Category: Game Recap

Sox Beat Indians with Four Home Runs and a Few Web Gems

Posted on August 20, 2015 in Game Recap

The kid just keeps doing it. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Joe Kelly pitched 6 innings, allowing only an unearned run (his first performance without an earned run in 2015), the Red Sox offense backed him with 4 home runs, Junichi Tazawa got his first save of 2015, and Boston beat Cleveland 6-4.

The Win:

Kelly started out hot by using a 2-seam fastball – probably his best out pitch – to get Jason Kipnis looking. But he needed a little help to escape the 1st unscathed. Shortstop Francisco Lindor cracked a fly ball to deep center, but Jackie Bradley, Jr. saved a double on a sensational full-sprint catch that required him to race back to the wall while fully extending his glove arm to his right side. He’s amazing.

From there on, Kelly continued to get help from his defense. He walked Lonnie Chisenhall in the 2nd, but got Yan Gomes to ground into a double play, 5-4-3, to get out of the inning. He gave up back-to-back one-out singles in the 4th, but Carlos Santana hit into a gorgeous double play to end the inning again, 3-6-1.

Even when second baseman Josh Rutledge botched a double play to get the first 2 outs of the 5th, letting the ball under his glove as the runner advanced to third, the very next batter (center fielder Abraham Almonte) gave Rutledge a second chance (of which he took advantage, 4-6-3). The run scored, but the bases were empty and the threat was gone. And when Kelly got himself in trouble again with two outs in the inning, giving up a walk and a single, he struck out Jason Kipnis (batting .321) for the second time on the night to escape. He also registered his 3rd strikeout of the night on Yan Gomes to get out of a 1st and 2nd situation in the 6th.

It’s possible that a game like this is Kelly’s ceiling. His stuff probably isn’t good enough to attack the strike zone with abandon, so his pitch count builds and he’s unable to get deep into his starts. But this was still a good effort. Bully for you, Pumpsie.

The Offense:

Boston’s batters, meanwhile, were facing off against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Corey Kluber. This is a guy who’s not only 5th in MLB in K/BB ratio, but also the league leader in batters faced (739), one of only three pitchers to have faced 700 or more in 2015. And coming into last night’s game, only 13 of Kluber’s 714 batters faced (he faced 25 Red Sox last night) had hit home runs.

But after going down in order in the first, the Sox erupted, sending back-to-back home runs by David Ortiz and Travis Shaw over the wall. Ortiz’s 492nd dinger was a classic pull to right field that juuust cleared the wall, while Shaw went to the opposite field, putting it over the Monster to make it 2-0.

Ortiz and Shaw couldn’t keep the ball rolling in the 4th inning (both struck out), but Pablo Sandoval hit a double in front of them and Rusney Castillo singled after them, setting the table for Bradley, who was coming off a night of rest. Like Shaw, he hit a home run the opposite way into the Monster seats, and drove in 3 runs to make the lead 5-0. Ryan Hanigan got in on the action too, hammering a slider from a defeated Kluber and driving it to the back row of the Monster seats.

Middle Game:

Alexi Ogando relieved Kelly for the 7th and did a bang-up job, more or less. He gave up a single to Almonte, struck out Giovanny Urshela, and got light-hitting Jose Ramirez to fly out to Rusney Castillo, who promptly…tossed the ball into the stands? Two outs, Rusney!

Almonte advanced to third on Castillo’s gaffe, but fortunately, Jason Kipnis’s tough night at the plate continued. He struck out for the third time, and it looked like Castillo only got a gentle ribbing in the dugout.

Tommy Layne fared equally well, striking out two batters and giving up a single in between, before giving way to Jean Machi, who’d been pitching suspiciously well for the Sox thus far. Personally, I have the feeling that those positive performances were kind of a fluke, especially after he walked pinch hitter Jerry Sands and gave up a game-altering 3-run home run to Yan Gomes. 6-4, Red Sox. Lest we forget, this man racked up a 5.14 ERA with Giants through mid-July.

The Save:

I finally saw the 9th-inning Tazawa performance I’ve been waiting for. He kept the ball low in the zone (erring towards bouncing his splitters rather than leaving them high), didn’t get greedy, and let Hanigan guide him through it. Foul out (nice play by Castillo), ground out (nice play by Sandoval), ground out. 2nd save of his career, 1st of 2015. I’m so proud.

Notes:

If you have this game recorded on DVR and haven’t watched it yet, fast forward to the top of the 8th to hear Don Orsillo tell stories about Terry Francona giving him an atomic wedgie and threatening to beat him up and actually beating him up. Gold.

Red Sox Win, Hire Dave Dombrowski. Cherington Out as GM

Posted on August 19, 2015 in Game Recap, Random Stuff
New Red Sox President of Baseball Operations - Dave Dombrowski (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

New Red Sox President of Baseball Operations – Dave Dombrowski (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

The Red Sox stormed their way to a 9-1 victory over the Indians last night behind a relentless, 16 hit offensive attack and an outstanding outing by Eduardo Rodriguez. But that was overshadowed by the big news that broke late in the game: the Red Sox hired Dave Dombrowski as President of Baseball Operations, and Ben Cherington declined to stay on as the team’s general manager.

There’s a lot to digest here, but first and foremost, this was a smart baseball decision. Dave Dombrowski is a great executive and has proven his ability to build talented teams in Montreal, Florida, and Detroit. Better yet he did it through a healthy balance of drafting, trading, and free agent signings. He’s well respected and was very, very highly sought after once he parted ways with the Tigers. In his statement he said he made it clear to John Henry (who he worked for on the Marlins) and the rest of the Red Sox ownership that Boston was his first choice.

Of course, the flip side of this is the fact that Ben Cherington declined to stay on as GM and will be moving on when the season ends (he’s staying on until then to help Dombrowski with the transition). Cherington has been with the Red Sox his entire career — since 1999. He’s had a hand in all of the wonderful things we’ve enjoyed as Red Sox fans in that time period and was the chief architect of the 2013 World Series team.

I’m curious as to how this played out behind the scenes. Did Cherington feel forced out, or could he not reconcile the fact that he wouldn’t have the final say in baseball decisions? Many teams in baseball now have a president of baseball operations and a general manager, most notably the Cubs with former Red Sox executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. If he felt forced out, it would be a bit of a raw deal for Cherington, who despite two consecutive last place finishes (maybe) I thought was doing a fine job. The farm system is as strong as ever and the contracts that didn’t work out in ’15 were very similar to the contracts that won the Sox a World Series in ’13. In any case Cherington will be missed, and you could tell some of the players were emotional in their postgame interviews, most notably Pedroia and Ortiz.

The Game:

Eduardo Rodriguez spun a real gem on Tuesday night. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Eduardo Rodriguez spun a real gem on Tuesday night. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Rollercoaster Rodriguez was back on the bump, and true to form, followed up his most recent awful outing with his most recent spectacular outing.

Pitchers IP  H  R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
Rodríguez (W, 7-5) 8.0 6 1 1 0 5 1 114-79 4.48

I guess this up-and-down pattern is better than stringing multiple bad starts together, but I think everyone in the organization is looking for a little more consistency out of Eddie. Interestingly, his ERA is now 1.67 in night games and 10.67 in day games. Maybe Duardo isn’t a morning person.

The one run he surrendered was a longball by Michael Brantley. Home runs have been a problem for Rodriguez, he’s now given up 11 in 14 starts.

The offense, meanwhile, continued to be a well-oiled machine. They pounded out 9 runs on 16 hits.

The big blow came in the bottom of the second on a bit of a lucky break for the Red Sox. The bases were loaded with one out for Mookie Betts, who appeared to strike out on an 0-2 hook from Indians’ starter Trevor Bauer. As Betts was walking towards the dugout, the first base ump trotted in towards the plate, had a brief chat with the home plate ump, and they eventually ruled that Mookie had fouled it off. Replays showed pretty conclusively that Betts never made contact with the pitch – the ball didn’t appear to change direction or rotation after the swing.

In any case, Mookie climbed back in, Bauer tried two more curveballs, but after seeing that pitch three times in a row, Betts was ready for it and cleared the bases with a double. I can’t ever remember the first base umpire coming in out of his own volition to rule that a swing and miss had actually been fouled off at home plate, but I’ll take it.

Travis Shaw smacked four more hits and is now hitting .371. I’ve also decided that he swings like a righty; his swing looks like it’s dominated by his top hand.

Other offensive highlights:

  • Brock Holt! was 3-5 with two RBIs.
  • Papi was 2-4 with two doubles, a walk and an RBI.
  • Sandoval was 2-5 with two singles, but both balls would have been doubles for virtually any other player on the team.
  • Swihart was 2-3 with a walk and two RBIs and is hitting .438 over his last four games.
  • Every starter had a hit except Hanley.

Notes:

-The Jimmy Fund annual Radio-Telethon is going on right now, donate if you can.

Matt Barnes Is Inconsistent, So He Fits Right In

Posted on August 18, 2015 in Game Recap
matt barnes is inconsistent

This is not what a left fielder looks like. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Moves: The Red Sox called up pitchers Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree. They sent down Garin Cecchini and remarkably ineffective reliever Ryan Cook. Barnes was called up to get the start in place of Steven Wright, who was placed on the 7-day DL so that he could recover from a concussion suffered when he was hit in the back of the head by a fly ball during batting practice in Miami. The Sox also signed former Red Sox reliever Rich Hill to a minor league contract. The 35-year-old was last seen tearing it up for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League. I’m betting we see him in Boston before the year is done.

Though Red Sox fans have seen Barnes in relief appearances throughout 2015, he’s been getting stretched out to start in Pawtucket. But what could Boston really expect from a guy who, through 22.1 innings as a reliever in 2015, had racked up a 5.64 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP (yikes)? Unfortunately, more of the same, with perhaps a few more flashes of talent than usual.

Barnes walked leadoff hitter Jose Ramirez, who is 0 for his last 19 and hitting below the Mendoza Line on the season in 209 at-bats, on five pitches. He stole second, and then was sacrificed over to third by Francisco Lindor. Brock Holt, covering at 1st, couldn’t handle Pablo Sandoval’s throw, so Barnes quickly found himself in a first and third, no outs situation. But Hanigan caught Lindor stealing, and Travis Shaw made a great play by throwing home on a ground ball from Michael Brantley to get Barnes out of trouble.

From the bottom of the 1st to the top of the 3rd, both sides went in order, including 4 strikeouts by Barnes. And on the 3rd pitch Shaw saw from Danny Salazar, he took him VERY deep to right field for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.

But as soon as Barnes had the lead, he got into trouble again. After striking out Lindor to start the 4th, he gave up a ground-rule double down the first base line, a clean single, and a bunt single that Barnes himself tried, clumsily, to field. Tie game, 1-1. Now probably a little rattled, he got catcher Yan Gomes to a full count before walking him to load the bases.

It’s funny how easy it seems to get away with putting poor defenders in the field, right up until it comes back to bite you. Lonnie Chisenhall sent a curveball in the air to the Green Monster, and Sox fans who had grown so used to seeing excellent outfield play over the last 7 days watched in horror as Hanley Ramirez backpedaled awkwardly toward the wall, hopped, and missed the ball entirely. Two runs scored, another came in on a ground out, and Mike Aviles plated Chisenhall on a single. 5-1, Indians.

While Hanley was doing things like that and checking his glove to make sure the ball is there after every catch, Mookie Betts was fully laying out to rob Michael Brantley in the 5th and Jackie Bradley, Jr. was climbing the wall in right field for a chance to catch Lonnie Chisenhall’s solo shot off Hembree in the 6th.

Carlos Santana also contributed a solo home run, though his came off Barnes in the 5th, directly after Betts’ spectacular catch. The Indians also got a run off Tommy Layne in the top of the 9th.

Boston never really threatened the rest of the way, though they did score in the last frame on a two-out RBI single by Shaw to drive in Josh Rutledge, who was pinch-running for David Ortiz, who’d singled. 8-2, Indians, final.

Notes:

  • Bogaerts, Sandoval, and Hanigan each went 0-4. Bradley was 0-1 with 2 walks.
  • Hembree entered the game with an 8.53 ERA and got it down to 7.27, so I guess you’d have to consider that a victory.

Red Sox Drop Finale With M’s in 12 Innings

Posted on August 17, 2015 in Game Recap
When Owens' throws, the ball takes every possible route between his hand and home plate. Upon its arrival, it is both a ball and a strike and it's past is only determined once it has been observed as a ball or a strike. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Henry Owens had an up-and-down kind of day. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

This was a weird ending to a weird series. You already know the story of the first two games of the weekend — the Sox scored a combined 37 runs and got good starting pitching. Sunday saw them score 8 more runs, but starter Henry Owens got shelled in his 3rd Major League start. Kind of.

Owens surrendered 3 runs in the first, had a 1-2-3 second, gave up 4 runs in the third, then shut the Mariners out in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. But it was even stranger than that. Hank danced back and forth between being extremely hittable and unhittable. Look at this line:

Pitchers IP  H  R ER BB SO HR ERA
Owens 6.0 10 7 7 1 10 3 6.19

Ten strikeouts and one walk in six innings would lead you to believe that he had swing-and-miss stuff and good control of his fastball. Ten hits, three home runs, and seven earned runs would lead you to believe that he was throwing poorly located beachballs. Strangely both were true yesterday, and it’s got me more mixed up than a feather in a whirlwind. Was I impressed? Was I disappointed? Maybe he’s pioneering a new pitching theory – Quantum Pitching – wherein the pitcher has both a poor and an extremely effective outing at the same time, and my simple brain can’t yet understand it. Maybe when Owens’ throws, the ball takes every possible route between his hand and home plate. Upon its arrival at home, it is both a ball and a strike and its past and trajectory are only determined once the pitch has been observed as a ball or a strike.

In any case, the Red Sox found themselves down 7-0, but based on how this series has gone it didn’t feel like they were completely out of the game. The offense slowly and steadily chipped away at the lead.

Xander got things started in the 3rd with this long-range missile over the Monster. The batter before, Mookie got picked off of first base, costing the Red Sox a run. This would be important later.

In the bottom of the 4th, Rusney hit a 1-0 changeup into the Monster seats, and Travis Shaw doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Josh Rutledge sac fly, cutting the deficit to 7-3.

In the bottom of the 5th, Holt doubled, The X singled, and Papi lifted a sac fly. 7-4.

After Owens’ six confusing innings, Alexi Ogando was brought in for the 7th. Ogando, the guy who had surrendered 11 jonróns in 49.2 innings, was brought in to face Nelson Cruz, the guy who hit his 35th homerun of the season on Saturday. Predictably, Cruz did this:

This eighth run would prove to be very important.

The Sox offense kept coming though. In the bottom of the 7th they scraped together two runs to bring the score to 8-6, setting up the dramatic 9th inning.

In that inning, Jackie Bradley walked. Mookie struck out. Holt singled. Xander grounded out softly to second, scoring Jackie from third. 8-7. This left Holt on second with Big Papi coming to the dish. With first base open he was intentionally walked, bringing up Rusney. After falling behind 0-2 he got a very hittable breaking ball that he managed to dribble up the third base line for an infield single, keeping the game alive.

This loaded the bases for Travis Shaw with two outs, the tying run on third and the winning run at second in Ortiz. Shaw fisted a 1-1 pitch into shallow left, scoring Holt from third. Inexplicably, third base coach Brian Butterfield waved home Papi from second base, who was easily thrown out at home. Shaw’s single was to very shallow left, and Ortiz hadn’t yet reached third when Mariners’ left fielder Seth Smith fielded the ball. Smith’s throw was awful — he practically rolled it, and it was up the 3rd base line — but it was still in plenty of time to get David.

Butterfield is widely regarded as one of the best coaches in Major League Baseball without a managerial position, largely due to his gift for teaching boys how to play the infield like men. But goddamn does that man make some questionable decisions as a third base coach.

In any case, the Red Sox managed to overcome a 7 run deficit and force extra innings. Craig Breslow pitched well in the 10th and 11th but ran out of gas in the 12th, when he surrendered two runs without recording an out. I think Torey Lovullo was pushing his luck by sending him out there for a 3rd inning even though he had only thrown 18 pitches in his first two innings. Also not sure why Ortiz wasn’t run for in the bottom of the 9th as the game winning run on second base with De Aza on the bench. Lovullo must’ve gotten rocked into a false sense of security with those 37 runs in his first two games. Look sharp Torey!

Notes:

-After this weekend’s series the Red Sox now rank as the 3rd best offense in all of baseball.