Friday 4/15: Red Sox 5 Blue Jays 3
Papi stole.
Porcello was decent, but once again plagued by the long ball. He gave up two, and Josh Donaldson hit one about 418 feet to dead center that JBJ tracked down and caught, but is gone in any other park.
Saturday 4/16: Red Sox 4 Blue Jays 2
Dave Price gives up a triple to Donaldson and a double to Joey Bats in the first, but settles in to give up only one more run in seven innings, striking out 9 and walking nobody.
Xander Bogaerts provided all of the necessary offense with a 3 run dinger in the bottom of the third, and the Mayor of Ding Dong City, Travis Shaw added an RBI single for good measure.
Kimbrel struck out the heart of the Jays’ order, in order, to earn the save.
Sunday 4/17: Blue Jays 5 Red Sox 3
Jays’ starter Aaron Sanchez stifled the Sox’ bats, giving up just one run on two hits in seven dominant innings.
Steven Wright once again pitched well for Boston, giving up two earned over six innings, striking out six without walking a batter (pretty impressive for a knuckleballer). He now boasts an ERA of 2.13 on the young season.
Shaw made this one interesting by hitting a two-run homer in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough.
Monday 4/18: Blue Jays 4 Red Sox 3
Clay Buchholz tossed 6.2 scoreless innings, but the offense only managed one run in support.
Koji came in for the 8th with a 1-0 lead and gave up a hit, hit a batter, and walked two guys. John Farrell brought on Kimbrel with the bases loaded and the game still tied at one. He struck out Encarnacion, but then walked in a run and gave up a hit. More on this in a minute.
Travis Shaw once again made the 9th interesting by doubling in a run and coming around to score on a Hanley single, but there wasn’t enough 9th inning magic on this Patriots’ Day.
Trends
-Craig Kimbrel has a little too much Jon Papelbon in him for my taste. At times he’s unhittable and utterly dominant. Other times he starts nibbling at the corners and his control abandons him. Walking in a run with the bases loaded is never a good look, but he had Tulo down 1-2 and threw three straight pitches that were nowhere near the zone.
-The starting pitching was good in this series. Four games, four quality starts. Christian Vasquez was called up for Friday’s game. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
-The offense came back to earth a little bit after a hot start.
-Even though they split the series, winning the first two and losing the last two feels a lot worse than any other win/loss combination that leads to a split.