The fireworks happened during the
game and then after the game as the Sox win their 5th straight and
walk-off on the Rays by the score of 3-2 in 10 innings.
Edward Mujica worked around a
leadoff walk in the top of the 10th, with help from Andrew Miller to
keep the score tied at 2 going to the bottom half of the inning. David Ortiz came to the plate and everyone
including me wanted him to hit that walk-off homer. Especially after the antics involving him
earlier in the game, which we’ll get to later, but Ortiz would ground-out into
the shift. Next up was Jonny Gomes who
was hit by the pitch to put a runner on 1st with only 1 out and A.J.
Pierzynski coming to the plate.
Pierzynski drilled a pitch into the right-center gap and outfielders Wil
Myers and Desmond Jennings literally ran into each other and it dropped in for
a hit. A.J. would wind up with a triple
because Gomes scored for the walk-off win, but it likely would have been an
inside the park homer had the game kept going.
Before that exciting finish
however, the game featured all sorts of drama.
In the bottom of the first, David Price drilled David Ortiz in the back
with a first-pitch fastball. If you remember,
last year, in Game 2 of the ALDS, Price let up 2 homers to Ortiz and after the
game blasted Ortiz for how long it took him to round the bases on those
homers. I figured it was over because
Ortiz had told the media he apologized to Price the next day but I guess Price
wasn’t over it.
A warning was issued directly
after and John Farrell was ejected because he argued that his team should not
have been warned, and if so, then Price needed to be ejected. Price was not and Farrell went off and earned
himself an ejection with a good tirade after he was tossed from the game.
In the 4th, emotions
were again high as Price hit Mike Carp with a high and tight pitch in the
forearm. Price again evaded ejection and
new acting manager Torey Lovullo was ejected for arguing the fact. Benches cleared as Ortiz clearly looked like
he wanted a piece of Price at that time.
Tempers cooled and in the end only Lovullo was tossed to the showers.
In the top of the 6th,
Brandon Workman fired a pitch behind Evan Longoria of the Rays. He was immediately ejected as both sides were
already given a warning. Also ejected
was the Sox 2nd acting manger, Brian Butterfield. Though it looked like he was trying to hit
Longoria, it was also raining at the time.
In my opinion, he should have been left in the game since Price was not
ejected but hey, I’m just a spectator.
Even with the emotions flying
high, the Sox were able to keep their cool and deliver a game-tying hit in the 7th
and then the walk-off in the 10th for their 5th straight
win.
Overall the offense wasn’t great
as they only had 3 runs on 8 hits and struggled with men in scoring position
going 1 for 7 and leaving 11 men on base.
Xander Bogaerts went 3 for 5 with
a run scored, an RBI and his 14th double of the year. A.J. Pierzynski went 2 for 5 with an RBI,
double and triple. Pedroia walked once
and also had a hit. Ortiz went 1 for 4
with an RBI and Jackie Bradley Jr. went 1 for 4 with a run scored. Brock Holt reached base with a walk and Mike
Carp was hit by a pitch.
Not much going for the offense as
Price did look pretty good on the mound save for the beanings of course.
Brandon Workman did pretty well
again in his 2nd start of the season as he went 5 and 1/3 innings,
giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. He walked 3
and struck out 4 and exited early after the ejection. He wasn’t sharp with his command and walked a
little too many for my liking but he’s looking more reliable at this point that
Doubront was so that is encouraging.
Burke Badenhop was the first out
of the bullpen and fired 1 and 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, letting up just 1
walk while striking out 1 as well.
Junichi Tazawa pitched a scoreless frame with a strikeout and Koji
Uehara did the same. Edward Mujica went
2/3’s of an inning giving up just a walk and Andrew Miller retired the only
batter he faced to earn the win on Friday night.
It was a great win and their second
consecutive walk-off. Emotions will sure
be high again on Saturday night as Rubby De La Rosa (0-0, 0.00) will take the
hill for the Red Sox for the first time as a starter. He’ll be taking Clay Buchholz’s spot in the
rotation and I’m excited to see what the kid’s got. He was one of the prizes we received in the
Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett trade. So far we’ve only seen him in relief so it’ll
be nice to see if he has starter potential.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
A.J. Pierzynski. A.J. had 2 hits on the night but made them
count as he had a double and a walk-off RBI triple.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Grady Sizemore. The Sox are not giving up on the Sizemore
experiment but he’s still very inconsistent at the plate. On Friday he went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Pierzynski’s walk-off triple in
the bottom of the 10th.
NEXT
Saturday, May 31st at Home vs. the
Tampa Bay Rays.
No comments:
Post a Comment