Tag: tyler thornburg

RECAP: Rick Porcello Can’t Get Through Sixth Inning as #RedSox Drop First Series Since July in 5-1 Loss to Rays.

Less than a full day after getting blown out to open up Players’ Weekend at Tropicana Field on Friday night, the Red Sox and Rays were back it again on Saturday for the middle game of a three-game series with a rare 6:10 PM start time.

Making his 27th start of the season in this one, Rick Porcello entered the evening with a lifetime 2.72 ERA at the Trop, and he did pitch to that level of efficiency tonight.

In five-plus innings of work, the right-hander was charged for three earned runs on six hits, two walks, and two HBPs to go along with eight strikeouts recorded on the night before getting the quick hook in the bottom of the sixth.

Despite the three earned runs, things really could have gone a whole lot worse for Porcello, as he consistently found himself working around traffic on the base paths.

For instance, out of the five full frames he pitched in, only once did the New Jersey native fail to allow a baserunner, which came in the bottom of the second.

Other than that, the Rays had at least one runner on base from the first to the end of the fifth, including a bases loaded situation that Porcello managed to get out of unscathed in the third.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 89 (58 strikes), the 29-year-old hurler departed from this one after allowing the first two batters he faced in the sixth to reach on a leadoff triple and HBP.

Out of those 89 pitches, Porcello turned to both of his fastballs, two and four-seam, a combined 55% of the time tonight. He also topped out at 93.3 MPH with that two-seamer in the first inning.

Falling to 15-7 with a 4.18 ERA on the season now, the former Cy Young Award winner will look to end what has been a rather inconsistent month of August on a positive note in his next time out, which should come against the Chicago White Sox sometime next weekend.

In relief of Porcello, the Red Sox bullpen was responsible for the final nine outs of Saturday night’s contest, but those outs did not come easy.

Ryan Brasier got the first call out of the ‘pen with runners on first and third and no outs in the sixth, and he closed the book on Porcello’s night by allowing both inherited runners to score before eventually retiring the side in the frame.

Brandon Workman, making his first appearance since Wednesday, worked the seventh, and he gave up a one out solo homer to Tommy Pham as well as an additional hit and walk before ending the inning.

Finally, just trying to keep his team within three runs at this point, Tyler Thornburg surrendered the fifth run of the night for Tampa Bay on a two out RBI triple off the bat of Ji-Man Choi in the eighth.

All and all, not the best night for the bullpen.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against rookie left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, who before tonight, had not started a game for the Rays since July 3rd.

Starting the scoring in the second, two straight hits from JD Martinez and Xander Bogaerts put runners at second and third in an ideal scoring spot for Mitch Moreland, who was making his first appearance since leaving Thursday’s contest against the Indians with a left knee contusion.

Although he got ahead in the count 2-0, the best Moreland could do was ground into a run-scoring double play that plated Martinez from third to give the Red Sox an early 1-0 lead.

No RBI on the play though, and that’s all the scoring the team could manage off of Yarbrough and the rest of the Rays bullpen. Not much to talk about there since they were held to five total hits.

Some notes from this 5-1 loss: 

Out of those five Boston hits, four came from JD Martinez, who smacked a pair of doubles to overtake Mookie Betts in the American League batting race, and Eduardo Nunez, who hit two singles. Xander Bogaerts was responsible for the other base knock.

Speaking of Mookie Betts, the AL MVP frontrunner has hit a bit of a skid recently, as he is slashing a mere .179/.238/.231 over his last 10 games.

For the first time since June 29th-July 1st, the Red Sox have lost a series. They are 2-5 in their last seven games. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays have won their last seven.

The Red Sox are now 0-5 when wearing the Players’ Weekend jerseys.

—

Looking to salvage something from this series tomorrow afternoon, it will be ex-Ray Nathan Eovaldi taking the mound for Boston on Sunday.

In three starts at Tropicana Field this season, the right-hander is 1-0 with a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings pitched.

Based on the ups and downs Eovaldi has had in his last three outings (6.23 ERA), hopefully pitching in a familiar ballpark will help get him back on track.

Opposite Eovaldi will be the ace of Tampa Bay’s pitching staff in LHP Blake Snell, who has held Boston to just two total runs in 19 innings pitched over three starts this season, two of which came at the Trop.

First pitch of the series finale is scheduled for 1:10 PM ET Sunday.

RECAP: David Price Dominates Indians in Eight Scoreless Innings as #RedSox Become First Club to Reach 90 Wins.

Just a handful of hours after ending their three-game losing streak with a 10-4 win on Wednesday night, the Red Sox were back at it Thursday afternoon looking for a series split against a first place Indians team.

Making his 25th start of the season and coming off seven two-run innings in his last time out against the Tampa Bay Rays, David Price entered the day with a lifetime 2.24 ERA in 14 career starts against the Indians. That trend continued this afternoon.

Pitching eight full frames in this one, the left-hander held Cleveland scoreless while scattering just three hits and one HBP to go along with zero walks and seven punch outs on the afternoon.

Starting his outing by retiring 18 of the first 19 batters he faced, the most trouble Price ran into came in the top half of the seventh, when he gave up a pair of singles but escaped without any damage thanks to an inning-ending unassisted double play.

In his final frame of work, the Tennessee native hit the first batter he faced in Brandon Guyer, but ended up facing the minimum thanks to another DP and six pitch strikeout of Roberto Perez to retire the side and end his day on a high note.

 

Finishing with a final pitch count of 101 (68 strikes), Price turned to his two-seam fastball 33 times and topped out at 94.9 MPH with the same pitch in the first inning.

As he later improved to 14-6 with yet another dominant performance, let’s take a look at how the 32-year-old hurler has been performing since the All-Star break.

6 GS, 4-0, 41.1 IP, 29 H, 5 ER, 7 BB, 40 K, 1.09 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, .193 BAA.

Ace-like stuff. Price will look to build on this recent stretch run of dominance in his next time out, which should more than likely come against the Miami Marlins next Wednesday.

In relief of Price, Tyler Thornburg was the lone reliever who got the call out of the Red Sox bullpen for the ninth and final frame. Despite giving up two hits, Thornburg managed to hold on and preserve the shutout to secure his team’s 90th win of the season.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a pitcher they had never seen before in RHP Adam Plutko for Cleveland.

Plutko, a 26-year-old rookie, managed to manuever his away around Boston’s lineup through the first four innings on Thursday, but the fifth is where this game really turned on its head.

Starting with leadoff hits from Sandy Leon, whose double could not be caught by Melky Cabrera in left field, and Jackie Bradley Jr., followed by a one out walk of Andrew Benintendi, the bases were all of a sudden loaded for Blake Swihart, who was not even in the original starting lineup.

On a 2-2 fastball from Plutko, Swihart ripped a double to the wall in right field to plate Leon and Bradley and give the Red Sox a two-run advantage.

After intentionally walking JD Martinez to reload the bases, new Indians pitcher Adam Cimber could not sneak a 2-1 sinker by Xander Bogaerts, as the red-hot shortstop drove in another pair of runs on a two RBI single to left field.

Another intentional walk, this time of Brock Holt, once again reloaded the bases for Eduardo Nunez, who capitalized on a run-scoring opportunity and ripped the THIRD two RBI two-bagger of the inning to score both Martinez and Bogaerts and make it a 6-0 game just like that.

An inning later, JD Martinez wrapped up his team’s scoring by racking up his 109th RBI of the year on a one out single off of Indians reliever Josh Tomlin that drove in Mookie Betts from third. 7-0, which would end up being the final score on Thursday.

In the matter of one day, the Red Sox have turned a three-game losing streak that had everyone panicking into a brand new two-game winning streak. With the split against the Indians today, the team has now not lost a series since the first day of July. That is some impressive stuff.

Some other notes from this win:

Mitch Moreland, who was originally the starting first baseman in this contest, had to depart in the first inning after suffering a left knee contusion while sliding for a foul ball near the Red Sox dugout.

On a more positive note, to go along with those David Price numbers up above, the Red Sox are 8-0 in Price’s last eight starts and are 19-6 overall.

Xander Bogaerts has recorded at least one hit in eight of his last 10 games. Over that span, he is slashing .316/.366/.658 with two home runs and 10 RBI.

Over their last four games, Red Sox pitching held Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez to five total hits in 33 combined at bats. Only two of those hits went for extra bases.

—

Finishing the brief homestand with a 4-3 record, the Red Sox head south for a quick three-game weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

Starters for the three-game set are as followed: Hector Velazquez, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi. The Rays have yet to announce their starters.

Head to head, Boston has had the advantage against Tampa Bay this season, as they own a 11-5 record against them going into their final matchup of 2018.

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

RECAP: Nathan Eovaldi Gets Hit Hard as #RedSox Drop Third Straight for First Time since April.

For the first time since April, the Red Sox have lost three consecutive games. Everybody panic!

Yes, the team with the best record in all of baseball has hit a bit of a skid recently, so let’s get right into where things went wrong on Tuesday night.

Making his fifth start with the Red Sox, Nathan Eovaldi entered the night with a 0.00 ERA in 15 innings pitched at Fenway Park this season.

Pitching into the sixth inning of this one, the right-hander seemingly breezed through the first three frames of this one, but the fourth was where things turned out for the worst.

All coming with two outs, the Indians reached base four straight times off of Eovaldi on three singles and a double, which plated their first two runs of the evening.

After working his way around a leadoff double in a scoreless fifth, Cleveland struck again right away in the sixth on a solo home run off the bat of Melky Cabrera, his second in as many nights.

One out and two straight singles from Yan Gomes and Greg Allen singles later, Eovaldi’s night would come to a disappointing end.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 87 (63 strikes), the Texas native surrendered ten hits for the second time in his last three outings to tie a season-high. He also walked one and only recorded two strikeouts.

Out of those 87 pitches, Eovaldi relied on his fastball, both cut and four-seam, a combined 69% of the time on Tuesday while topping out at 100.1 MPH with that four-seamer in the first inning.

Since he got his Red Sox career off to a blazing start with those two stellar outings against the Twins and Yankees in late July and early August, Eovaldi has certainly come back to earth over the past two weeks. It will be interesting to see how he responds in his next time out against his old team this weekend in St. Petersburg.

In relief of Eovaldi, Joe Kelly entered the sixth with runners on first and second and closed the book on the 28-year-old’s night by giving up an RBI single to Michael Brantley that could have been a double had Sandy Leon not thrown him out at second to end the inning.

From that point on, Brandon Workman gave up a run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth and Tyler Thornburg, albeit it came on a quality pitch, served up a solo home run to Indians catcher Yan Gomes, minutes after the Red Sox had scored three runs of their own, to make it a 6-3 game heading into the bottom of the eighth.

Finally, despite walking one and giving up one base hit, Drew Pomeranz had himslef a scoreless ninth inning to give his team one last chance to rally in the bottom half of the frame, although it did not amount to much.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a starter they had never seen before in Cleveland’s Shane Bieber.

Bieber, 23 and a right-hander, is in his first season with the Indians and as you may have already guessed, had never pitched at Fenway Park before last night.

Despite that fact though, the former fourth round pick out of UC Santa Barbara had his way with Boston through the first six innings of this one.

In fact, it wasn’t until the fourth inning when Andrew Benintendi ripped a one out single to break up the no-hitter Bieber had going.

Fast forward to the seventh, with no outs and runners at first and third, Xander Bogaerts came through with an RBI double down the line in left to cut into the Indians lead and put his team’s first run of the night on the board.

One batter later, a Mitch Moreland sacrifice fly that could have been so much more had it not been for this great catch by Greg Allen drove in JD Martinez from third to cut Boston’s deficit to three.

That would be how Bieber’s night would come to a conclusion, but the Red Sox were not done scoring. Not until Xander Bogaerts came into score on a Ian Kinsler RBI groundout, anyway.

With the score of this one at 5-3 going into the eighth, it’s probably worth mentioning that the aforementioned home run from Yan Gomes off of Tyler Thornburg may have been the final nail in the coffin, as it upped the Indians lead back to three.

Anyway, old friend Andrew Miller sat down all three batters he faced in order in the eighth, and ex-Padres closer Brad Hand maneuvered his way around an E4 to notch his 29th save of the season in the ninth and final frame.

Some notes from this 6-3 loss:

Over the span of this three-game losing streak, the Red Sox have scored seven total runs. That is not ideal. All while the Yankees have won their last four games, also not ideal.

That Mitch Moreland sacrifice fly had a hit probability of 91%. According to Statcast, it was the only batted ball that had a hit probability north of 90%, yet it was caught.

—

I must admit, losing two straight games to one of the better teams in the American League is far from encouraging, but the Red Sox have been here before. Go back to that four-game series against the Astros in Houston back in June.

They dropped the first two games while not looking all that great, yet they bounced back and left with a series split that Sunday night. That’s what needs to happen now over these next two days.

Brian Johnson gets the nod in the third game of the series with Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco toeing the rubber opposite him.

While Johnson has never faced off against Cleveland in his young career, Carrasco has had his fair share of difficulties in his matchups against the Red Sox.

Over a span of seven career appearances (five starts) against Boston, the Venezuela native owns a 6.83 ERA and 1.81 WHIP in 27.2 innings pitched, 14 of which of come at Fenway Park.

First pitch of the third game is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET Wednesday. Time to put this losing streak to a halt.

 

 

 

RECAP: Chris Sale Dazzles in Return from DL as #RedSox Complete Four-Game Sweep of Orioles in Three Days.

Less than 24 hours after sweeping the Orioles in a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, the Red Sox were looking for the real four-game sweep this afternoon to head into an off day on a positive note.

Making his 23rd start of the season and first since July 27th due to a 10-day disabled list stint caused by left shoulder inflammation, Chris Sale picked off right where he left off and flat dominated at Camden Yards on Sunday.

Granted, it was against a last place Orioles team, but still, for not pitching in a big league game for over two weeks, Sale really did pick up right where he left off in this one.

Pitching five complete frames, the left-hander held Baltimore scoreless on one hit, a single, while not walking a single batter on the afternoon.

The most incredible part of this Sale start, at least for me, had to be the number of strikeouts.

As he faced 16 total Orioles through those five scoreless innings, Sale managed to punch out 12(!!!). 12! In five innings! That’s 80% of the outs he recorded. All done with just 68 pitches. Truly surreal.

Out of those 68 pitches thrown, 48 of which were strikes, the Florida native induced 15 total swings and misses on the day.while

Relying on his four-seam fastball 31 times, the seven-time All Star topped out at 99.7 MPH with it in the third inning. Another sign that Sale’s left shoulder is feeling quite fine.

Alex Cora made it clear following the game that Sale was going to be limited to 75 pitches no matter what happened. And given the fact he completed five innings in such a convincing fashion with those 68 pitches, it makes sense why they did not want to put him back out there only to have him not finish the sixth.

It’s also worth noting that this was the 29-year-old’s first in-game action this month, so easing him back into things isn’t such a bad plan either.

Regardless, Sale maintained the stellar form he has put on display time in and time out this season, and because of that, he increased his scoreless innings streak up to 28 dating back to July 6th.

Including today, Sale owns a nice 0.69 ERA over his last 10 starts with 109 strikeouts in 65 innings pitched over that span. He has not given up a home run in a start since the first day of June.

As he improved to 12-4 on the season, the lanky lefty will look to build on an impressive return to the rotation in his next time out, which should come sometime next week against either the Tampa Bay Rays or Cleveland Indians, depending on how the upcoming off days impact pitching matchups.

In relief of Sale, the Red bullpen was once gain turned to at a rather early spot starting in the sixth inning.

  • Tyler Thornburg entered in a 2-0 game and retired the first two batters he faced, but followed that up by loading the bases on a single and two walks in a frame he was unable to finish. Out of the 24 pitches Thornburg threw, 10 went for strikes. That is not good.
  • Ryan Brasier would have to come on and attempt to get out of the jam Thornburg had created, and he managed by getting Trey Mancini to strikeout in a nerve-wracking seven pitch at bat that ended the inning and left the bases juiced.
  • Brian Johnson, despite moving up to the rotation earlier in the week, got the call for the seventh, and he needed just 16 pitches to work his way around a leadoff walk in an otherwise scoreless frame of work.
  • Matt Barnes’ August struggles continued in the eighth, as he allowed three of the first four Orioles he faced to reach and load the bases in a two-run game. Fortunately, after surrendering Baltimore’s lone run on a Trey Mancini sacrifice fly, the UCONN product buckled down and fanned Tim Beckham on four pitches to retire the side.
  • Finally, Craig Kimbrel came on for the save in the ninth with a brand new three run lead to work with. He too continued some recent struggles by allowing the tying run to come to the plate with runners on first and second, but struck out the final pair of Orioles hitters he faced to notch his 35th save and secure his team’s 85th win of 2018.

So, over the past three days/four games, Red Sox relievers has been responsible for 19.2 innings pitched out of the bullpen en route to the four-game sweep. Having two off days in the next four days will certainly come in handy to get those guys some rest.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a familiar foe in Orioles RHP Alex Cobb.

Despite the rough first year he has had in Baltimore, Cobb was certainly more reminiscent of his days with the Tampa Bay Rays in one of his better outings of the season on Sunday.

Starting the scoring right away in the top half of the first was none other than Steve Pearce, who greeted Cobb by mashing a solo shot to left field to give the Red Sox an early advantage. Yet another big fly off a former team for Pearce, his 10th of the year.

Fast forward to the fourth, and a leadoff double off the bat of Brock Holt would turn into Boston second’s run of the afternoon thanks to a fielding error in right field on a JD Martinez single. Despite Holt coming in to score on the E9 committed by Adam Jones, Martinez was not credited with an RBI on the play.

Five innings later and going into the ninth with a one-run lead, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts provided some late game insurance with a pair of RBI base knocks.

Bradley Jr. drove in Eduardo Nunez, who technically got the rally started with a leadoff single off of O’s reliever Mychal Givens, from second to make it a 3-1 game.

In the very next at bat, Mookie Betts, in a 2-0 hitter’s count, ripped an RBI double off of Givens to score Bradley Jr. all the way from first and extend his hitting streak to eight games.

4-1 on Betts’ 63rd RBI of the season, which would turn out to be the final score in favor of the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.

Some notes from this win:

From @SoxNotes: The Red Sox’ 85 wins are their most ever through 120 games. They are 50 games above .500 for the first time since 1946.

Another one from @SoxNotes: Chris Sale has a 0.20 ERA in his last 7 starts (44.0 IP, 1 R). According to , that is the lowest ERA by a Red Sox pitcher over any 7-start span since earned runs became an official stat in 1913. In those 7 starts, Sale has 79 K and 6 BB.

—

At 85-35, the Red Sox will head to Philadelphia via train for a quick two-game set against the Phillies that begins on Tuesday.

Rick Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi will get the starting nod for Boston in those two interleague contests, as they will be matched up against RHPs Nick Pivetta and Vince Velazquez in that order.

First pitch of the first game is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET on Tuesday.

 

RECAP: David Price Fans 10, Tosses Gem as Jackie Bradley Jr. Homers Twice and #RedSox Blank Orioles in First Game of Doubleheader.

Just a little over 12 hours after defeating the Orioles in a barn burner of a game on Friday night, the Red Sox were back at it on Saturday afternoon in the first of a two game doubleheader at Camden Yards.

Making his 23rd start of the season, David Price remained on the recent roll he has been on with another superb day on the mound.

Tossing six scoreless frames, the left-hander scattered five hits, four of which were singles, and set a new season-high in strikeouts with exactly 10 on the afternoon. All while not walking a single batter for the sixth time in 2018.

After retiring the side in order in the first, Price did put a runner on in each of the final five innings he pitched in, but an Adam Jones double in the sixth was the closest Baltimore came to crossing the plate while the Tennessee native was working his magic.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 94 (68 strikes), it was a bit surprising to see Price not come back out to at least begin the seventh inning, especially when you consider that the Red Sox bullpen will more than likely be turned to a lot in the second game later tonight.

That did not happen though, and Price’s day came to an end in the sixth. Out of those 94 pitches he threw, the 32-year-old, like Nathan Eovaldi on Friday, relied on his cut-fastball  37% of the time today, which resulted in six swinging strikes and 12 called strikes. He also topped out at 94.1 MPH with his four-seamer in the third inning.

Improving to 12-6 on the season, Price has now surrendered two or fewer earned runs in four consecutive starts, lowering his ERA to 3.75. He will look to build on this recent success in his next time out against the Tampa Bay Rays sometime next weekend.

In relief of Price, the Red Sox bullpen had themselves a much better time today then they did last night.

Tyler Thornburg, Ryan Brasier, and Matt Barnes combined for three perfect frames with three total punch outs to wrap up their team’s 83rd win of the season in shutout fashion.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup did not explode quite like they did against Dylan Bundy on Friday, but with the help of David Price, they still had a fairly solid day at the plate.

Facing off against Orioles rookie right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis, who has been converted from a reliever to a starter, it took a while for Boston’s bats to get rolling in this one.

By the time the lineup got to their third time around the order though, that is when things started to change for the better.

A leadoff single off the bat of Xander Bogaerts in the fifth, followed by a two-run home run from Eduardo Nunez, put the Red Sox on the board first with a 2-0 lead.

A few minutes later, Jackie Bradley Jr. came through with his first of two solo shots on the afternoon to make it a three run game.

In the sixth, Xander Bogaerts was at it again, as he scored all the way from second on a stolen base and an E5 committed by Renato Nunez with Brock Holt at the plate. 4-0.

Fast forward all the way to the ninth, and Jackie Bradley Jr. capped off his fine day at the plate by launching his 11th big fly of the season to put his team’s fifth and final run on the board.

Only nine total hits for the Red Sox this afternoon, which is something when you consider the 16 knocks they piled up on Friday, but I would be lying if I said I did not have an enjoyable time watching this shutout victory.

Some notes from this win:

Andrew Benintendi extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 1/5 day at the plate today.

Xander Bogaerts’s right hand is looking just fine after a three-hit game today.

Since the beginning of July, Jackie Bradley Jr. has lifted his OPS from .616 all the way up to .691 in his last 31 games played.

—

With game two a little under two hours away, let’s take a look at tonight’s starting lineup for Boston.

Both Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland are out of the lineup with Rafael Devers starting at third, Eduardo Nunez DHing, and Dan Butler starting behind the plate.

Baltimore’s starter for the night-cap, rookie Yefry Ramirez, has held his own in two previous outings against the Red Sox this season.

Hector Velazquez, who has both started and came out of the bullpen for Boston in his two seasons with the club, will get the starting nod tonight.

First pitch of the second game is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET.

Also, this better get you pumped up.

RECAP: Five-Run Tenth Inning Rally in Toronto Leads #RedSox to 80th Win of Season.

Coming off a weekend in which they swept the New York Yankees in four games, the Red Sox headed north of the border to Toronto on the first leg of a three-city, nine game road trip looking to become the first team in the majors to reach 80 wins, which is exactly what happened on Tuesday.

Drew Pomeranz made his third start since returning from the 10-day disabled list on July 24th, and despite what the numbers say, was far from proficient in this one.

Pitching into the fifth inning, the lefty surrendered two earned runs on four hits, yet walked FIVE and only struck out one.

Those two runs came on swing of the bat from Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis, a one out, two-run home run in the third inning that put Toronto on the board first.

That may have been the only real damage Pomeranz sustained on the night, but it truly goes deeper than that.

The pitch count, velocity, and what appears to be a lack of motivation or confidence while on the mound all seem to be prevalent in Pomeranz’s case. Bottom line: it does not look like he wants to be there and he rarely ever gives his team a chance to win.

In total, the Tennessee native found himself behind in EIGHT three-ball counts, including the five free passes, which came at a pace of one per inning ending in the fifth.

All and all, it’s difficult to say Pomeranz did not give the Red Sox a chance to win this game, because he left with them trailing by just one run, but how he performed last night was far from encouraging.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 84 (44 strikes), the 29 year-old hurler induced three total swings and misses. That is far from ideal, especially when you’re topping out at 91.8 MPH with your four-seam fastball in a game against big league hitters. Makes for an ugly outing, and Pomeranz may as well consider himself lucky for only giving up two runs.

With Chris Sale set to return from the disabled list this weekend in Baltimore, it will be interesting to see what becomes of the Red Sox rotation. Sale, Porcello, Price, and Eovaldi are all obvious locks. Then it comes down to two lefties: Brian Johnson, who starts on Wednesday, or Pomeranz? Who would you rather have as the fifth starter? My money is on BJ.

In relief of Pomeranz, the Red Sox bullpen certainly had themselves a night to forget starting in the middle of the seventh.

Heath Hembree rebounded from a rough appearance on Sunday night by retiring the only batter he faced in the fifth to make way for Brandon Workman in the sixth.

Despite loading the bases on the first three batters he faced, Workman escaped the frame scot-free with the help of some clutch defensive play from Sandy Leon to keep the Red Sox within one run.

From that point on, a combination of Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, Craig Kimbrel, and Tyler Thornburg surrendered five runs over the final four innings of last night’s contest.

Kelly’s run put Toronto up 3-1, Barnes’ run cut the Red Sox lead to 5-4, Kimbrel’s run, a Justin Smoak solo home run, resulted in a blown save and a 5-5 game heading into the tenth, and Thornburg’s two runs broke up the reliever’s streak of six straight scoreless appearances.

Fortunately, the ex-Brewer held things together, recorded the third and final out of the tenth, and locked down his team’s 80th win of the season with the 10-7 victory. Oddly enough, Craig Kimbrel was credited with the winning decision.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Toronto’s “ace” in right-hander Marcus Stroman.

Although he has not pitched much like an ace for the majority of this season, Stroman had his way with Boston on Tuesday.

Tossing seven innings of one run ball, with that lone run coming on a JD Martinez RBI single in the fourth, the thing that really killed the Red Sox while Stroman was on the mound had to be ground ball outs.

The Duke product induced 14 of them on the night, which also resulted in two double plays early on.

With his pitch count at 92, it looked like Stroman was ready for another frame of work in the eighth, but a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand forced his night to come to a close, and that’s where this game turned around in the right direction for Boston.

Blue Jays reliever Ryan Tepera took over for Stroman in the eighth with a two run lead to protect.

After Bruck Holt struck out to lead off the inning, a Sandy Leon double, Mookie Betts walk, and Andrew Benintendi single loaded the bases with Mitch Moreland due up.

On the second pitch he saw from Tepera, grounded a ball sharply to second base for the force out there, but Leon managed to score without a throw home to make it a 3-2 game with two outs for JD Martinez.

In a 2-0 hitter’s count with Betts at third and Moreland at first, Martinez launched a 95 MPH fastball over the wall in the left field corner for his league-leading 34th big fly and 97th RBI of the year. 5-3 game.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, that clutch home run would not amount to much a few minutes later when the Blue Jays stormed back to send this thing into extras tied at five runs a piece.

Starting the tenth with the 9-1-2 hitters due up and former Astros closer Ken Giles on the hill for the Blue Jays, Mookie Betts got a five-run rally started with a one out triple.

Two batters and one Andrew Benintendi walk later, Mitch Moreland came through with his 14th homer of the season, another three-run bomb sent 381 feet into the seats in right field to give the Red Sox a 8-5 lead.

After JD Martinez grounded out to short for the second out and Xander Bogaerts reached first on a single up the middle, Jackie Bradley Jr. really put this game out of reach with his ninth long ball of 2018 to put his team up 10-5, which, despite a last-ditch two run rally from the Jays in their half of the tenth, is all they would need to secure this series opening win.

Some notes from this win:

Over his last five appearances, Craig Kimbrel has allowed five runs to score in 5.1 innings pitched. According to @RedSoxStats: Kimbrel’s 3.32 FIP (fielding independent pitching) ranks 64th/157 qualified relievers this year.

From @SoxNotes: The Red Sox are 80-34 (.702), their most wins ever through 114 games.

This is the first time since 2007 the Red Sox are MLB’s first team to reach 80 wins.

Since going 13-13 from April 21-May 18, the Sox are 50-19 (.725).

Boston is 24-5 (.828) in its last 29 games.

—

As is mentioned above, the Red Sox are 80-34 and the first team in baseball to reach that mark this season. Both statements are insane.

With a potential series win at hand later tonight, it will be a pitching matchup featuring Brian Johnson for Boston and rookie Mike Hauschild for Toronto.

Johnson is coming off an outing in which he got roughed up for five runs in five innings against the Yankees this past Thursday and owns a lifetime 7.47 ERA in five career appearances against the Blue Jays.

Hauschild, 28 and a right-hander, will be making his first career start in the majors after five career relief appearances between Houston and Toronto the past two seasons. As you may have guessed, he has never faced the Red Sox in his short stint in the big leagues.

Rafael Devers is expected to be activated from the 10-day disabled list today while infielder Tony Renda, who scored the game-winning run against the Yankees on Monday morning, will be optioned back down to Pawtucket.

Chris Sale, Ian Kinsler, and Blake Swihart are also expected to be activated from the DL in the coming days.

First pitch of the second game of the series in Toronto is scheduled for 7:07 PM ET Tuesday.

 

 

RECAP: Andrew Benintendi Comes up Clutch with Walk-Off Single in Extras as #RedSox Finish off Sweep of Yankees.

In a game that started on Sunday night and ended early Monday morning, it was the Red Sox who came out on top in ten innings of play for their fourth-straight win over the Yankees, opening up a 9.5 game lead atop the American League East.

Started by David Price, who was surprisingly outstanding against a team he owned a 24.92 ERA against in two outings prior to Sunday, the Red Sox managed to fight their way back on a night it looked like they could have settled for taking three out of four from their division rival.

Pitching into the seventh inning of this one, Price surrendered two earned runs, both of which were scored with him out of the game, on four hits, three free passes, and one HBP to go along with five punch outs on the night.

The lefty found himself dealing with traffic on the base paths right away in the first, as he allowed three of the first five hitters to reach, loading the bases with two outs in the frame. Fortunately, a 1-3 put out on a softly hit ground ball from Luke Voit allowed Price to escape unscathed.

Including the Voit ground out, the 32 year-old hurler retired 16 of the next 19 Yankees batters he faced going into the middle of the sixth inning in a 1-0 game in his team’s favor.

At that point, Price’s pitch count had reached 95, and given the fact he had just completed his sixth scoreless frame against a team he has a bad history with, maybe that was a good time for Alex Cora to call it a night for the big left-hander.

Instead he came back out for the seventh, gave up a leadoff single that was followed by a walk to put runners at first and second with no outs, and that was how Price’s fine night would come to a bit of a disappointing end.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 108, the second most he has thrown all season, 85 of which went for strikes, the Tennessee native relied heavily on his changeup Sunday night, as he went to it more than 31% of the time he was on the mound. He also topped out at 94.1 MPH with his two-seam fastball in the third inning. Although nothing has been announced by the team yet, I would expect Price’s next start, which would be his 23rd of the year, to come next weekend in Baltimore.

In relief of Price, Heath Hembree, who has turned into one of the best relievers with runners on base, got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen to try and get out of a seventh inning jam.

Instead, with runners on first and second, Hembree refused to give up a sacrifice bunt to Yankees right fielder Shane Robinson, as he threw up and near his head on three consecutive occasions, which eventually led to a seven pitch walk to load the bases.

From there, New York tacked on all four of their runs in a rather lengthy sequence. Gardner and Austin Romine scored on an E6 committed by Xander Bogaerts to close the book on David Price’s start and Robinson came around to cross the plate on a Giancarlo Stanton single a few minutes later. 3-1 Yankees.

Two batters and one pitching change later, Ryan Brasier, in the game for Boston now, got Gleyber Torres to fly out to center for the second inning, but that allowed Aaron Hicks, who reached base on the E6, to tag up from third and score his team’s fourth and final run of the frame.

Brasier, while escaping the seventh, also tossed a scoreless eighth inning to make way for Tyler Thornburg in the ninth.

Thornburg, who had not gotten any work since July 30th, worked his way around two walks to retire the side and give the Red Sox one last chance in their half of the ninth trailing by three runs.

After a crazy ninth that eventually saw these teams tied up again, Matt Barnes, who was also making his first appearance of August, retired all three Yankees he faced in order to send this thing to the bottom of the tenth, where he would eventually collect his fourth win of the season thanks to the heroics of Andrew Benintendi.

Speaking of Andrew Benintendi, the Red Sox lineup really saved their best for last on Sunday night/Monday morning, because they really could not do anything off of Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka.

Despite pitching less than five innings, Tanaka made just one costly mistake, and that was serving up a solo home run to Mookie Betts in that fifth inning to put the Red Sox on the board. Betts’ 26th long ball of the year traveled 437 feet into the night sky, per Statcast.

Up until this thing reached the ninth inning with their backs against the wall, that home run was the only scoring the Red Sox could manage off the likes of Tanaka, Zach Britton, and Dellin Betances.

With Aroldis Chapman in to close this game out in the ninth with a three-run lead to protect, it was Sandy Leon who got the rally started by drawing a one out walk.

Keep in mind, Chapman hadn’t blown a save since May 4th, yet he always seems to struggle at Fenway Park.

Three walks in the frame, one to Leon, one to Mookie Betts, and one to Steve Pearce, who was replaced by Jackie Bradley Jr., loaded the bases for Boston with two outs and JD Martinez coming to the plate.

On the first pitch he saw from Chapman, the Red Sox’s slugger scorched a 99.1 MPH single into center field to drive in Leon and Betts and cut the Yankees lead to one run.

With Xander Bogaerts at the plate looking to redeem himself for the previous error over at short, a 1-1 85 MPH slider from Chapman resulted in Bogaerts tapping a grounder to third in what appeared to be the final out of the contest.

Instead, a bad throw from Yankees’ third baseman Miguel Andujar over to Greg Bird at first base allowed both Bogaerts to reach first safely and Bradley Jr. to come in to score. Tied game headed into extra innings.

Fortunately for those who had to wake up early in the morning, extras did not take all that long, thanks to old friend Jonathan Holder, who gave up seven earned runs on Thursday, making an appearance out of the Yankees bullpen in the tenth.

It all happened with two outs in the inning, but a Sandy Leon single followed by an intentional walk of Mookie Betts put the go-ahead run for the Red Sox at second base.

Given the difference in speed around the base paths, Leon was replaced by the recently called up Tony Renda to represent the winning run.

Following a brief mound visit, Andrew Benintendi put an end to this marathon game by delivering the clutchest hit of the night, an RBI single to center field to score Renda from second and give the Red Sox the 5-4 win. Sweep completed.

Some notes from this win:

The Red Sox are 79-34. They are now 9.5 games up on the Yankees in the American League East. Also, the Red Sox have not lost a game against New York since Brian Cashman said this:

Against the Yankees in 2018, the Red Sox are 8-5 in head-to-head matchups, including a 6-1 record at Fenway Park.

In his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform, Tony Renda scored the winning run to complete a four-game sweep over the Yankees. That’s pretty cool.

From @RedSoxStats: Since Price’s meltdown on Sunday Night Baseball he’s made 5 starts, pitching into the 7th 4 times, with a 2.84 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, and 5.3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio.

Andrew Benintendi’s career numbers against the Yankees: 39 G, .293/.355/.493 slash line, 6 HR, 27 RBI.

—

After enjoying the well-deserved off day on Monday, the Red Sox will open up a three-game series in their last trip to Toronto of the season against the 51-60 Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Chris Sale was schedules to start one of these games, but he has been pushed back. Instead, Drew Pomeranz, Brian Johnson, and Rick Porcello will get the ball for Boston in games one, two, and three of this series, and then it’s on to Baltimore for the weekend.

First pitch of the first game north of the border is scheduled for 7:07 PM ET on Tuesday. This team is special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECAP: #RedSox Fall Behind Early, but Bounce Back in Big Way with 10-4 Win over Twins.

On the night after Mookie Betts walked off the Minnesota Twins with his 25th home run of the season in the tenth inning on Friday, the Red Sox carried over that instant offense by piling up nearly a dozen runs against Minnesota on Saturday. It certainly was not easy, as the team actually trailed for about a third of the game, but in the end, came away with their 73rd win of the year to get back to 40 games over the .500 mark.

Making his 22nd start of the season, Rick Porcello was part of the reason the Red Sox were down early in this one, but by the time he departed, the team was in a fairly decent spot while the New Jersey native had settled in to eventually notch his 13th winning decision.

Pitching into the sixth inning, the righty surrendered four earned runs on five hits and just one walk to go along with five strikeouts on the night.

In the 5.2 innings he appeared in, the most costly miscues Porcello made came in back-to-back innings starting in the second.

Trailing by one run, Twins DH Logan Morrison launched a 434 foot bomb of a solo home run to tie things up at one.

Just an inning later, two straight one out singles from Minnesota’s 9-1 hitters, followed by a two out, two-run triple off the bat of shortstop Jorge Polanco had the Twins up by a couple of runs early. They tacked on another on a Brian Dozier RBI single, but according to his post game interview session, Porcello did not seem as peeved about that as he did the Polanco triple.

From the top of the fourth on though, the 29 year-old hurler retired eight of the last 10 batters he faced, with some help from Andrew Benintendi, before getting the hook with his pitch count reaching 100 (66 strikes).

Out of those 100 pitches, Porcello relied on his off-speed arsenal the most last night, as he went to his slider and curveball a combined 53% of the time. Only going to his four-seam fastball 22 times, Porcello topped out at 92.3 MPH with it on his 46th pitch of last night’s contest.

Improving to 13-4 on the year now, best for second in the American League, not that it matters, Porcello will look to turn a new page once the calendar flips to August. In five starts this month, we saw quite possibly the best of the former Cy Young Award winner with six shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles and we may have seen the worst of him with that eight run stinker against the Blue Jays right before the All-Star Break.

Finishing the month with his ERA 0.43 points higher than it was at the beginning, Porcello’s next start should come sometime against next week/weekend’s series against the New York Yankees.

Anyway in relief of Porcello, Heath Hembree entered the game last night with two outs in the top half of the sixth and a runner at second.

As he has done so well recently, Hembree stranded the runner, Brian Dozier, in scoring position at third base following a successful stolen base attempt to keep the Twins deficit at one. After his team tacked on an insurance run in their half of the sixth, the South Carolina native came back out to toss a scoreless seventh frame en route to pick up his 15th save of the season.

Tyler Thornburg would come on in place of Hembree in the eighth, and he sat down the only three batters he faced to extend his scoreless innings streak to 3.2 following an ugly outing last weekend in Detroit.

And finally, by the time Joe Kelly came in to get some work in the ninth, the Red Sox had jumped out to a 10-4 lead to put this game away in the eighth.

Craig Kimbrel, despite a blown save on Friday, was available but was not needed.

In the lone inning he pitched in, Kelly did not walk one batter for the first time since July 13th on his way to locking down the win for the Red Sox.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a familiar opponent in Minnesota’s starter Jake Odorizzi.

Having spent five seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays before signing with the Twins last winter, Odorizzi had made 17 starts against Boston to go along with a not so shiny 4.45 ERA in those starts. Based on that information, last night was kind of the same deal, meaning the Red Sox saw him well.

The scoring started early on, as three straight one out hits from the Red Sox’s 2-4 hitters was highlighted by a Mitch Moreland RBI single to drive in Andrew Benintendi from second and give his team an early 1-0 lead.

After the Twins jumped all the way out to a 4-1 lead of their own in the third, the Red Sox did not get on the board again until their half of the fourth.

With one out in the inning, a Rafael Devers ground-rule double followed by an Eduardo Nunez walk put the Red Sox in an ideal scoring spot to try to trim the Twins lead down.

Even though Sandy Leon failed to advance Devers to third on a fly out to center field, Jackie Bradley Jr. came through a few minutes later.

On the first pitch he saw from Odorizzi, an 84 MPH slider, the Red Sox outfielder ripped a 103.3 MPH triple just out of the reach of his counterpart Jake Cave off the center field wall to score both Devers and Nunez and make it a 4-3 game.

Had he got out of the box quicker, we could have been looking at a three-run inside the park home run, but that was not case.

With the tying run just 90 feet away now, Mookie Betts followed through with his first of two RBI doubles on the night to score Bradley from third and even things up at four runs a piece.

An inning later, JD Martinez delivered the go-ahead run the Red Sox needed by mashing his 32nd big fly of the season over everything in left field.

412 feet, 107 feet off the bat on that home run that ended up sailing over Lansdowne and landed on the roof of the parking garage across the street from Fenway.

That long ball put the Red Sox up 5-4 going into the fifth, and they would not have to look back in what ended up being somewhat of a blowout.

From that point in the game on, an Andrew Benintendi RBI single in the sixth increased the Red Sox lead to two runs.

Fast forward to the bottom half of the eighth, and nine batters came to the plate in what turned out to be a four run inning.

Capped off by an RBI double from Mookie Betts, a bases loaded RBI walk from Rafael Devers, and a two RBI double off the bat of Eduardo Nunez, the Red Sox found themselves up 10-4 by the time the eighth had come to a close.

Some notes from this win:

In the third inning of last night’s contest, Mookie Betts swiped his 20th bag of the season, marking 100 total in his career.

From @SoxNotes: At 25 years old, Mookie Betts is the youngest player ever to reach 100+ HR and 100+ stolen bases with the Red Sox. Betts has also become the first Red Sox player ever to record 20+ HR and 20+ steals in as many as 3 seasons.

From @RedSoxStats, pertaining to Heath Hembree: Inherited runners in Hembree’s 9 games this month: 2 3 2 0 1 0 1 2 1 … so far none have scored.

Over his last 25 games, Jackie Bradley Jr. is slashing .302/.371/.558 with four home runs and 23 RBI.

It was announced this morning that Rafael Devers is headed to the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain after he came up lame rounding second base in the eighth inning last night. Tzu-Wei Lin has been recalled from Triple A Pawtucket in his place.

—

On a more positive note, the Red Sox will be going for the series win later on this afternoon.

Looking to impress in his debut with his new club, Nathan Eovaldi gets the start for Boston. He’ll be matched up against another righty in the Twins’ Jose Berrios, who held the Red Sox to one run on five hits in 6.1 innings pitched back on June 19th.

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

 

 

RECAP: Four Home Runs Not Enough as Drew Pomeranz Disappoints in Return to #RedSox Rotation.

For the first time since May 31st, Drew Pomeranz started a big league game last night, and surprise, surprise, he was not very good. Yes, he deserves the benefit of the doubt and maybe multiple chances to prove himself again, but it’s understandable why Pomeranz is not exactly a fan favorite.

I mean, he has brought almost nothing to the table this season and looks like he does not want to be out there. But, given the fact Eduardo Rodriguez is on the shelf for the forseeable future, nothing much will change. The good news here, if any, is that once the postseason begins, Pomeranz shouldn’t even be considered to be part of the starting rotation. Watch, now he’ll pitch like he did for most of last season and I’ll look like an idiot.

Anyway, on another rainy night in Baltimore, Drew Pomeranz made his return from the 10-day disabled list to make his ninth start of the season on Tuesday night. While rehabbing from his left bicep injury, Pomeranz made six starts between Double A Portland and Triple A Pawtucket. In those six outings, the lefty posted a 5.04 ERA in 25 innings pitched, but held the opposition to one run on one hit and two walks in his last start against the Charlotte Knights on July 18th.

So, that appeared to give the signal that Pomeranz was ready to rejoin the Red Sox rotation. Alex Cora mentioned how the return of Pomeranz could be somewhat like a trade pickup for the club, and he had a great opportunity to get his feet wet against a team as bad as the Orioles.

Unfortunately, that is not how things worked out, because in less than five innings, Pomeranz got hit decently hard.

In those 4.2 innings pitched, Baltimore got to the Tennessee native for four runs on six hits, including two home runs, while drawing two walks and fanning four times.

The first crucial mistake Pomeranz made came in the third, when with one out and a runner on, the lefty seemingly missed his location on a 0-0 78 MPH knuckle curve and O’s second baseman Jonathan Schoop sent it 414 feet into the left field seats for his second long ball in as many days to give his team an early 2-1 lead.

The second crucial mistake for Pomeranz came in a similar spot later on in the bottom half of the fifth. After walking the leadoff hitter, who also happened to be Baltimore’s number nine hitter in Caleb Joseph, the 29 year-old hurler served up another two-run homer, this one coming off the bat of the other Orioles middle infielder Tim Beckham. This coming a half inning after the Red Sox had just battled back to take a 3-2 lead. Not a great look.

Pomeranz would be unable to finish the frame, as Tyler Thornburg came in and struck out the only batter he faced.

Finishing with 89 pitches, 56 of which went for strikes, Pomeranz relied on his knuckle-curveball 51% of the time on Tuesday and topped out at 89.9 MPH with his four-seamer on his 26th pitch of the game. According to Statcast, the three hardest hit balls last night had exit velocities of 108, 107.7, and 106.9 MPH. They all came off of Pomeranz.

Falling to 1-4 on the season with an ugly 6.91 ERA, Pomeranz will look to rebound in his next time out, which could come against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.

As I had previously mentioned, Tyler Thornburg got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen in the fifth and retired the lone batter he faced.

A struggling Joe Kelly was next out of the ‘pen for the sixth, and by the time the inning had concluded, the Orioles had added three runs to their lead to essentially put this game out of reach for the Red Sox. Since the beginning of June, Kelly owns a 9.98 ERA and .920 OPS against in 20 appearances. That’s a problem.

From the middle of the seventh inning on, Hector Velazquez wrapped up a pretty miserable day for Red Sox pitching on a more positive note, as he held the Orioles scoreless in the two frames he tossed to lower his ERA to a solid 2.50 on the season.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a young pitcher for Baltimore who actually made his big league debut against Boston back on June 13th.

Yefry Ramirez, 24, gave up three runs in less than five innings pitched then, and it was a very similar outing for him last night.

JD Martinez got the scoring started right away in the first, as he launched his first of two home runs on the night to put the Red Sox up early.

Fast forward to the fifth with the team trailing by a run, Blake Swihart came through with is first Major League home run in nearly three seasons to tie this thing back up at two runs a piece.

One batter later, Mookie Betts took issue with Ramirez throwing 92 MPH heat up near his head. Although it was more than likely unintentional, Betts made the Orioles rookie pay by mashing his 24th big fly of the season on the very next pitch he saw.

Back-to-back solo homers to retake the lead had me feeling pretty confident to be honest, but Drew Pomeranz let that slip away a few minutes later.

Trailing by four runs heading into the eighth inning, JD Martinez put a dent into that deficit, as he blasted his second home run of the night and 31st of the season, a two-run shot, to retake the Major League lead in that category and make it a 7-5 game.

With one last chance to do something in the ninth, the news that Orioles closer Zach Britton had been traded to the New York Yankees was certainly a blow, but it was also assuring knowing that he would not be available to close this game out for Baltimore.

Facing off against new Orioles closer Brad Brach, Jackie Bradley Jr. led things off with an infield single that essentially turned into a double thanks to some sloppy glove work from Tim Beckham.

After Brock Holt pinch hit for Eduardo Nunez and advanced Bradley from third with one out, Rafael Devers cut the Red Sox deficit to one by collecting his 50th RBI of the season on an infield single. 7-6 game.

Mookie Betts was up next with the chance to complete the comeback, but unexpectedly grounded into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. Surprising, considering how much damage Betts has done at Camden Yards in his career. With the Yankees winning their game against the Tampa Bay Rays last night, the lead in the AL East currently stands at five games for Boston.

Some notes from this win:

From @SoxNotes: J.D. Martinez is the 10th player to hit 30+ HR in his first season with the Red Sox, the first since David Ortiz did it in 2003.

In 35 career games at Camden Yards, Mookie Betts is slashing .296/.383/.606 with 13 HR and 28 RBI.

Per FanGraphs, 48% of the 31 home runs JD Martinez has hit this season have been hit to the opposite field.

—

Going for the series win tonight before heading home, David Price gets the ball for the Red Sox in what will be his 21st start of the season. Going up against him is the Orioles’ Dylan Bundy, who has started three times against Boston in 2018 and owns a 2.29 ERA in those starts.

First pitch of the final game is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET.

RECAP: Another Stellar Outing from Chris Sale Leads #RedSox to 70th Win.

Originally scheduled for 1:10 PM ET, the Sunday series finale between the Red Sox and Tigers did not get underway until about 2:45 in the afternoon. Luckily for us, Chris Sale still put on a show against an opponent he is seen plenty of times over his nine-year career.

In his 21st start of the season on Sunday, Sale, as he has done so often recently, dominated.

Tossing six full innings, the lefty held Detroit scoreless while scattering two hits, hitting one batter, and punching out nine, which is actually his lowest strikeout total since June 13th. Regardless, he still tossed a gem and was rarely put in any stressful situations.

Finishing with 99 pitches (73 strikes), Sale retired the first eight batters he faced in order. It was not until, with two outs in the third, Tigers left fielder Victor Reyes lined a single to left field for his teams first hit of the day.

The only other hit Detroit could come across with the Florida native on the mound came an inning later, when with one out, Nick Castellanos ripped a double to right center field, nearly got tagged out by Xander Bogaerts while heading to second base, but made it just in time to put a runner in scoring position.

Thankfully, Sale recovered by retiring the next two hitters he faced to strand the runner at second, although he did need 17 pitches to do so.

Out of those aforementioned 99 pitches, Sale relied on his four-seam fastball/slider combination approximately 85% of the time in the six innings he appeared in, which resulted in 17 total swinging strikes. The fastest Sale’s four-seamer was clocked in at was 98.6 MPH on his 58th pitch of the game.

Improving to 11-4 on the season now, Sale will look to build on yet another successful outing and win in his next time out, which should come against the Minnesota Twins back at home on Friday.

In relief of Sale, the Red Sox bullpen had a comfortable nine run lead to work with going into the bottom half of the seventh inning.

Making his first appearance since the All-Star break, Brandon Workman ended the shutout by serving up a solo homer to Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario in the lone frame he appeared in.

Joe Kelly got the call for the eighth inning with the chance to get some of his confidence back. Despite loading the bases, the Tigers failed to score a run off the hard throwing righty, as Jackie Bradley Jr. ran down a deep fly ball off the bat of Candelario for the third and final out to retire the side. Not the prettiest outing from Kelly, as he only threw strikes 48% of the time, but a scoreless one nonetheless.

The bottom half of the ninth was a completely different story for the Red Sox. With Tyler Thornburg pitching less than 24 hours after getting shelled, the righty reliever needed just seven pitches, all of which were strikes, to retire the only three batters he faced to close out the 9-0 win. They mentioned on the broadcast that Thornburg had said he is feeling more and more like himself on the mound, and what he did today certainly helped that cause.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against the second lefty they had seen in three days. Blaine Hardy, 31, has seen time as both a starter and a reliever with the Tigers this season, and had already made a start against Boston back on June 6th, a start in which he gave up five runs in six innings pitched.

That would not be the case on Sunday though, as the Tigers starter only pitched into the fourth inning before getting that hook.

Over those 3+ frames, the Red Sox tacked on their first two runs of the day on back-to-back RBI groundouts from Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez in the second.

Two innings later, leadoff hits from Steve Pearce and Xander Bogaerts, followed by Rafael Devers reaching first on a fielder’s choice meant that the bases were loaded for Eduardo Nunez.

After Hardy was replaced by Tigers reliever Drew VerHagen, Nunez grounded an RBI single that scored Steve Pearce from third. As the ball deflected off the third baseman’s glove however, some confusion was created and Rafael Devers ended up getting tagged out in between second and third.

With one out in the fourth now and runners on the corners, Jackie Bradley Jr. came through with his second hit of the day, a 390 foot three-run opposite field blast hit to left field for his seventh of the season. 6-0 game.

Fast forward to the seventh, and Andrew Benintendi picked up his only hit of the day on a one out, two RBI triple off of Tigers pitcher Daniel Stumpf to score both Sandy Leon and Mookie Betts to make it a 8-0 game.

One pitching change later, JD Martinez drove in Benintendi from third in the process of picking up his 81st RBI of the season on a sac fly to right field. Ninth and final run on the board, and that turned out to be more than enough for the Red Sox to pick up their league leading 70th win of the year.

Some notes from this win:

Over his last five starts, Chris Sale is 5-0 with a 0.23 ERA and 0.55 WHIP in 40 innings pitched. Also important to note:

In 13 games with the Red Sox, Steve Pearce owns an OPS of 1.099.

Jackie Bradley Jr. is slashing .265/.327/.469 with one home run and 12 RBI in 14 games this month.

—

Improving to 26-6 in series finales on the season, the Red Sox will head to Baltimore to wrap up this quick six-game road trip. Going up against a dismal 28-72 Orioles team, Rick Porcello will get the start for the series opener on Monday.

He’ll be matched up against fellow righty Kevin Gausman for Baltimore, who surrendered six runs on eight hits in his only other start against Boston this season back on May 17th.

First pitch of the first game is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET on Monday.