The First Game

Eduardo Rodriguez was on the mound in the the first game yesterday, and he continued to deal, going 7 innings with 7 strikeouts, 2 hits, and 2 walks. The only run he’s surrendered so far in the big leagues came on a 3rd inning Brian Dozier solo home run over the Green Monster, a line drive just a foot right of the foul pole. It came with two outs, and Rodriguez missed his spot, taking a would-be outside fastball inside, and Dozier cleaned it out.

But why focus on the negative? Now that that’s out of the way, I can tell you that the Sox were a healthy 3 for 10 with runners in scoring position in this one, getting four runs out of those three hits. What a difference mild competence makes, huh?

In the 3rd, and with the score knotted at 1 after Dozier’s blast, Pedroia singled and stole second, but was sent back to first after Mookie Betts was ruled to have interfered with the catcher’s throw. Ortiz came up to the plate and hit his second double of the night, but Pedroia was unable to score from first this time (as he had in the 1st inning), and so the runners were at 2nd and 3rd for Hanley Ramirez. He went with an outside fastball to right field, scoring Pedroia to give the Sox a one-run lead. And if Napoli couldn’t get Ortiz home from third with one out, well, let’s not get greedy here.

With two outs in the 4th, Pedroia continued to torch Phil Hughes (.390 career batting average against Hughes) with his third single of the game, this one scoring Xander Bogaerts from 2nd to add an insurance run. Bogaerts had gotten there after a single of his own and an iffy (airborne) but ultimately effective sacrifice bunt from Sandy Leon.

Like Pedroia, Bogaerts also had three singles against Hughes in this one. His third hit came after Hanley and Brock Holt had each singled and then executed a double steal, setting up 2 RBIs for Xander. This was enough to get Hughes yanked.

Meanwhile, while the strikeout pace slowed for Rodriguez as the game went on, he continued to flat get batters out, inducing fielder’s choices when runners were on base in the 6th and getting the Twins to go in order in four of his seven innings pitched.

Napoli hit a solo bomb:

And Ogando gave up a two-run shot with two outs in the 9th, but induced a groundout moments later to finish things up. Yaaayyy. Okay, done celebrating? Good. On to the nightcap.

The Second Game

There’s really not much to say. And I’m not just being lazy! Okay, I’m being a little bit lazy.

Trevor May, in by a solid margin his best start of the year, held Boston to two hits and that’s it. He also had 9 strikeouts, matching his season high. The hits were consecutive, and they both came with two outs in the 3rd inning: a single by Carlos Peguero and a double by Dustin Pedroia. Peguero didn’t quite have the legs to get all the way around, so when Brock Holt, batting in the two-hole, grounded out to end the inning, it marked the last time a Red Sox batter would come to the plate with the chance to drive anyone in.

That’s right: 8 up, 8 down. Two on! 19 up, 19 down. No walks. I honestly think that everyone was too impatient to try to draw a walk. May, like Hughes, certainly throws strikes (they’re 5th and 2nd, respectively, in walks allowed this year), and it must’ve been tempting to swing early and often at balls in the strike zone, especially after the Sox’ success earlier in the day against Hughes. For whatever reason though, May (who has been a little sharper than Hughes in 2015) frustrated Boston’s hitters through seven nearly untouchable innings. Boyer and Perkins took over, with similar results, in the final two frames.

Rick Porcello was on the mound for Boston and, like May, he got his mistakes out of the way early. Unfortunately, he just made a few more than May did. He stranded a double in the first, but the second inning – single, double (run), single, safety squeeze (run) – ended up being the difference in this one. He also gave up a single in the 6th, but the runner was erased in a double play to end the inning. After giving up those two runs in the 2nd, though, Porcello saw similar results to May’s: 10 up, 10 down. One on. 8 up, 8 down. But it was all, eventually, for naught. Listen, Porcello was perfectly excellent today. I can’t be upset with him today. So I’m just gonna move on.

For all that the Sox’ offensive EXPLOSION in the afternoon game was great, they’re averaging 2.33 runs per game in the series. Same old, same old.

Notes:

Remy buying Orsillo a lamp is the must-see event of Boston’s season so far. Best entertainment of the year. “So I can’t see the pitcher, which is a slight problem…”: