Tag: Baseball

RECAP: Brock Holt Comes Through with Another Huge Pinch Hit as #RedSox Even Things up with Mets in 5-3 Win.

After looking lifeless in a series opening 8-0 loss to Noah Syndergaard and the New York Mets on Friday night, the Red Sox looked to get back on track with Rick Porcello on the mound this afternoon.

Making his 31st start of the season on Saturday and coming off an outing in which he gave up four earned runs in less than six innings against the Houston Astros this past Sunday, Porcello had himself a solid day against the team he grew up a fan of.

Pitching five full innings in this one, the right-hander surrendered three earned runs on just two hits, one walk, and one HBP to go along with five strikeouts on the evening.

As it so happens, those three runs given up by Porcello came on one swing of the bat from New York, when with one out and runners on first and second, Brandon Nimmo ripped a three-run homer to the Red Sox bullpen that put the Mets up 3-1 in the fourth.

Fortunately, the New Jersey native remained composed, buckled down, and sat down the final four hitters he faced to end his outing on a more positive note.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 88, Porcello may not have gone the six innings Red Sox manager Alex Cora had planned for, but he did throw strikes 70% of the time on Saturday.

chart (4).png

Out of those 88 pitches, the 29-year-old turned to his slider a total of 36 times, which resulted in six swinging strikes and four called strikes. He also topped out at 93.4 MPH with his four-seam fastball in the second inning.

Improving to 17-7 thanks in part to the four-run rally his team put together in their half of the fifth inning, Porcello will take his 4.30 ERA and impressive record into his next time out, which should come against the Cleveland Indians sometime next weekend.

In relief of Porcello, the Red Sox bullpen bounced back from an all-around awful performance last night by combining for four shutout frames today.

Bobby Poyner, Steven Wright, and Ryan Brasier all picked up holds from the top of the sixth to the middle of the eighth while Craig Kimbrel recorded his 41st save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Mets rookie right-hander Corey Oswalt, who entered Saturday with a 6.62 ERA in 15 appearances (10 starts) with New York this season.

Starting the scoring right away in the first inning for Boston was Xander Bogaerts, whose one out RBI single plated Mookie Betts from third and put his team up early.

Fast forward to the fifth though, after the Mets had jumped out to a two run advantage of their own, and it was Steve Pearce who got a huge inning for the Red Sox started by grounding a two out single back up the middle.

One Ian Kinsler single and Mets mound visit later, it appeared as though Jackie Bradley Jr. had come through with the biggest hit of the game up to that point, a three-run home run off of Paul Sewald that would have put his team up 4-3.

Instead, after a rather lengthy umpire review, the home run was instead ruled a two RBI double, which did not and still does not make too much sense.

Nonetheless, with this game now tied, an intentional walk of Rafael Devers and a pitching change that saw RHP Drew Smith take over for Sewald set up Brock Holt in another pinch-hitting spot, as he came to the plate in the place of the struggling Sandy Leon.

On the first pitch he saw from Smith, Holt drilled a two-run double 406 feet to left center field like the pinch-hitting specialist he is.

That was good enough to drive in both Bradley Jr. and Devers, and just like that, the Red Sox had a brand new 5-3 lead. A lead they would not have to look back from en route to their 102nd win of the season.

Some notes from this 5-3 win:

From @RedSox: As a PH this season, Brock Holt is 5/13 (.385) with two doubles, one triple, two home runs, and seven RBI.

In his last 30 games, Xander Bogaerts is slashing .324/.377/.532 with four home runs and 22 RBI. His 94 RBI on the season are a career high.

In six relief appearances this month, Craig Kimbrel is 4/4 in save opportunities. He has not given up a run nor a hit in those six appearances.

—

Going for the series win and win number 103 tomorrow afternoon, it will be a starting pitching matchup that features two frontrunners for the Cy Young in their respective leagues.

For New York, RHP Jacob deGrom will bring a National League leading 1.71 ERA into his first ever start at Fenway Park.

In one previous start against the Red Sox, which took place in 2015, deGrom held Boston to two runs on four hits and two walks over six innings at Citi Field.

Opposite deGrom will be Chris Sale for the Red Sox, who also leads his league in ERA at 1.96.

Per Alex Cora, Sale is expected to ramp it up to three innings of work tomorrow, then the bullpen will take it from there.

And in case you haven’t seen it yet, deGrom took Sale deep while the two were in college back in 2010. Not like it matters much in an American League ballpark though.

First pitch of the series finale is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET Sunday.

RECAP: Xander Bogaerts Scores Winning Run on Fielding Error as #RedSox Finish off Sweep of Blue Jays.

Following a historic Wednesday night in which they saw their win total reach 100 for the first time since 1946, the Red Sox went into Thursday looking to complete the series sweep in their last game against the Toronto Blue Jays this season.

Making his 22nd start of the year on Thursday, Eduardo Rodriguez looked much better than he did in his last time out against the Houston Astros, an outing in which he surrendered five earned runs in less than four innings.

Pitching six full frames in this one, the left-hander allowed just one Toronto run to cross the plate while scattering five hits and zero walks to go along with seven strikeouts on the night.

That lone run came in the top half of the third inning, when with two outs and a runner at second, Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak grounded an RBI single up the middle to drive in Lourdes Gurriel.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, Rodriguez bounced back after that by retiring 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced, including a four pitch strikeout of Randal Grichuk with two outs in the sixth, to wrap up his evening on a more positive note.

Finishing with a final efficient pitch count of 78 (52 strikes), the Venezuela native, who was caught by Christian Vazquez once again, had a more solid pitch mix than he did this past Saturday.

chart (3).png

Out of those 78 pitches, Rodriguez threw 17 changeups, 16 two-seam fastballs, 16 sliders, 16 four-seam fastballs, and 13 cutters, which resulted in a total of nine swinging strikes and 17 called strikes.

He also topped out at 93.9 MPH with both the two and four-seamer in the third and fifth innings.

Unable to pick up a well-deserved winning decision despite leaving with his team ahead, Rodriguez did manage to lower his ERA on the season down to 3.53 in his third start since returning from the disabled list.

He’ll look to build on this solid outing in his next time out, which should come against the New York Yankees sometime next week.

In relief of Rodriguez, the Red Sox bullpen was responsible for the final three innings of Thursday night’s contest with a two run lead to protect.

Ryan Brasier was first up for the seventh inning, and he retired the only three hitters he faced in order. That was fine, but what happened in the eighth was not.

Bobby Poyner, who has seemingly been paving his way for a spot on any postseason roster with his performance as of late, made one mistake pitch to Lourdes Gurriel, who hit his eighth home run of the season to make it just a one-run game.

The left-hander did manage to record the first two outs of the frame along with that homer, and Joe Kelly was next up after him.

Kelly, who had already surrendered runs in two appearances this month alone, could not record the inning-ending out.

Instead, he loaded the bases on one walk, one single, and one HBP before allowing the tying run to cross the plate on another HBP.

Out of the 15 pitches Kelly threw on Thursday, only FIVE of them went for strikes.

Brandon Workman would have to enter this one with two outs and a Blue Jay on every base, but he was able to escape the jam by fanning Billy McKinney on three straight strikes.

After the Red Sox retook the lead at 4-3 in their half of the eighth inning, it was Craig Kimbrel’s time to shut the door on Toronto for the final time in 2018.

Making his second appearance in as many days, the flame throwing closer needed just eight pitches to retire the side in order, earning his 40th save of the season.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Blue Jays right-hander Sam Gaviglio, who only allowed one run in 3.1 innings pitched in his last start against Boston on July 14th.

For the second consecutive night, the bats were not all there, but they really didn’t need to be thanks to a pair of home runs.

That first homer came in the bottom of the second, when JD Martinez took a swing at a 2-2 83 MPH slider on the outer half of the plate and sent it 397 feet into the Red Sox bullpen.

Home run number 41 for Martinez had an exit velocity of 105.5 MPH.

An inning later, a Jackie Bradley Jr. leadoff double would later result in the team’s second run of the night after Ian Kinsler drove him in on a one out sacrifice fly to left field.

Fast forward all the way to the sixth now, and Rafael Devers, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Eduardo Nunez in the fourth, absolutely crushed his 17th big fly of the season off of Mark Leiter.

According to Statcast, that ball was hit 394 feet and had an exit velocity of over 109 MPH.

In all honesty, that probably should have been the final nail in the coffin for the Blue Jays, but they pulled their way back into this thing, for a few minutes anyway.

Moments after Toronto evened this contest up at three runs a piece in the top half of the eighth inning, Xander Bogaerts responded right away by ripping a one out double off of Danny Barnes to put the go-ahead run in scoring position.

After a successful attempt of stealing third base, Bogaerts would come into score on what appeared to be a routine pop fly off the bat of Blake Swihart.

Instead, Jays second baseman Yangervis Solarte had trouble locating the ball during its descent, and it ended up clanking off his glove and dropping to the ground.

No RBI credited to Swihart there, but it was still good enough to get the job done.

For the second straight night, the game-wining run for Boston has been scored without recoding an RBI.

Some notes from this 4-3 win:

From @SoxNotes: The Red Sox (101-46) have won each of their last 4 games. They have a 10.5-game lead over the Yankees, tied for their largest of the season. This is only the 2nd season in which they have been as many as 55 games above .500 (also 1912).

In 10 games this month, Jackie Bradley Jr. owns a .915 OPS.

JD Martinez and Khris Davis of the Oakland Athletics are currently tied in the league lead for home runs with 41 a piece.

The Red Sox finish their season series against the Toronto Blue Jays with a 15-4 record. Their magic number to clinch the American League East is down to six games.

Eduardo Nunez is day-to-day with soreness in his right knee.

—

Winners of four straight, the Red Sox welcome the New York Mets into town for the first time since 2009 for a three-game weekend series.

Getting the start in the series opener for each side will be RHP Hector Velazquez for Boston and RHP Noah Syndergaard for New York.

In one career start against the Red Sox, which came back in 2015, Syndergaard surrendered four earned runs on six hits and one walk in 6.2 innings pitched. He did not factor into the decision.

Velazquez, on the other hand, has never faced the Mets in his career, but he does own a 4.26 ERA over seven appearances (one start) in interleague play this season.

UPDATE: Velazquez is out, RHP William Cuevas is in.

First pitch of the first game of the series is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET Friday.

 

RECAP: David Price Twirls Another Gem as #RedSox Reach 100 Wins for First Time Since 1946.

The last time the Red Sox won 100 games in a single season, there were 16 teams team in Major League Baseball, the Braves played in Boston, the Giants played in New York, and the Dodgers played in Brooklyn.

Obviously, a lot has happened since then, but seeing the baseball team you grew up watching and still watch on a daily basis do something they have not done in over 70 years, that is something else.

How did the Red Sox reach this historic milestone? Well, David Price can take most of the responsibility for that.

Making his 28th start of the season on Wednesday, the left-hander picked up on where he left off in what has been a great second half of the 2018 season with another dominant performance.

Pitching seven scoreless innings in this one, Price scattered just three hits and no walks to go along with seven punch outs on the night.

After sitting down the first 13 batters he faced, the Tennessee native did give up those three hits, all of which were singles, over those final three frames of work, but the furthest base a Blue Jays hitter reached was second following a passed ball.

With his pitch count inching closer and closer to 100 in that seventh inning, Price dramatically ended his night on a positive note by fanning Teoscar Hernandez for the third and final out.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 92 (63 strikes), the 33-year-old hurler turned to his two-seam fastball a total of 33 times on Wednesday. He topped out at 94.5 MPH with that same pitch in the seventh inning.

chart (2).png

More notable, out of the 31 changeups he threw, Price induced a swing and a miss 32% of the time.

Improving to 15-6 with a 3.42 ERA on the season now, the 2012 Cy Young Award winner will look to build on what’s been a superb start to September in his next time out, which should come against the New York Yankees at dreaded Yankee Stadium sometime next week.

In relief of Price, Steven Wright got the call for the top half of the eighth inning with a slim one-run lead to protect.

Despite allowing the first two hitters he faced to reach base, the knuckleballer danced his way around the jam on his way to a scoreless frame.

Craig Kimbrel was next up for the ninth looking to lock down the save, and did just that, although he did walk one and only throw 10 strikes out of 20 total pitches.

Regardless, 39th save of the season for Kimbrel secured, but more importantly, win number 100 of the season for the Red Sox secured as well.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez, who entered Wednesday with a lifetime 4.35 ERA in eight appearances (five starts) at Fenway Park.

Similar to Price, a former teammate of his, Sanchez also had himself a quality night on the mound.

In fact, the only run that crossed the plate for the Red Sox came in the bottom of the fifth inning, when with two outs, runners at the corners, and Jackie Bradley Jr. at the plate, a 2-2 wild pitch from Sanchez rolled to the backstop.

 

That allowed Rafael Devers to easily come in from third to score what would end up being the lone run of the entire contest for either side.

The Red Sox were held to just four hits, but they did draw five walks.

Some notes from this 1-0 win: 

In his last nine starts since the All-Star break, David Price is 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA, which is tops among qualified American League starting pitchers. His .188 batting average against over that span is also second best in the AL.

The Red Sox are 8-1 in Price’s last nine starts.

From @SoxNotes: The Red Sox have won 100 games for the 1st time in 72 years, and for the 4th time in franchise history (105 in 1912, 104 in 1946, 101 in 1915).

Alex Cora is the 1st person to lead a team to 100+ wins in his 1st season as an MLB manager since Dusty Baker in 1993 (Giants, 103-59).

—

Going for win number 101 and the sweep later tonight, it will be Eduardo Rodriguez getting the start for Boston.

Since returning from the 10-day disabled list on September 1st, the young left-hander has surrendered six earned runs over nine total innings pitched, with five of those runs coming in his last time out against the Houston Astros.

In three outings against the Blue Jays this season, Rodriguez has posted a 2.41 ERA over 18.2 innings pitched.

Opposite Rodriguez will be RHP Sam Gaviglio for Toronto, who was only charged with one earned run over 3.1 innings in his last start at Fenway Park on July 14th, a game that Rodriguez also started in and the Red Sox won by a final score of 6-2.

First pitch of the final game against the Blue Jays this season is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET Thursday.

RECAP: Brock Holt’s Seventh Inning Pinch-Hit Home Run Seals Comeback Win as #RedSox Clinch Postseason Berth.

Entering their half of the seventh inning trailing by two runs, the Red Sox lineup looked as if they were having a tough go at it against Blue Jays starter Ryan Borucki.

Borucki, a left-hander, had only given up a pair of hits up until that point in Tuesday night’s contest at Fenway Park, but the momentum started to shift after Xander Bogaerts drew a one out walk.

Trailing by two runs at the time, Steve Pearce cut that deficit in half right away by ripping a 102 MPH triple to center field to plate Bogaerts all the way from first.

Following a pitching change that saw RHP Ryan Tepera take over for Borucki and a substitution that saw Tzu-Wei Lin entering as a pinch-runner at third, Ian Kinsler could not drive in the tying-run, as he struck out on six pitches.

Eduardo Nunez drew a walk on four straight balls a few moments later, and that set up Brock Holt in a perfect scoring spot.

Pinch-hitting for Sandy Leon, Holt, not Mitch Moreland, took the first four pitches he saw, which evened the count at 2-2, then leaned into a 93 MPH sinker on the inner half of the plate and launched it 388 feet into the right field seats.

That three-run big fly, Holt’s fourth of the season, put his team up 4-2, which, along with RBI from Andrew Benintendi and Ian Kinsler, along with a run-scoring wild pitch in the eighth, is all they would need to pick up their 99th victory.

Some notes from this 7-2 win:

From @SoxNotes: Brock Holt is the first player in Red Sox history to hit multiple go-ahead pinch-hit home runs in a single season (August 14 at Philadelphia and tonight vs. Toronto) (source: ).

The Red Sox (99-46) have clinched a postseason berth. This will be the club’s 3rd consecutive postseason appearance, matching the longest streak in franchise history (also 2003-05 and 2007-09).

In 13 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter this season, Brock Holt is slashing .364/.462/1.192 with two home runs and five RBI.

—

Like the title reads, the Red Sox became the first team of the 2018 season to clinch a playoff berth on Tuesday night, and their magic number to clinch the American League East now stands at just nine games.

Going for win number 100 later tonight, it will be David Price getting the ball for Boston.

Since the All-Star break, the left-hander has posted a superb 1.78 ERA and .196 BAA over eight starts and 50.2 innings pitched. The Red Sox are 7-1 in those games.

Opposite Price will be Toronto right-hander Aaron Sanchez, who surrendered seven earned runs on nine hits in five innings pitched in his last outing at Fenway Park on May 28th, a game the Red Sox won by a final score of 8-3.

First pitch of the middle game of the series is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET Wednesday.

 

Chris Sale Tosses Scoreless Inning in First Start Since August 12th for #RedSox.

For the first time in nearly a month, Red Sox ace Chris Sale was back on the mound on Tuesday after being activated from the 10-day disabled list earlier in the afternoon.

Facing off against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first of a three-game series at Fenway Park, the left-hander found himself under duress right away following a leadoff double off the bat of Lourdes Gurriel.

That was followed by two consecutive strikeouts of Devon Travis and Justin Smoak.

Sale did deal with some trouble again though when he hit Kendrys Morales to put runners on first and second with two outs.

Fortunately, the 29-year-old settled down, got Randal Grichuk to pop out to second, and retired the side without surrendering a run.

Now, the plan was for Sale to throw 40 pitches or go two innings deep into this start, whichever came first, per Alex Cora.

But, because of the fact he was put in a tough spot right from the get go, it’s understandable why the Florida native was limited to the one frame of work.

Instead of going back out for the second, Sale headed out to the Red Sox bullpen, threw about 22 pitches in a controlled environment, and called it a night.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 26, 14 of which went for strikes, Sale threw his four-seam fastball 15 times, his slider 10 times, and his changeup just once, which resulted in seven total swings and misses.

chart (1).png

He also topped out at 97 MPH with his four-seamer on the very first pitch of the contest.

Although there were some control issues, it was encouraging to see Sale back out there for the first time this month. The rust shouldn’t last too long.

With his ERA dropping down to 1.96 on the season, the southpaw will look to ramp it up in his next time out, which should come against the New York Mets  back at Fenway this Sunday.

 

RECAP: Mitch Moreland Delivers with Walk-Off RBI Single as #RedSox Avoid Sweep in 6-5 Win over Astros.

Don’t have the time to write a full recap, but how about Mitch Moreland?

Down to their final out in a tied game in the ninth, he comes through with the game-winning RBI single to score Tzu-Wei Lin from second and deliver the Red Sox their 98th win of the season.

Sweep avoided, off day on Monday, magic number to clinch a postseason berth is reduced to one.

Not the best of weekends for Boston, but this is certainly a confidence booster heading into the final three weeks of the season.

Oh yeah, JD Martinez hit his 40th home run of the season, too.

After the day off on Monday, the Red Sox will welcome the 65-78 Toronto Blue Jays into town for a three-game series.

Chris Sale is set to “start” in the series opener, which is scheduled to begin at 7:10 PM ET on Tuesday.

RECAP: Eduardo Rodriguez Surrenders Five Runs in Short Start as #RedSox Fall to Astros Again.

After dropping the series opener to the Houston Astros by a final score of 6-3 on Friday night, the Red Sox were back at it looking for some redemption on a Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.

Making his 21st start of the season today was Eduardo Rodriguez, who dominated against the Chicago White Sox in his first start since returning from the 10-day disabled list in his last time out on September 1st.

Pitching into just the fourth inning of this one, the left-hander found himself not having the same amount of success he had in Chicago. Instead, the Astros got to him early and often, which as you could guess, led to some problems.

In the 3.1 frames of work on Saturday, Rodriguez surrendered five earned runs on six hits, two of which were home runs, and three walks to go along with four strikeouts on the afternoon.

It was somewhat a tale of two starts for the 25-year-old in this one, because he began his day by retiring the first four hitters he faced in order.

It was not until Carlos Correa ripped a one out double off of Rodriguez where things really started to go down hill, because that was followed by a Tyler White triple that could have been caught by Jackie Bradley Jr. and a Jake Marisnick sacrifice fly that saw the Astros jump out to a 2-1 lead.

Over the next two innings, solo home runs from Alex Bregman, his 30th, and Martin Maldanado increased that Houston lead to three runs, and after walking George Springer with one out in the fourth, Rodriguez’s evening would come to a disappointing end.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 78 (49 strikes), the Venezuela native did not receive much help from his catcher, Christian Vazquez, in terms of calling a quality game, and that resulted in some hard hit balls from the Astros.

chart.png

Out of those 78 pitches, Rodriguez turned to his four-seam fastball the most on Saturday, as he threw it 36% of the time he was on the mound. He also topped out at 96 MPH with that same pitch in the first inning.

Falling to 12-4 on the season with his ERA inflating up to 3.64, the fourth-year hurler will look to reclaim that form he had on display against the White Sox in his next time out, which should come against the New York Mets next weekend.

In relief of Rodriguez, the Red Sox bullpen was surprisingly not to blame for this particular loss.

Brandon Workman was first up, and he closed the book on Rodriguez’s outing by allowing the second Astros run of the fourth to cross the plate on a sac fly, but bounced back with a scoreless fifth inning of work.

Bobby Poyner allowed the first two hitters he faced in the sixth to reach base, then sat down the next six Astros he faced consecutively going into the middle of the seventh.

Finally, Tyler Thornburg, who was pitching on no days rest for the first time since August 20-21st, dealt with his fair share of traffic on base paths, but ultimately held Houston scoreless in the two frames of relief he worked to hold his team’s deficit to three runs.

All and all, the Red Sox bullpen’s final line from Saturday looks like this:

5.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Astros right-hander Charlie Morton, who was making his first start since August 28th after being placed on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder discomfort.

Starting the scoring right away in this one was Xander Bogaerts, whose one out RBI single in the bottom of the first drove in Mookie Betts from second and gave Boston an early advantage.

Fast forward all the way to the fifth now, and Bogaerts struck again by mashing his second home run of the series and his 21st of the season that pulled the Red Sox to within three runs of Houston.

That would end up being Morton’s final inning, and despite reaching base a total of nine times off the Astros hurler, those two runs were all the Red Sox could manage through the first five frames on Saturday.

After rookie reliever Josh James and Ryan Pressly shut things down through the end of the eighth, it all came down to the ninth inning with Astros closer Roberto Osuna on the mound for the second straight night.

A Blake Swihart leadoff pinch-hit single, followed by a one out walk from Mookie Betts, brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Andrew Benintendi.

A wild pitch from Osuna allowed both runners to advance 90 feet, and Benintendi capitalized on that mistake by driving in Swihart from third on an RBI single to left field. 5-3 game.

With JD Martinez coming up representing the game-winning run, the Red Sox could not have asked for a better scoring spot to be in with the league leader in RBI at the plate.

Unfortunately, Martinez could not come through with a clutch hit and instead grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Some notes from this 5-3 loss:

With runners in scoring position on Saturday, the Red Sox were only 3/13 (.231)

Xander Bogaerts tied his career-high in home runs today (21) and also set a new career-high in RBI (92).

—

Going for their 98th win of the season once again tomorrow night, it will be Rick Porcello getting the start for Boston.

In his last time out against the Astros on June 3rd at Minute Maid Park, Porcello allowed just three runs (two earned) to score on five hits over 6.1 innings in what would turn out to be a 9-3 Red Sox win.

Opposite Porcello will be another former Cy Young Award Winner in Houston’s right-hander Dallas Keuchel.

Over the course of his seven-year career, Keuchel has made two career starts at Fenway Park.

In those pair of starts, the former seventh round draft pick has given up 11 earned runs in 16 innings pitched. That’s good for a 7.62 ERA to go along with a not so nice 1.69 WHIP.

First pitch of the series finale is scheduled for 8:05 PM ET Sunday. Time to salvage something.

 

RECAP: David Price Shines but Bullpen Falls Apart as #RedSox Drop Series Opener to Astros.

Coming off a sweep of the Atlanta Braves this past week and an off day on Thursday, the 97-44 Boston Red Sox returned to Fenway Park to embark on a nine-game homestand, where they were first greeted by the defending World Series champion Houston Astros for a three-game weekend series.

Earlier in late May/early June, these two teams, arguably the two best in the American League, split a four-game set at Minute Maid Park, with the Astros taking the first two and the Red Sox taking the last two.

Getting the start for this series opener, his 27th of the season, was David Price, who last we saw, took a 103 MPH line drive off his left wrist in the third inning of August 29th’s contest against the Marlins.

The left-hander would have to depart from that outing after that occurred, and nine days later, he was back at it against a team he gave up three runs to in six innings of work back on June 2nd.

Pitching into the seventh inning of this one, Price picked up right where he left off prior to that Marlins start with another stellar performance, as he surrendered just two earned runs on two hits and two walks to go along with 10 strikeouts on the night to tie a season-high.

Retiring 14 straight hitters at one point, the Tennessee native had full control of the strike zone on Friday, and he used that to his full advantage by consistently painting the corners, which led to the double-digit punch outs.

chart.png

Finishing with a final pitch count of 101 (57 strikes), Price’s night would come to an end after allowing two of the first three hitters he faced in the seventh to reach base, which would ultimately be the Red Sox’s demise.

Out of those 101 pitches, the 33-year-old hurler turned to his two-seam fastball 44% of the time on Friday, and topped out at 94.2 MPH with that same pitch in the second inning.

Unable to pick up a much deserved winning decision at the fault of his bullpen, Price will look to build on what was a strong start to his month of September in his next time out, which should come against the Toronto Blue Jays, a former club of his, sometime next week.

In relief of Price, Alex Cora turned to Ryan Brasier with one out and runners on first and second in the top half of the seventh.

Brasier closed the book on Price’s outing by allowing both of those inherited runners to score as well as another on a pair of RBI doubles from Yuli Gurriel and Tony Kemp.

Just like that, the Red Sox found themselves trailing in a game they appeared to have full control of.

Joe Kelly was next up for the eighth inning after his team had just tied things up in their half of the seventh.

Despite some solid numbers recently, Kelly found himself struggling once again, as he allowed the first three Astros hitters he faced to reach, which loaded the bases without a single out recorded.

A sacrifice fly off the bat of Carlos Correa gave Houston a brand new lead while the runners on base advanced to scoring position.

That was followed by a wild pitch in the next at bat with Tyler White at the plate, which allowed Jose Altuve to cross the plate.

With White Still up at bat, Kelly could not get a 2-2 85 MPH knuckle curveball by the Astros DH, and he laced it into left field to drive in Alex Bregman from third  and give his team a three-run lead.

Finally, just trying to keep the Red Sox within the three runs they trailed by at this point, Tyler Thornburg worked his way around two singled in a scoreless ninth inning of work, not like it mattered that much at that point.

All and all, here is the final pitching line from the Red Sox bullpen on Friday night:

2.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. Not great.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole, who, in his only other start against Boston as an American League hurler, pitched seven innings while allowing three runs to score back on June 1st in Houston.

With the regulars back in the Boston lineup, Cole was solid yet again, although Red Sox hitters did make him work quite a bit.

Starting the scoring right away in this one was JD Martinez, whose sacrifice fly in the first inning drove in Mookie Betts from third to give the Red Sox an early advantage.

Fast forward to the fourth, Xander Bogaerts extended that lead a bit by blasting his 20th home run of the season, a 432 foot shot to dead center.

Three innings later, after the Astros had jumped out to a 3-2 lead, JD Martinez answered right back with an RBI single of his own to pull this thing back at even.

That would be the final Red Sox run of the night, however.

Some notes from this 6-3 loss:

In eight starts since the All-Star break, David Price has posted a 1.78 ERA and .196 BAA over 50.2 innings pitched.

I know RBI are not the greatest statistic but JD Martinez already has 117 of them on September 8th.

Over the last 14 days, the Red Sox bullpen owns a 5.40 ERA in 55 total innings pitched. That’s good for the 26th best ERA in baseball over that span.

—

Going for their 98th win this evening, it will be Eduardo Rodriguez getting the ball for Boston in his second start since returning from the disabled list.

In his four-year career, the left-handed Rodriguez has only made two starts against the Astros, both of which have come at Fenway Park.

In those two starts, Rodriguez has surrendered six earned runs in a total of 6.2 innings pitched. That’s a good for a 8.10 ERA.

Opposite Rodriguez for this middle game will be another right-hander in Houston’s Charlie Morton, who the Red Sox got to for six runs in less than six innings back on June 3rd, a game Boston ran away with.

First pitch of the middle game of the series is scheduled for 4:05 PM ET Saturday.

Chris Sale to Return from 10-Day Disabled List on Tuesday, Serve as “Opener” for #RedSox.

Chris Sale has not pitched in a major league game since August 12th, where he struck out 12 Orioles in five shutout innings of work on a total of just 68 pitches in Baltimore.

Since then, the left-hander has been on the 10-day disabled list with “mild left shoulder inflammation.”

In the past two months, Sale had made a total of five starts dating back to July 6th, but now he’s ready to return. That’s great.

Beginning this Tuesday, we will have the opportunity to see Sale pitch in a role similar to the one he had when he came up with the Chicago White Sox in 2010.

Over his first two big league seasons, the Florida native appeared in a total of 79 games as a reliever, where he posted a 2.59 ERA in 94.1 innings pitched to go along with 111 strikeouts before moving to Chicago’s starting rotation in 2012.

Now, Sale will not be coming out of the bullpen for the remainder of this 2018 season, but his workload will be limited for a while as an “opener.”

Like the above tweet states, the FGCU alum will pitch no more than two innings in his next “start” on Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Five days later, an additional inning will be tacked on, and so on until he is back in the full swing of things.

After those two frames, Nathan Eovaldi will come out of the bullpen in relief of Sale, per Alex Cora.

So, there you have it. All of this may not be possible without Kevin Cash and what the Tampa Bay Rays have done with their pitching staff this season.

Also, Dustin Pedroia will miss the remainder of the 2018 season and Brandon Phillips took ground balls at first base on Friday.

First pitch of tonight’s game against the Houston Astros is scheduled for 7:10 PM.

RECAP: Brandon Phillips Comes up Clutch with Go-Ahead Ninth Inning Home Run as #RedSox Finish off Sweep of Braves.

After taking the first two games of this interleague series against the Atlanta Braves over these last two days, the Red Sox looked to head into an off day with a three-game sweep to end their road trip on a positive note.

Making his seventh start of the season on Wednesday was Hector Velazquez, who entered the afternoon with a lifetime 3.38 ERA in two career relief appearances against Atlanta, both of which have come in 2018.

Tossing four full innings, the right-hander yielded just two runs on five hits and three walks to go along with two strikeouts on the day.

For as lousy as a start Velazquez got off to with the Braves tacking on two runs on a Ronald Acuna leadoff home run and Nick Markakis RBI single before a single out was recorded in the bottom half of the first, it was nice to see him settle down a bit.

After that disastrous first frame, the 29-year old buckled down and did not surrender a single hit to the final 12 Braves he faced in this one, as he worked his way around three walks along the way to a decent outing.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 57 (37 strikes), the Mexico native turned to his slider 33% of the time on Wednesday while topping out at 92.2 MPH with his four-seam fastball, a pitch he only threw seven times, in the fourth inning.

Although his ERA did rise from 3.24 up to 3.30 following this afternoon’s performance, Velazquez will look to build on a solid start to September in his next time out, which should come against the Toronto Blue Jays sometime next week if it’s in a starting capacity. If not, I would not be surprised to see him come out of the bullpen during this upcoming weekend series against the Houston Astros.

In relief of Velazquez, the Red Sox bullpen was responsible for the final five innings of Wednesday afternoon’s contest, and they did not really have an easy go of it.

Drew Pomeranz, who entered the day with a 2.93 ERA since moving to the bullpen earlier last month, was first out of the ‘pen to relieve Velazquez in the bottom of the fifth.

The southpaw came into the game with the score at 2-1 in favor of the Braves. By the time he departed, that one-run lead had inflated all the way up to five after Pomeranz could only record one out on a force out while technically allowing all six hitters he faced to reach base.

That was certainly not great, and the situation got even worse when William Cuevas, who came in for Pomeranz, allowed an inherited runner to score from third on a Tyler Flowers single to make it a 7-1 game.

From that point on, both Cuevas and Bobby Poyner held the Braves scoreless in a combined 2.2 innings of work before Brandon Workman made an appearance to start the eighth.

Just moments after his team rallied from a six-run deficit to even things up at seven runs a piece, Workman allowed the then go-ahead run to score on a two out, pinch hit solo home run from Freddie Freeman.

However demoralizing it was at the time, the Red Sox still made another successful comeback effort, and Workman ended up getting credited with the winning decision, his fourth of the year.

Finally, to wrap this thing up, Craig Kimbrel came in for the save opportunity against his former club with a fresh one-run lead to protect.

Despite a two out walk, the flame throwing closer rebounded by striking out the next and final batter he faced to secure both his 38th save and the team’s 97th win of the season.

On the other side of things, a Red Sox lineup absent of Mookie Betts, JD Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, and Ian Kinsler to begin things was matched up against Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, who entered Wednesday with the fourth lowest ERA (2.80) among qualified starters in the National League.

Foltynewicz, 26, had already faced Boston once before this season, and he dominated with seven innings of one run ball back on May 27th in a 7-1 win for Atlanta.

Similar to that outing more than three months ago, the Braves hurler was at the top of his game again, as he allowed another lone run in another six quality innings of work.

That one run, though, was scored by none other than Brandon Phillips, who in his first game in a Red Sox uniform, had himself quite the day, and it all started with this wild sequence at third to plate Boston’s first run of the contest in the second inning.

Fast forward all the way to the top of the eighth now, with Foltynewicz out and RHP Dan Winkler in for the Braves, it was surprisingly Christian Vazquez who got a huge rally started with a leadoff single.

Three batters and two additional singles later, Blake Swihart trimmed the Red Sox’s deficit down to four runs with a two RBI double lined to center field.

Following a pitching change that saw left-hander Jonny Venters take over for Winkler, Andrew Benintendi picked up right where Swihart left off by lacing another RBI knock to score Jackie Bradley Jr. from third and make it a three-run game.

Steve Pearce, pinch-hitting for Mitch Moreland, made it a two-run game with a sacrifice fly to left field that was deep enough to drive in Swihart from third.

After Brandon Phillips reached first on a throwing error that also allowed Benintendi to advance to third, the Braves turned to their bullpen once again and out came former Oriole Brad Brach to try and get out of a sticky situation.

Greeted first by pinch-hitter Ian Kinsler, Brach could not sneak a 1-0 94 MPH fastball by Kinsler, as the Red Sox second baseman came through with the clutchest hit of the inning, a bases clearing two RBI double to pull his team even.

That would do it for the scoring in the eighth, and after the Braves jumped out to a brand new one-run lead in their half of the inning, it would all come down to the just called up Phillips in the ninth.

Down to their final out with Andrew Benintendi at first and closer AJ Minter on the mound for Atlanta, Phillips smacked the first pitch he saw, a 95 MPH fastball down the middle of the plate, and sent it 432 feet to left field. No doubt about it.

Phillips’ first big league homer since September 26th proved to be the most important hit of the afternoon, as it put the Red Sox up 9-8, which would go on to be your final score in this thrilling series finale.

Some notes from this 9-8 win:

From @SoxNotes: Brandon Phillips is the first player in Red Sox history to hit a go-ahead HR in the 9th inning or later in his debut with the team (source: ).

From @KNegandhiESPN: MLB teams were 487-0 when leading by 6 runs entering the 8th inning this season.. That streak came to an end as the erase a 7-1 deficit to beat the , 9-8.

Since August 26th, Ian Kinsler is slashing .361/.395/.528 with one home run and eight RBI in his last 10 games.

—

Finishing a seven-game road trip with a solid 5-2 record, the Red Sox will head into a much deserved off day on Thursday with 97 wins already under their belt.

Following the off day, the team will welcome the defending World Series Champion Houston Astros into town for a three-game weekend series at Fenway Park.

The pitching matchups for that series go as follows:

9/7. RHP Gerrit Cole (13-5, 2.86 ERA) vs. LHP David Price (14-6, 3.60 ERA)

9/8. RHP Charlie Morton (13-3, 3.14 ERA) vs. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (12-3, 3.34 ERA)

9/9. RHP Dallas Keuchel (11-10, 3.46 ERA) vs. RHP Rick Porcello (16-7, 4.20 ERA)

For Price, Friday’s start will be the first in-game action he has seen since taking a line drive comebacker off his left wrist in his last outing against the Miami Marlins on August 29th, where he had to leave after only pitching three innings.

First pitch of the series opener against the ‘Stros is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET on Friday.