Tuesday night was pretty emotional in both Boston and Cleveland. Prior to the start of this game, the Celtics made a trade with the Cavaliers, sending the likes of Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas along with others, for Kyrie Irving. Isaiah Thomas was beloved in Boston, and I’m pretty certain Kyrie was beloved in Cleveland, too. With that all transpiring, the attention kind of shifted away from the baseball game taking place at Progressive Field, and it was a great one. After the way Monday night went down, Doug Fister looked to right the ship against the Indians, a team he has faced three times since the start of August. The righty gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Francisco Lindor, and it looked like the game was about to get away quick. Amazingly though, Fister responded by retiring three of the next four hitters and getting out of the inning. He then went on to pitch eight shutout innings while only allowing two baserunners to reach via a walk and a HBP. Fister was highly effective, keeping his pitch count down in order to pitch all nine innings. He’s had a few good starts while with the Red Sox, but this was certainly the best, and it could end up being the most important. With the way the bullpen collapsed on Monday, Fister provided those guys an opportunity to rest and regroup. That could be big as the final full month of the season approaches. It looks like he’ll make his next start against the Orioles on Sunday, so it should be interesting to see if he build on this start later in the week.
On the other side of things, Carlos Carrasco made the start for The Tribe, and I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I don’t think the Red Sox are a team he has a ton of success against. Hanley Ramirez picked up where he left off Monday, driving in the first run of the game in the first on a RBI single, scoring Andrew Benintendi from third. In the second, Xander Bogaerts, who did record two hits last night, scored from third on a Sandy Leon sacrifice fly. Later on in the fifth, Jackie Bradley Jr. added a run to the Red Sox total by mashing his fourteenth home run of the season 408 feet to center field. Unfortunately for JBJ, he had to leave the game with a hand issue in the seventh, after both he and Sandy Leon scored on a Eduardo Nunez double. Andrew Benintendi drove in Nunez on an RBI double in the seventh, and Nunez would cap this one-off with a three-run home run in the eighth, giving the Red Sox a 9-1 lead. Carrasco still pitched into the seventh inning, but he gave up six home runs, which is something you don’t see too often. It was good to see Nunez break out of his 0 for 13, and Xander Bogaerts seems to be figuring things out as well with his two hits.
Nice rebound performance, hopefully Drew Pomeranz can make his start later tonight.
72 down, ? to go.
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