Pardon the pun, but Rubby De La
Rosa’s first start as a member of the Red Sox was an absolute gem. The righty went 7 shutout innings giving up
just 4 hits while walking none and striking out 8 to lead Boston over Tampa Bay
7-1 on Saturday night.
It was such a dominating
performance that the Rays managed only 2 of the 21 outs outs he recoded were
out of the infield. He had pinpoint
control with his fastball which he could fire at 98-99 and his changeup was
dropping off the table as the Rays just couldn’t touch him. De La Rosa continually left them off balance
as he mowed through the Rays lineup.
With the win, the Sox now have
won 6 in a row and the young players are the ones helping out with De La Rosa
being the newest to the bunch.
Offensively, the Sox banged out 7
runs on 11 hits while walking twice.
They did leave 7 on base and were only 2 for 9 with runners in scoring
position but had some help from the long ball on Saturday night.
Brock Holt hit his first career
homer and went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI. Jackie Bradley Jr. went 1 for 4 with a run
scored, 2 RBI and his first homer of the season. A.J. Pierzynski went 2 for 4 with an RBI as
he stayed smoking hot.
Jonathan Herrera, who may be the
odd man out when Stephen Drew is ready in the minors, went 3 for 4 with 2 runs
scored and an RBI. Grady Sizemore went 2
for 4 with 2 runs scored and Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 3 with a run scored,
his 15th double and 2 walks.
Mike Carp drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and also was hit by a
pitch in the game. The only Sox not to
reach base were Jonny Gomes and David Ortiz who both went 0 for 4.
After De La Rosa came out of the
game, Alex Wilson pitched the final 2 frames of the game giving up 1 run on 3
hits while striking out 2.
The story of the game however,
was the outstanding pitching performance by Rubby De La Rosa. The Dodger’s raved about him when he was in
their farm system and he had a handful of Major League starts for them that
showed tremendous potential but yesterday in his season and Red Sox debut he
looked brilliant. What surprised me the
most was just how confident he looked out there. He didn’t seem nervous at all and had a lot of
faith in all of his pitches. I don’t
remember him having as good a changeup as he featured last night when he was a
reliever last year but man he was on yesterday.
With Buchholz and Doubront being so inconsistent so far this year, if De
La Rosa can pitch like that, the Sox may have just found a huge piece of the
pie.
The Sox will go for the sweep
Sunday afternoon as Jon Lester will take the hill against Erik Bedard.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Rubby De La Rosa. He simply shutdown the Rays in his season
debut.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
David Ortiz. Ortiz went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and was
one of 2 Red Sox hitters that failed to record a hit on the afternoon.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Brock Holt’s 2-run homer in the
bottom of the 3rd. It would
be all the Sox would really need on the night but they would add more for
insurance later on.
NEXT
Sunday, June 1st at Home vs. the
Tampa Bay Rays.
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