“Everyone get on my back. Yes, everyone.” – Rusney Castillo (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
The Red Sox took the first game of a three game set with the Chicago White Sox last night, and the star of the show was Rusney Castillo.
Act I – For his opening act, Rusney exited stage center off of Jeff Samardzija for a three run bomb in the top of the second.
Act II – Castillo singles in the top of the fourth.
Act III – For his final act, Rusney launched a double off of the top of the wall, sending Hanley and Holt thunder clapping home and giving the Red Sox a 5-1 lead.
Encore – Castillo gunned down Avisail Garcia trying to stretch a single into a double (to me it looked like he got him on the first pass).
Surprisingly, the OSCAR® for best supporting actor went to none other than Joe “Pumpsie” Kelly, who in last night’s performance played the role of Derek Lowe flawlessly. Pumpsie coaxed 14 groundouts out of the Chicago batters, and pitched into the eighth inning for the first time in his career.
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly (W, 7-6) | 7.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5.18 |
In the first inning Joe surrendered a home run to Jose Abreu and hurled 25 times, but from then on was able to tap dance out of trouble by becoming very economical with his pitches. He left the game having thrown only 103, thanks in large part to his high groundball rate.
As is always the case with such performances, he had help from his supporting cast, starting with this diving grab by Xander in the first, and highlighted by Pablo Sandoval, who “pirouetted” over the tarp in left field to snag this foul pop by former Red Sox great Adam LaRoche.
The description on the MLB site for this play is that he “flopped” over the tarp, which is probably an accurate term but one that I found to be a little artless given the passion displayed in Pablo’s pantomime.
The bullpen has officially hit rock bottom, and Jean Machí is now the closer for the Boston Red Sox. He came in with a 5-2 lead, and it wasn’t exactly curtains for the White Sox. They smacked Machí around for three hits and two runs before the final act drew to a close.
Notes:
-Kelly has now won his last five starts, and has a winning record on the season.
-It’ll be interesting to see what Dombrowski has in mind for Joe Kelly. I personally can’t make heads or tails of the guy, and the organization clearly thinks of him as a starter since they had every opportunity to move him to the bullpen this season and did not. He’s been throwing a much higher percentage of off-speed pitches since his recall from Triple-A, and if he really has “figured it out” I could see him getting a chance to win a spot in the rotation next season.
-Castillo finished a triple shy of the cycle.
–Travis Shaw continued his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine, going 0-5 last night, lowering his average to .074 in road games this season. He’s hitting .448 at Fenway.