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A TEAM THAT COULDN'T
May 11, 2017 ... For eight inning, it was one aggravating moment after another for the Red Sox. They wasted a strong start by Eduardo Rodriguez and missed several scoring opportunities against the Milwaukee Brewers. The road trip was in danger of ending in ruin with a third consecutive loss. Then Mookie Betts fixed everything. His three-run homer in the ninth inning lifted the Sox to a 4-1, now-you-can-exhale victory at Miller Park. Facing Brewers closer Neftali Feliz, Betts sent a fastball over the fence in left for his fifth homer. Christian Vazquez had walked to start the inning before the Brewers misplayed a sacrifice bunt by Deven Marrero. Betts is 10 of his last 17 with four doubles, three home runs, and nine RBIs. Much as he did last season when he finished second in the Most Valuable Player voting, Betts is heating as the weather does. Before the home run, the Sox were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position in the game, 7 of 33 for the series. The Sox started fast against Milwaukee right-hander Jimmy Nelson as Betts opened the game with a double to the gap in left field. With a good runner on second and one of their hottest hitters up, the Red Sox were set up. But Dustin Pedroia elected to bunt Betts to third. Betts scored when first baseman Jesus Aguilar couldn’t handle a slow grounder off the bat of Xander Bogaerts. Nelson didn’t allow another run. The Sox left the bases loaded in the second inning when Pedroia grounded out and wasted a leadoff hit by Bogaerts in the third. Nelson went 6⅔ innings, allowing four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. Keon Broxton doubled to center field with one out in the first inning. He inexplicably tried to steal third base and was easily thrown out by Vazquez. Rodriguez ended the inning by getting Hernan Perez on a fly ball to center field. It was a start of a streak that saw him retire 13 Brewers in a row. That ended when Manny Pina singled to start the sixth inning for Milwaukee. With one out, Nelson put down a bunt to advance the runner. It paid off as Jonathan Villar doubled to left field. Villar, a switch-hitter, had been 4 for 36 batting righthanded before driving in the tying run. Rodriguez left a fastball on the inner half of the plate. Rodriguez allowed one run on three hits and struck out five without a walk. He dropped his earned run average to 2.80. Josh Rutledge led off the seventh inning with a single. With one out and Rodriguez up, the Sox had Chris Young pinch hit. Young thought the second pitch hit him and he trotted to first base with the approval of umpire Ben May. The Brewers challenged the call and a replay showed Young was not hit. He then struck out, as did Betts to end the inning. The Sox had another chance in the eighth inning. Facing Corey Knebel, Pedroia doubled to right-center and went to third on Bogaerts’s single to left. Andrew Benintendi popped up to second base. Mitch Moreland drew a walk to load the bases before Knebel struck out Jackie Bradley Jr. and Rutledge. Matt Barnes walked Orlando Arcia with one out in the bottom of the eighth. Farrell went right to Kimbrel, and he struck out pinch hitter Eric Thames. Villar reached on an infield hit but Kimbrel fanned Broxton to end the inning. Craig Kimbrel worked 1 1/3 innings for the win, striking out five of the six batters he faced and all three batters in the ninth inning, on just nine pitches, an "Immaculate Inning", just the 83rd time it was accomplished in the history of baseball. |
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