The Red Sox improved their record to 7-5 on Sunday by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 7-5. Drew Pomeranz got the start for the Sox today, looking for his second consecutive victory at Fenway Park. Pomeranz did not start the first inning off well, allowing three runs, two of which came on a Brad Miller triple, while the other run came ona Christian Vasquez passed ball. Overall, it was a wonky outing for Pomeranz, as 10 of the 13 outs he recorded came on strikeouts. Two home runs courtesy of Corey Dickerson and Tim Beckham didn’t help. The Red Sox were able to tie the game in the fourth, but after giving up that home run to Beckham, Pomeranz’s day was done. The bullpen did their job today, pitching 4.2 innings of shutout baseball, including Craig Kimbrel recording his fifth save of the season. After a promising start to 2017, Pomeranz suffered a setback. I don’t want to get worried though, since he did get ten strikeouts. He’ll look to bounce back in his next start against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Red Sox offense showed up today in a big way, recording 17 hits while six different players recorded multiple hits. Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts, and Christian Vazquez accounted for 9 of the 17 Red Sox hits. Pablo Sandoval hit his third home run on the season and collected his 9th RBI. Despite batting a disappointing .143 (6 for 42) Sandoval actually leads the team in home runs and RBIs as of Sunday. Mitch Moreland got yet another double today and he leads the league with 9 on the year. Christian Vazquez continues to be a surprise with the bat this season, raising his BA to .667 on the season. A big scare came in the seventh inning when Hanley Ramirez came up limping after reaching second on a Mitch Moreland RBI single. Hanley was diagnosed with a cramp in his left hamstring, and he nor John Farrell expect it to keep him out of the lineup for tomorrow’s series finale. I am actually going to the game tomorrow and I am looking forward to what the Patriots Day/Marathon Monday experience at Fenway Park is like.
7 down, 87 to go.
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