Tag: orioles

RECAP: Andrew Benintendi’s heroics gave #RedSox yet another extra innings victory, this time in Baltimore.

The Red Sox went into Baltimore last night after taking two out of three from the Rays. Their goal for this week had to be the same as it was over the weekend, win the series against a division rival. They got off to a good start on Monday, despite some pitching struggles. Doug Fister got the start in this one, and he looked bad yet again. For the second time in a row, Fister failed to pitch at least six innings and gave up five or more earned runs. In the two plus innings he pitched, the Orioles reached base nine times and scored five times. Marty Foster’s strike zone was off, and that made way for Fister allowing five walks, which is rare for him. It was clear he didn’t agree with the zone, and he was even seen yelling at Foster while heading to the dugout at one point.

In relief of Fister, the Red Sox had to use nine relief pitchers, and they did a solid job from the sixth inning on. Heath Hembree, Fernando Abad, and Brandon Workman gave up a combined three runs in four innings pitched, and that was it in terms of the Orioles scoring. Robby Scott, Joe Kelly, Addison Reed, Craig Kimbrel, Matt Barnes, and Carson Smith went on to pitch five scoreless innings while striking out four. If you look at the bullpen’s final line, 9 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO, that looks like a great start for a starting pitcher, so it’s good to see the bullpen is still doing their thing, with Road Matt Barnes coming up big and Carson Smith picking up his first save of the season.

On the other side of things, Dylan Bundy was slightly better than Fister, but not by much. It looked like he was going to have his way with the Red Sox up until the fifth inning. After Mookie Betts drove in the first run in the fourth, he, along with Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt, drove in six runs in the fifth. If it weren’t for JBJ’s long at-bat, Bundy may have got out of the inning without giving up anything. Also, Brock Holt’s AB wasn’t even supposed to happen. Dustin Pedroia had to leave the game after taking a foul ball off his nose. So, in the middle of the at-bat, Holt came in and ripped a 2 RBI single. That outpour in the top half of the sixth gave the Red Sox a 7-6 lead, but the Orioles retook the lead in the bottom half. Surprisingly, Xander Bogaerts tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh.

The bats on both sides went silent for a little bit, until the top of the eleventh inning. Three walks and two ground outs set up a bases loaded, two-out at bat for Andrew Benintendi. On a 2-2 pitch, Benintendi ripped a single to right field, scoring Blake Swihart from third and Xander Bogaerts from second, giving the Red Sox a 10-8 lead and essentially the win.

With that extra innings win, the Red Sox are now 14-3 in games that go more than nine innings. Drew Pomeranz gets the start today, and this will actually be his first start at Camden Yards this season.

86 down, 8 to go. 

RECAP: #RedSox look lifeless yet again; fail to win one game over Players Weekend.

First off, sorry for not posting a recap blog of the game yesterday. I was getting ready for the fight and I figured it wouldn’t be worth it to blog about a 7-0 loss. Anyway, Doug Fister made the start in this one, coming off his best start in a Red Sox uniform last time out in Cleveland. The righty put together another solid performance on Sunday despite a rough start. The Orioles managed to score twice off of Fister in the first, but couldn’t do anything after that. After getting those two runs on three hits in the first, Fister limited the Orioles to two hits and two walks over the next six innings. There were really no times after the first where Fister found himself in any real trouble, and he also tied a season-best with seven strikeouts on the day. He kept his guys in the game, and so did the bullpen. Even though the Red Sox were trailing, we still saw Addison Reed and Craig Kimbrel pitch the eighth and ninth innings, and they both looked good with scoreless innings.

Before today, the Red Sox have scored a combined three runs in eighteen innings against a team that owns the third worst team ERA in all of baseball. Unfortunately, this trend continued Sunday afternoon. Old friend Wade Miley held the Red Sox to only one run, despite allowing seven hits and three walks in the five plus innings he pitched. They loaded the bases in two consecutive innings, the fifth and the sixth, and could only score that one time. I feel the need to single out Mookie Betts here because he struck out to end the sixth on a full count without taking his bat off his shoulders. In total, the Red Sox went 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position today. Definitely something that needs improvement as they go on this big seven game road trip in Toronto and New York.  Continue reading “RECAP: #RedSox look lifeless yet again; fail to win one game over Players Weekend.”

RECAP: Mitch Moreland throws a scoreless ninth in ugly 16-3 loss for #RedSox.

In what is supposed to be a fun weekend for the players and the fans, the Red Sox did just about everything to kick off the weekend in the worst way possible. I’m not going to give you a typical blog because it’s honestly not worth it. Two days after the Red Sox looked like they have finally proven themselves against Corey Kluber, they drop two games in a row in ugly fashion. The Orioles are far worse than the Indians, but they have done the most damage in the past seven days. Rick Porcello made his start, and he was having a pretty good August, winning his last five starts. Well, on Friday night, that version of Porcello was nowhere to be seen. The righty was bad, but he cannot take all the blame. The defense behind him was the sloppiest it has been all season, committing five errors total. Porcello ended up surrendering eleven runs, but only four of them were earned. He did get hit hard though, and that led to him exiting the game with two outs in the fifth inning. The bullpen was atrocious, so bad in fact that MITCH MORELAND and Robby Scott were the only pitchers to throw scoreless innings. Scott pitched the eighth and Moreland the ninth, and he was pretty much the only bright spot of the night. Here he is striking out Caleb Joseph:

Offensively, Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run home run in the second to make it a 5-2 game, and it looked like the Red Sox were about to get back in this game. That’s not what happened though, and the only run the Red Sox scored came in the fifth, when Rafael Devers scored on a Sandy Leon sacrifice fly. Xander might be back, which is a positive, but there is not much good to take away from this one. Eduardo Rodriguez makes the start this afternoon, and the Red Sox need a good one, desperately. 

At least the Yankees lost, though.

73 down, 22 to go. 

RECAP: Chris Sale and Andrew Benintendi help #RedSox split series with O’s in 7-3 win.

Things didn’t look great for the Red Sox on Friday night. The Sox had just dropped their second consecutive game to the Orioles, who seemed to be hitting their stride after a rough May. Luckily for the Red Sox, David Price and Chris Sale were there to salvage the series. Price pitched eight quality innings Saturday, and Sale pitched six solid innings on Sunday. There probably weren’t many people who thought Sale could go six after the first inning he had, but here we are talking about. The southpaw allowed three runs in the first, although I don’t completely blame him for all those runs. With one out in the inning and runners on first and second, the Orioles decided to try a double-steal, and it looked as if Sandy Leon picked off Joey Rickard at third. However, a challenge from Buck Showalter would show that Rickard’s hand touched the bag before Pablo Sandoval tagged him, resulting in runners on second and third with only one out. This play just says everything you need to know about Pablo Sandoval’s tenure as a member of the Red Sox thus far, just about worthless in every aspect of the game. If Deven Marrero was at third, that’s an out and that’s a fact. Instead Chris Sale gives up a double to Chris Davis, which allowed those runners to score. The Orioles would score their last run of the game in the first, when Jonathan Schoop drove in Davis on an RBI double. Sale really grinded his way to another quality start, only allowing three hits over the next five innings while striking out nine total. The Red Sox bullpen held their own on Sunday, as Blaine Boyer, Robby Scott, and Matt Barnes combined to pitch three innings while giving up three hits, zero runs, and striking out two. I saw a stat saying that Sale has like a 4.30 ERA over his past three starts, but I’m not worried about that, no Red Sox fan should.

The Red Sox offense recorded nine hits for the second day in a row Sunday afternoon. Jackie Bradley Jr. continues to break out of his early struggles, as he drove in two runs on a single in the first. Andrew Benintendi had his best game as a Major Leaguer, reaching base four times, including two home runs and a single, which drove in a total of three runs. With those two bombs from Benintendi, not only was it the first multi-home run game of his career, yesterday’s game could be the first step to getting Benintendi out of this slump. The other two runs the Red Sox scored came on a fielding error in the sixth, when Francisco Pena, the catcher, overthrew Manny Machado, and that allowed Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley to score.

To me, it feels weird to say this, but, if the Red Sox sweep the Yankees this week, they could have sole possession of first place going into next weekend’s series against the Tigers. No game today, FWIW, off-day.

31 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: David Price pitches into eighth inning; #RedSox avoid O’s late rally with 5-2 win.

Looking to build on his 2017 debut, David Price took the mound to face the Baltimore Orioles for the first time this season. Price was great, while also being very effective with his pitch limit. The 2012 Cy Young Award winner went deeper into the game than he did in Chicago, pitching 7+ innings, surrendering three hits and only one run, while striking out seven Orioles. The only real trouble Price ran into came in the bottom of the seventh, when Manny Machado took the southpaw deep for his twelfth homer of the year. I was surprised to see Price come out for the eighth, but as it turns out, he would only face one batter before his day was over. The funny thing was that Price struck Jonathan Schoop out, but because of a passed ball by Christian Vazquez, Schoop was able to reach first. I think it’s safe to say this is what Red Sox fans wanted to see out of David Price. Through his first two starts, Price’s ERA currently sits at a solid 3.00. Both of his starts have come on the road, so I’m interested to see how he will perform when he makes his first start of the year at Fenway.

John Farrell only needed two other pitchers to secure the win, but Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel were not at the top of their game. Kelly came in to relieve Price in the eighth, and he was able to get J.J. Hardy to hit into a double play right out of the gate. Unfortunately for Kelly, the next two batters he faced reached base, setting up Craig Kimbrel to come into the game with the chance to get a four out save. Kimbrel got out of the inning easy, but the ninth was a different story. I’m not trying to defend Kimbrel too much here, but I really think he was affected by the fact that the Red Sox made it a four-run game in the top of the ninth. Anyway, Kimbrel gave up his first run in forever, but that didn’t stop him from picking up his sixteenth save of the season.

The Red Sox offense didn’t need to score a ton of runs thanks to David Price. Hanley Ramirez was the star of the game, potentially breaking out of a power struggle by going 2 for 3 with a home run, a double, a walk, and three RBIs. It was also nice to see Mookie Betts get two hits and an RBI since he has been struggling recently. Xander Bogaerts also drove in a run Saturday, scoring Mookie Betts from third on a fielder’s choice in the eighth.

Chris Sale gets the start today, looking to rebound from his worst start in a Red Sox uniform that took place in Chicago. With the chance to leave Baltimore with a split, I expect Chris Sale to be lights out Sunday.

Also, shout out to Mitch Moreland for this catch on an awful throw from Pablo Sandoval:

30 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Rick Porcello shakes off rough first inning; #RedSox drop game two 3-2.

Note: Before this game even started the Red Sox received bad news pertaining to Eduardo Rodriguez. ERod was placed on the 10-Day DL with a right knee injury, which happened while he was warming up for his start yesterday. Brandon Workman getting called up was the corresponding move, but it looks Brian Johnson will get the start in ERod’s slot next time around the rotation.

Doesn’t get much worse for a starting pitcher to give up a leadoff home run to start his outing. Unfortunately for Rick Porcello, that’s exactly what Seth Smith had in mind, taking the 28 year-old RHP deep after a long AB. That wouldn’t be the only damage done in the first, as a scuffling Manny Machado blasted his 11th home run of the season to left field with only one out. This would be the only real trouble Porcello would run into, save the fact the Orioles scored another run in the fourth. If you take away the first inning though, the Orioles only got five hits and one run off Porcello in five innings, which is nothing to be ashamed of against an offensive team like that. The Red Sox bullpen would be responsible for the seventh and eighth innings, and they did not allow a single run in that span. Heath Hembree, Robby Scott, and Joe Kelly combined for only one hit while striking out two Orioles in two innings of work.

This Red Sox offense appears to be stuck in a rut. The fact that they struggle to score runs against mediocre pitchers is kind of embarrassing for a team that had one of, if not the best offense in baseball in 2016. In his first start at third since being activated from the DL, Pablo Sandoval hit his fourth home run of the season in the top of the second. The only other run for the Red Sox would come in the seventh, when Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in Xander Bogaerts on a 2 out RBI single. The offensive struggles from the likes of Hanley Ramirez, Andrew Benintendi, and Mookie Betts have become quite evident during this road trip. Alec Asher got the best of this lineup today, hopefully Dylan Bundy doesn’t have the same luck.

By the way, shout out to Mookie for making one of the best catches you’ll see, just sprawled out for this one:

29 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Eduardo Rodriguez gives up seven runs; #RedSox lose opener in Baltimore 7-5.

As I said yesterday, it would be great if the Red Sox won at least three out of four in Baltimore to maybe gain some ground in the AL East standings. Well, after Thursday’s loss, taking three out of four looks less probable. The Orioles had an awful May, going 12-16, including a season-high 7 game losing streak. Their struggles have been highlighted by Manny Machado, whose BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, and OPS+ are currently the worst they have been since his MLB debut in 2012. With all that in mind, I thought the Red Sox had a good shot at winning this series. Eduardo Rodriguez got the start, and before the game even started, things looked rough. While he was warming up in the bullpen, ERod took a tumble, and stayed down for a few minutes. Being aware of this, John Farrell alerted the home plate umpire that ERod may not be 100%, and I don’t think he was. The 24 year-old Venezuelan southpaw nearly got through six innings, but not before giving up four home runs, which scored all seven runs for the Orioles. Blaine Boyer would come in to relieve Rodriguez with two outs in the sixth, he got all four outs he was responsible for, ending the sixth along with getting the O’s in order in the seventh. Fernando Abad was responsible for the eighth, and despite getting into a jam, he got out of the inning without giving up a run. Rick Porcello, David Price, and Chris Sale are next up in this series, and each start should be exciting to watch.

Offensively, the Red Sox could virtually do nothing against former Red Sox starter Wade Miley. The only run they got off Miley came in the second, when Christian Vazquez drove in Sam Travis on an RBI single. The bats would go silent until the top of the ninth, when the Red Sox got four of their nine hits and four of their five runs. Christian Vazquez would drive in two more runs on another RBI single. Then, Jackie Bradley took Donnie Hart deep for a three-run blast, making it a two-run game. Pablo Sandoval would bat next, with the chance to get the tying run to the plate, but unfortunately for the Red Sox, he grounded out, and that ended the game.

This offense is kind of a head scrather. They seem to score a majority of their runs in bunches, and they can’t seem to score much off mediocre pitchers. Mookie Betts continues to struggle, dropping his BA to .266 after an 0 for 4 performance. It is good to see JBJ heat up with the bat, though, that’s a positive from this loss.

29 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Kyle Kendrick falls short in Red Sox debut; #RedSox drop series finale to Orioles in 8-3 loss.

With Steven Wright opting for season-ending knee surgery on Thursday, the Red Sox had to look at their organizational depth in order to find a fifth starter. Kyle Kendrick got that call, as his contract was purchased prior to Thursday night’s game. I think it’s safe to say that Kendrick is not the long-term option for that fifth starter spot. It certainly didn’t help any case he could make, as Kendrick got absolutely lit up Thursday. The veteran right-hander actually got off to an okay start, only allowing four hits and one run through the first three innings. However, things would turn ugly in the fourth. The scoring for the Orioles would start with the first three batters reaching base. So, with one out and the bases loaded, Seth Smith would deliver for the O’s by hitting a two-run double to left, scoring Jonathan Schoop and Hyun Soo Kim. After getting Adam Jones to strike out, Manny Machado would have his way with Kendrick, mashing a two run bomb over the Monster, scoring JJ Hardy and Seth Smith, making it a 6-3 game, and that’s how the fourth would end. The Orioles would score two more in the top of the fifth, getting to reliever Ben Taylor for four hits and two runs. It was nice to see Brandon Workman make his return to the Red Sox on Thursday, after coming back from Tommy John surgery and rehabbing last season. Despite giving up five hits, Workman did good for his first Major League action since late 2014, pitching three shutout innings and striking out two. Fernando Abad would also see some action in a mop-up role, retiring the Orioles in order in the ninth.

My expectations were low for Kendrick to begin with, especially after the rough start he has had to begin the season in Pawtucket. I really don’t know where the Red Sox can go from here in terms of starting pitching. David Price appears to be making progress, but there’s still no word on if he’s ready for a rehab assignment or not despite all the simulated games he has been throwing. With the injury history Pomeranz and Rodriguez have, the rotation can be considered the biggest question mark.

Anyway, the Red Sox offense continues to disappoint. They were the team to score first on Thursday, with two runs scoring off a single from Xander Bogaerts. After that, they only scored one run over eight innings, which was actually Dustin Pedroia’s first home run of the season. It will be interesting to see with the Red Sox do at third base. With Hernandez, Sandoval, and Holt out for the foreseeable future, Josh Rutledge is really the only third baseman on the active roster. Some think it may be time to call up #1 prospect, Rafael Devers. Personally, I would not want to rush him. I like the idea of trading for a veteran who will be a free agent after this season, such as Todd Frazier or Mike Moustakas.

Also, these next two series should be interesting. The Minnesota Twins are off to a pretty impressive start. At 14-12, they are only half a game back of first place in the American League Central. After an off day on Monday, the Red Sox travel to Milwaukee for three games. In case you forget, the Red Sox traded Travis Shaw and Mauricio Dubon to the Brewers in exchange for Tyler Thornburg, who has yet to appear in a regular season game for the Red Sox. I think this will be the first time I’ll see the Red Sox play at Miller Park, so I’m looking forward to that.

15 down, 79 to go. 

RECAP: Pomeranz, #RedSox take game three from Orioles in wonky fashion; win 4-2.

After the drama that took place in game two of this series, it kind of persisted on Wednesday night. Drew Pomeranz was on the mound for the Red Sox and he was matched up against Kevin Gausman. After struggling in the first inning despite not giving up any runs, Pomeranz put in another solid performance. Pitching 5.1 innings, giving up five hits, walking two, striking out seven, and giving up earned runs. After that long first inning, Pomeranz pitched four shutout innings until running into trouble after getting the first out in the fifth. Heath Hembree would come in for Pomeranz, with two runners on second and third. Trey Mancini would hit a sacrifice fly to center, which would score Mark Trumbo from third. J.J. Hardy would then single to left, and that would score Jonathan Schoop from third. Hembree would end the inning by striking out Joey Rickard. Matt Barnes came in for the seventh, and got the Orioles 1-2-3. After coming out for the eighth and getting the first two outs while allowing Trey Mancini and J.J. Hardy to reach base on hits, Robby Scott would retire Francisco Pena to end the top half of the inning. To end the game, we got peak Craig Kimbrel, as he striked out the Orioles in order to record his tenth save of the season.

The Red Sox offense obviously outscored the Orioles, even though they got out-hit by them 9-6. Things got testy in the bottom of the second. With Xander Bogaerts at the plate, Kevin Gausman threw a 77 MPH slider that, probably wasn’t intentional, hit Bogaerts. Gausman was immediately tossed from the game by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook, and that was met with an emotional reaction. O’s catcher Caleb Joseph was irate, and he also got tossed for the game, for making contact with Holbrook. After all that, the Red Sox would score their first run of the game on a Josh Rutledge RBI single that scored Xander Bogaerts from third. Forget to mention this earlier, but, Marco Hernandez was starting at third before getting taken out after straining his left shoulder on an Adam Jones ground out in the first inning. That’s why Rutledge was playing. Anyway, the Red Sox didn’t score again until the fourth inning, which began when Xander Bogaerts scored on an RBI double off the bat of Chris Young. Mitch Moreland would then score on a Josh Rutledge fielder’s choice. The scoring would end when Chris Young scored from third on a Dustin Pedroia sacrifice fly. So, you know who the player of the game was? This guy:

Image result for josh rutledge gif

15 down, 79 to go. 

RECAP: #RedSox actually get Chris Sale some run support in 5-2 win.

Without a question, Chris Sale has lived up to every expectation that was set upon him before the season. He has been the gold standard of starting pitching, the bona fide ace of this rotation. The only problem with Sale’s starts have been things that he has no control over, like managing and offensive production. On Tuesday though, the Red Sox offense surprisingly helped Sale out by scoring five, count them, five runs. It’s not like Sale needed all those runs, though. Sale set the mood early, striking out seven of the first nine batters he faced. The most dramatic moment of the game came when Sale was on the mound and Manny Machado was at the plate. We all know what’s been going on recently, and Sale continued that trend by zipping a 98 MPH fastball past Machado’s rear end. This caused a warning to be issued to each bench, and Sale actually struck out Machado that same at-bat. Machado would get his revenge though, in the top of the seventh when he took Sale deep to lead off the inning. It was apparent that Machado took his time rounding the bases, and hopefully that doesn’t add any more fuel to this weird fire. Overall, Sale finished with a line of 8 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, and 11 Ks, his fifth consecutive game with 10+ K’s. Craig Kimbrel would come in for the save in the ninth, and that’s exactly what he did, getting the Orioles in order while striking out one.

Like I said, the Red Sox offense actually scored for Chris Sale. The five runs the Red Sox scored in the eight innings Sale pitched is more than they had scored in the previous 38 innings Sale pitched (3). Hanley Ramirez is getting hot, folks. Four home runs in the last four games, including two on Tuesday, is proof that the power is coming back, which is what this offense needs. Mitch Moreland hit another double on Tuesday, giving him his league leading 13th double of the season, so shouts to Mitchy Two Bags. How about JBJ, huh? I love watching him play center field, but he can’t buy a hit right now. Another hitless day has lowered Bradley’s batting average to .184. One of the things I liked about last year’s Red Sox team was the production that came from the bottom of the baiting order. This season though, we got Sandy Leon and JBJ hitting a combined .190, which doesn’t really help this offense. I definitely think Christian Vazquez is capable of taking the reigns of the starting catcher job, but with JBJ, I don’t know if the Red Sox have better options, given the defense he provides.

Now that we’ve talked about the game, let’s talk about what happened after. In the clubhouse, Manny Machado was asked about getting thrown out, and he was not happy about what had happened:

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19298157

Lot of F bombs in there, and apparently, Machado has lost all respect for the Red Sox organization. So, if you wanted the Red Sox to sign Machado in a few years, I’m sorry, but it’s not going to happen. He’ll probably be wearing pinstripes. When Sale was asked about all this, he responded by saying, “Whatever, man. Not losing sleep tonight.” It will be interesting to see if Buck Showalter, or Machado, or whoever decides to respond to this.

14 down, 80 to go. 

Lastly, it’s not baseball-related but I just wanted to give a shout out to Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas. What he’s been doing in the playoffs has been nothing short of extraordinary, given the circumstances. We just witnessed one of the best playoff performances from a Celtic, 53 points in a double OT win to take a 2-0 series lead over the Wizards. So, keep doing you Isaiah, and stay strong.

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