Napoli getting on 3 times, those guys
have to come through and get a big hit.
Tiger’s starter Rick Porcello
went 8 innings giving up just the 1 run on 6 hits while walking just 1 and
striking out 4. The Sox weren’t striking
out but weren’t hitting balls all that had as well. At one point, Porcello sat down 12 of 13 Red
Sox batters to puck up his 6th win of the season.
John Lackey wasn’t very good on
Saturday night as he went just 5 and 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs (5 earned) on
9 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4.
He also let up a homer to Miguel Cabrera. It looked like Lackey didn’t have the best
command on the night as Pierzynski continually set up outside or low to
right-handed hitters but Lackey’s pitch would go inside and get hit very
hard. Either Pierzynski or Lackey weren’t
on the same page or Lackey just couldn’t command his fastball all that well.
The bullpen held the score to
what it was when Lackey came out of the game but the bats never got going for
the comeback. Edward Mujica turned in another
solid outing retiring both batters he faced after taking over for Lackey.
Chris Capuano went 2 innings and
looked to be back to his early season dominance as he allowed only 1 hit and
struck out 3 times. Koji Uehara went 1
inning and allowed 1 hit and 1 strike out.
To avoid a sweep the Sox will
have to win Sunday night against Anibal Sanchez who was dominant against them
last year in the playoffs. The Sox will
counter with Jake Peavy who has been up and down this season and hasn’t
received much run support. Will the bats
come and save the Sox from a sweep?
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts went 2 for 3 with the only run
scored of the game on a solo homer. It
was his first career homerun at Fenway Park.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Grady Sizemore. Sizemore went 0 for 4 with and grounded into
a double play on the night.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Rajai David’s RBI double in the
top of the 6th to knock John Lackey from the game and put the Sox up
5-1.
NEXT
Sunday, May 18th at
home vs. the Detroit Tigers.
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