Tag: rangers

RECAP: Craig Kimbrel Picks up 300th Career Save as #RedSox Win Tight One in Texas.

After dropping the first game of this series in a blowout, the Red Sox have rebounded quite nicely with two straight wins.

Eduardo Rodriguez got the start in this one, and he did not have the best of nights. In six innings pitched, the lefty only gave up four hits, but three of those were home runs. One of those being an absolute shot off the bat of Joey Gallo in the second inning. That ball was hit 466 feet.

Other than those three home runs, Rodriguez gave up one hit, a single off the bat of Robinson Chirinos in the fifth inning. He also walked two and fanned 10, so maybe this start would have gone much better for the native of Venezuela if he wasn’t pitching at Globe Life Park last night. Rodriguez finished with 107 pitches, 67 of which went for strikes, and he’ll look to rebound next time out against either the Yankees or Blue Jays, it hasn’t been announced yet.

Anyway, with the Red Sox tied up with the Rangers going into the bottom half of the seventh inning, it would be Heath Hembree getting the call to take over for Rodriguez. The righty kicked things off by striking out all three batters he faced in the inning on 14 pitches. Pretty good start, but the eighth inning was a different story for Hembree. He could only record one out while loading the bases on two hits and an intentional walk. After that walk to Nomar Mazara, it would be Joe Kelly who was given the responsibility to get out of the inning with the tie still intact.

Facing off against Joey Gallo, who had already homered twice up to that point, Kelly met fire with fire by striking out the Rangers slugger on five pitches. Next up for the Rangers was Jurickson Profar, and that had to be one of the more dramatic at bats of the season. It took Kelly all of 11 pitches, but he got Profar looking on a 98 MPH fastball to end the inning with the bases loaded.

After the Red Sox lineup tacked on the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, it would be none other than Craig Kimbrel for the bottom half of the inning, as he was looking to collect the 300th save of his career.

The flamethrower needed just 11 pitches and two strikeouts to retire the side in the ninth. Thus locking up the win for the Red Sox while also becoming the youngest reliever to reach 300 career saves and the fastest do so as well.

Offensively, it was a slow start for the Red Sox lineup, but it paid off in the end. Trailing by one run going into the fifth inning, Andrew Benintendi put the Red Sox on the board with an RBI single that ricocheted off the second base bag and scored Christian Vazquez from third.

An inning later, after the Rangers had gone up by three runs, Mitch Moreland pulled the Red Sox a little bit closer in a ballpark he is very familiar with. On a 1-1 fastball from Rangers starter Cole Hamels, Moreland, making his first start of the series, launched a 368 foot two-run shot that barely got over the wall in right field to pull the Red Sox within one run.

Another inning later, in the seventh, and once again after the Rangers had gone up by two runs, Mookie Betts was the catalyst of a two run inning, as he drew a walk with one out. With Andrew Benintendi at the plate and a new pitcher on the mound for the Rangers, Benintendi blooped a double into shallow left field to send Betts to third, or so we thought. Instead, Mookie took advantage of a lackluster reaction from Jurickson Profar and managed to score all the way from first base. Amazing awareness on display right there.

Two batters later, JD Martinez drove in Benintendi from third on an RBI single of his own to pull the Red Sox and Rangers even at five runs a piece.

Fast forward to the ninth, and it would be Andrew Benintendi coming through yet again, as he nearly took a one out 82 MPH curveball from Keone Kela and sent it over the wall in right field. Instead, the ball ricocheted off the wall and Benintendi had to settle for a triple, his third and final hit of the night. One batter later, Hanley Ramirez drove in Benintendi on a sacrifice fly to center field. That gave the Red Sox a one run lead ans all but locked up the win with Craig Kimbrel picking up his ninth save of the season a half inning later.

Some notes from this one:

After his three hit game last night, Andrew Benintendi has raised his batting average to .254 on the season. In four games played this month, Benintendi has either recorded three hits, which he has done twice, or gone hitless, which he has also done twice.

With a leadoff single in the sixth, his first of two hits on the night, JD Martinez extended his hitting streak to seven games. Over that span, the 30-year-old Martinez is slashing .483/.516/.724 with two home runs and six runs driven in.

And to wrap it up, here’s this great nugget from @SoxNotes:

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Next up for the Red Sox is the fourth and final game of this series later today. Chris Sale gets the ball against old friend Doug Fister, who owns a 2.88 ERA in five starts with the Rangers. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 PM ET. Happy Sale Day.

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RECAP: #RedSox Homer Four Times as Rick Porcello Cruises to Fifth Winning Decision of Season.

A day after a frustrating series opening loss, the Red Sox looked much more like a first place team against the Rangers last night. In a matchup between two different types of pitchers, it was Rick Porcello who came out on top against 44-year-old Bartolo Colon.

Porcello managed to go six strong in this one, as he gave up just one run while scattering three hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts. The funny thing is, the righty only had two 1-2-3 innings. For the other four, he was dealing with at least one baserunner, and he really only made one mistake last night. That being a solo home run off the bat of Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara in the fourth inning. In Porcello’s defense, Mazara has been red-hot lately, as that homer marked the fourth straight game he has put one over the fence for the Rangers. Other than that though, the native of New Jersey had himself another stellar night. He lowered his ERA from 2.33 to 2.14 and improved to a perfect 5-0 on the season. The Red Sox are now 6-1 in games Porcello starts, and I think it’s safe to say that he has solidified himself as the #2 starter this season.

With Porcello’s pitch count at 96 (61 strikes) through six innings, the Red Sox bullpen would be responsible for the last nine outs of the game while protecting a two run lead at the time. In those three innings, Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, and Bobby Poyner were nearly perfect. Kelly tossed a scoreless seventh while striking out one, Barnes tossed a scoreless eighth while striking out two, and Bobby Poyner, making his first appearance since April 11th, tossed a scoreless ninth while allowing one hit and striking out one. All and all, a much better night for the bullpen compared to Thursday.

Offensively, the Red Sox lineup scored four of their five runs on solo home runs last night. JD Martinez got things started in the second, as he put the Red Sox on the board with a 370 foot blast to left field off of Bartolo Colon, his seventh big fly of the season.

Fast forward to the top of the fifth, with the game tied at one run a piece, Rafael Devers led things off by mashing his first of two home runs on the night 427 feet to right field. That put the Red Sox up by one and they would not have to look back.

An inning later, Mookie Betts homered in his third straight game, this time catapulting a 86 MPH two-seamer from Colon and sending it 398 feet to the seats in left field.

Four batters and an inning later, Devers collected his second home run of the night off of Colon yet again. This one was hit 415 feet and marked the second multi-home run game of the young third baseman’s career. He joins the likes of Ted Williams and Tony Conigliaro as the only Red Sox players with more than one multi-homer game before turning 22-years-old (@SoxNotes). Here are both of his home runs from last night in one convenient video.

Hanley Ramirez would go on to tack on another run on an RBI double in the eighth, his 18th of the season. That scored Sandy Leon from all the way from first and gave the Red Sox their fifth and final run of this game.

With the series now even at a game each, it will be Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound for the Red Sox later tonight. He’ll be matched up against Rangers lefty Cole Hamels. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 PM ET.

RECAP: David Price Exits in Fourth Inning as #RedSox Drop Stinker to Rangers 11-5.

Not the best way to open up a road trip right there. Not at all. Yup, the Red Sox pretty much got blown out by a last place team in Texas last night. It’s not the best of looks, but there are three more games left in the series, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet.

David Price got the start in this one, and as he has for the majority of his career, struggled against the Rangers at Globe Life Park. Going into last night’s outing, the lefty owned a career 6.53 ERA in eight starts at the Rangers home ballpark. That trend would continue on Thursday, as Price got lit up for seven earned runs in less than four innings pitched. Over that span, the Rangers got to the Tennessee native for six hits, four walks, and a HBP. It started with two runs in the second, which could have been worse if not for JD Martinez chasing down this flyball he had no business catching.

Price allowed another two runs to cross the plate in the third while facing six batters. But both of those innings did not compare to just how ugly the fourth was. After the Red Sox lineup had just pulled themselves within one run a half inning prior, the Rangers went off for six runs of their own.

Leading off the inning by allowing three of the first four batters he faced to reach base and plate a run, Price loaded the bases by surrendering a single to Delino DeShields. Striking out the next batter he faced, Shin-Soo Choo, on five pitches meant that there was only one more out for Price to get. Unfortunately, he walked the last batter he faced to tack on another run, and his day was done.

For whatever reason, David Price has not looked like the same guy since he gave up that eighth inning home run to Khris Davis in Oakland a couple of weekends ago. In two starts since then, the southpaw has pitched just 9.1 total innings and given up 15 runs in that stretch.

Anyway, Hector Velazquez was inserted into this game with two outs in the fourth inning, and after a wild pitch got by Christian Vazquez, the Rangers’ Nomar Mazara launched a three-run shot to right field. That put the Rangers up by seven runs and all but locked up the win.

With one out in the bottom half of the fifth, Marcus Walden came on to replace Velazquez with runners on first and third. The 29-year-old rookie would go on to have the best night of any Red Sox pitcher, as he tossed 3.2 innings of one run ball, that run being unearned, and striking out four. After the game, he was optioned back to Triple A Pawtucket to make room on the roster for reliever Bobby Poyner.

Despite the not-so-great performance from the Red Sox pitching staff last night, the defensive performance from the left side of infield has to shoulder some of that responsibility as well. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts combined for three errors on Thursday, one fielding and two throwing. Over their past three games, the Red Sox have committed a whopping seven errors. That accounts for over 46% of their season total, which is 15. I suppose this could have been expected though, given the fact Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers play the infield almost everyday. With Dustin Pedroia hopefully making his return to the big league club later in the month, these defensive numbers could stabilize a little bit. They still rank fifth in the AL in Fielding Percentage, so maybe I’m just overreacting to a few bad games.

Offensively, Mookie Betts built from the great day he had on Wednesday by mashing his 12th home run of the season to lead off the third inning.

At that moment, I thought we had another comeback on our hands. It looked that way at first, with Christian Vazquez and Betts driving in a pair of runs in the fifth to make it a one-run game, but things got out of hand after that.

Later in the eighth, not that it had an impact on this game, but Betts drove in his third and fourth RBIs of the night by ripping a two out double to left field.

As we enter today’s action, the 25-year-old outfielder now leads the American League in home runs (12), batting average (.370), slugging percentage (.850), and OPS (1.299). We’re just over a month into the season, but Mookie is definitely looking like a legit MVP candidate right now. He may very well be the best leadoff hitter in all of baseball.

Next up for the Red Sox is an enticing pitching matchup later tonight. It will be the 4-0 Rick Porcello squaring off the ageless wonder, Bartolo Colon. And maybe, just maybe, Blake Swihart will start behind the dish tonight. *crosses fingers*

First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 PM ET.

RECAP: Xander Bogaerts makes final case for All-Star selection; #RedSox drop finale in Texas 8-2.

Well, that’s one way to end a winning streak. Doug Fister, who was more than likely making his last start for the Red sox for the forseeable future, had his worst start of his short season. The 33 year-old failed to finish the fourth inning while allowing nine total to reach base. The Rangers scored six times off of Fister, four of those runs being earned. Despite having a great first inning, Fister could not avoid the long ball, giving up a two-run shot in the second and then a solo shot in the third. After loading the bases with no outs, Fister gave up three more runs while getting two outs before Robby Scott would come in as relief. Scott had his second off night in a row, hitting two batters in a row at one point and allowing two runs to score while pitching one and one thirds innings on Wednesday. Fernando Abad, Heath Hembree, and Matt Barnes would finish things up for the pitching staff, each throwing a scoreless inning. In his three starts with the Red Sox, Fister has been okay, but he has also gotten progressively worse. With that in mind, I am interested to see what he can provide out of the bullpen and what Eduardo Rodriguez can do in Fister’s spot after the All-Star break.

The bats could barely do anything off of Andrew Cashner Wednesday night. Their first hit of the game took until the sixth to happen. In his last game before final voting ends, Xander Bogaerts made a lasting impression by mashing his sixth home run of the season, which cut the Rangers lead to six. Surprisingly, the Rangers bullpen needed to pitch two innings to get the win, but the Red Sox could get nothing off of either pitcher. When Tzu-Wei Lin can’t reach base, you know it’s not gonna be your night.

Chris Sale makes the start later today against a team that can hit it out of the park. Last series before the break, good time to build up that division lead. Vote for Xander!

redsox.com/vote

49 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Andrew Benintendi has career day as #RedSox take Game 2 from Rangers 11-4.

Before I get to what Andrew Benintendi did last night, I want to talk about what David Price did. Coming into last night’s game, Price owned an ERA north of seven while pitching at Globe Life Park. With that in mind, I was not expecting his start yesterday to go well, surprisingly, I was wrong. Price managed to pitch into the seventh inning while not allowing a single run. There Were plenty of baserunners, eight in total for Texas, but they could not score a single run off of Price. The southpaw also struck out nine, a new season high. He came out to start the seventh, gave up a walk, and was taken out of the game. It looked like a blister of some sort on his pitching hand was bothering him, and that’s why he was taken out, but Manager John later said that it was because of the pitch count. Blaine Boyer came in to relieve Price, and he ate some innings despite

not pitching all that well. The Rangers scored three times off of Boyer, all in the eighth, and all those runs were driven in on a three-run bomb off the bat of Mike Napoli. Robby Scott would come in to pitch the ninth and end the game, but not before giving up a solo home run to Delino DeShields. Like I said, surprising stuff from Price, it looks like he’ll make his next start in Tampa on Sunday, the last game before the All-Star break.

The bottom half of yesterday’s lineup was responsible for most of the offensive production. The 5-9 hitters, Ramirez, Benintendi, Vazquez, and Lin went a combined 16 for 24 at the plate, scoring 9 times and driving in 10 runs. The biggest star though, is obviously Andrew Benintendi. All the talk about Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge, but you can’t knock what this Red Sox rookie has done in his first full season. Last night, Benintendi did not record an out, reaching base all five times he was up. He nearly hit for the cycle too, but hit his second home run of the game instead. Going back to Monday night’s game, Benintendi has driven in eight runs in his last six at-bats. He also made one heck of a catch too in the fourth, robbing Mike Napoli of an extra base hit and potentially an RBI.

How about the other rookie who has come out of nowhere, Tzu-Wei Lin? A 23 year-old infielder in Portland surprisingly gets called up about a week and a half ago and he can do no wrong. His second three-hit game last night puts his OPS at .949, meanwhile Pablo Sandoval’s career OPS with the Red Sox is only at .646, makes you think.

Almost forgot to mention that Jackie Bradley Jr. hit his eleventh home run of the season last night as well while raising his BA to .284 on the season, a nice turnaround for sure.

Doug Fister makes his third start for the Red Sox today in the series finale. It could be his last start for a while if Eduardo Rodriguez comes back and pitches like he did before he got hurt.

49 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Pomeranz K’s 11; Bogaerts hits first homer; #RedSox win 6-2 to sweep Rangers.

Just when you thought Drew Pomeranz was on a short leash, he goes and have his best start of the season. There wasn’t a whole lot of optimism going into Thursday’s game, given the weather and the fact that Pomeranz was pitching. The start of the game was actually delayed by about twenty minutes. It looked like the game was going to start at its regular time, but the managers, umpires, and grounds crew got together, which led to the delay. I was interested to see how Pomeranz would respond to the delay, given the fact that he already warmed up. I don’t think he was bothered by it though, as the 28 year old southpaw tied a career high with 11 strikeouts. Pomeranz pretty much breezed through the first four innings, with the only blip coming on a solo home run off the bat of Elvis Andrus in the fourth. After a scoreless fifth, Pomeranz would allow another run in the sixth, and his day would end after he recorded the final out in that inning. Now, I don’t mean to sound like a hardo, but I mentioned Drew Pomeranz in a tweet where I called him out before the game. He’s one of the few players on this team that can piss me off, but I was thoroughly impressed with what I saw from him Thursday night. Anyway, the Red Sox bullpen was responsible for the seventh, eighth, and ninth, and they took care of business. Heath Hembree, Robby Scott, Matt Barnes, and Craig Kimbrel combined to go three hitless innings while striking out 9 batters, including FOUR from Craig Kimbrel in the ninth. Guy’s just on another level, sporting a K/9 that is right around an astounding 17.

The Red Sox offense got off to a fast start once again Thursday, scoring two runs on two RBI singles from Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland. Two more runs were scored in the third, those coming on Xander Bogaerts’ first home run of the season (FINALLY), which also scored Dustin Pedroia. That thing was a bullet that barely got over the top of the monster. Looking for some insurance later in the game, Deven Marrero answered the call, blasting another two-run home run over the monster in the eighth, scoring Jackie Bradley Jr. also. I know he doesn’t hit well at all, but it’s hard not to like the way Marrero plays over at the hot corner. He provides stability defensively, and seems like a harder worker than Pablo Sandoval.

With the way the Rangers had been playing, I did not expect a sweep, but here we are. Mariners come into Fenway this weekend, and they are an offensively challenged game, having recently scored one or fewer runs in five straight games.

25 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: #RedSox rally in seventh leads to 9-4 victory.

Looking for their third win in a row, Chris Sale was matched up against Martin Perez on Wednesday night. I was actually at this game, and it was pretty exciting being there. The hype behind Sale Day is real, and it is fantastic. Also got a Craig Kimbrel bobble head, which they were giving out for free. Anyway, Sale did not have his most dominant start Wednesday, but he was far from bad. The Rangers failed to record a hit through the first four innings, even though they managed to scored in the fourth. After a two run fifth, Sale was able to get through two more scoreless innings. He was able to get the first out in the eighth, and his day would be over after allowing a double. I’m sure Sale convinced Farrell to put him back in for the eighth, because the Red Sox offense was on the field for an extended period of time in the bottom half of the seventh. Farrell handed things off to Joe Kelly in the eighth, and he finished that inning while also pitching a scoreless ninth. I hate to say it, but, I was a little disappointed Sale wasn’t dominating Rangers hitters on Wednesday. It would’ve been nice to see him strikeout 10, but that streak came to an end.

Offensively, the Red Sox were stagnant to start things off, only scoring once in the first six innings. Martin Perez wasn’t even pitching at his best, but he did limit the damage. Luckily for the Red Sox, the Rangers left Perez out there for way too long. After giving up two hits while only recording one out, Perez was relieved for Sam Dyson, who, luckily for the Red Sox, sucks. Dyson gave up four hits and five runs, including the go-ahead run, which was scored on a wild pitch to Dustin Pedroia. When he left the game, Dyson’s ERA had increased all the way up to 11.93. The crazy thing about that seventh inning was that the Red Sox did not hit a home run, which proves how their power is lacking. After scoring once again in the top of the eighth, the game was pretty much in their hands.

It’s funny how when Farrell’s seat gets its hottest, the Red Sox win three in a row, hopefully Drew Pomeranz doesn’t screw it up today, if they even play with this weather.

Also, shoutout to Sam Travis for getting his first two career hits. Welcome to the show.

24 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: #RedSox get outhit 13-12; still win 11-6.

Just when you thought the hot seat would get hotter for John Farrell, the Red Sox have won two games in a row. Rick Porcello took the mound Tuesday, and he was matched up against Andrew Cashner, whose performance this season has been somewhat of a surprise. For those anticipating a pitcher’s duel, they left disappointed. Porcello’s start was mediocre at best, as he managed to get through 6.2 innings despite allowing 11 hits while surrendering 5 runs (4 earned). Cashner did even worse, as he allowed five hits and five earned runs in five innings pitched. The Red Sox bullpen limited the damage in 2.1 innings, the only run for the Rangers coming on a Joey Gallo home run served up by Robby Scott, surprisingly. On Porcello, he has been a solid number two starter for most of the season, but I have yet to see him in that Cy Young form from last season.

The Red Sox offense was in control all night, as they had the lead every inning after the first. The offense was highlighted by Pedroia, Bogaerts, and Benintendi, who combined for seven hits and 5 RBIs. While it is good to see Benintendi getting back on track, it’s hard not to be disappointed with Xander Bogaert’s power. He has yet to hit a home run this season. He’s primarily been a singles hitter, about 27 percent of his hits this season have gone for extra bases, that’s it.

Also, it’d be nice if this team hit more home runs, it’s not gonna happen, but it’d be nice.

23 to go, ? to go.