|
|
A TEAM THAT COULDN'T
May 17, 2017 ... By the time the game finally ended, only a security guard was remaining in the visitors bullpen in left field at Busch Stadium. Every Red Sox reliever had been used, and every one of them pitched well. The Sox got seven scoreless innings out of the bullpen to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4, in 13 innings. It was left to rookie Ben Taylor to finish the game and the 24-year-old came through, striking out Magneuris Sierra with a runner on for his first career save. The winning run came on a pinch-hit single by Chris Young with two outs in the 13th. Mitch Moreland doubled with two outs off Sam Tuivailala, his pop-up down the line in left landing inside the foul line and bouncing into the stands. The Cardinals intentionally walked Jackie Bradley Jr. to get to the pitcher's spot. Young came out of the dugout and knocked the second pitch he saw into center field. The Sox used Craig Kimbrel against the top of the St. Louis order in the ninth inning and he retired three batters on 13 pitches. With Josh Rutledge on second and two outs in the top of the 10th, the Cardinals intentionally walked Xander Bogaerts to get to slumping Andrew Benintendi. The rookie saw six pitches and hit the ball hard on the ground to the left side. Jedd Gyorko made a diving stop and threw Benintendi out to save a run. Heath Hembree worked a scoreless inning before Fernando Abad came on for the 11th inning. The lefthander got through two innings, throwing 32 pitches. He was the winner. The Cardinals went to work on Red Sox starter Rick Porcello in the first inning when Dexter Fowler led off with a home run that cleared the home bullpen in right field and landed several rows deep in the stands. St. Louis sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning and scored three runs. Yadier Molina started it with a double to left field. Aledmys Diaz followed with a bunt that seemed intended as a sacrifice. First baseman Moreland looked to third base and when he turned back it was too late to get Diaz. The misplay wasn't an error but it certainly hurt the Sox. Sierra followed with an RBI single and Kolten Wong with a run-scoring double. Porcello walked Fowler to load the bases and Sierra scored on a groundball to second base. Porcello walked Matt Carpenter to load the bases again before Gyorko grounded to third base. It was a 25-pitch inning for Porcello. Porcello was steady from there. He allowed hits in each of the next four innings but kept the Cardinals from scoring while controlling his pitch count to save the bullpen. He went six innings and allowed four runs on nine hits with three walks and six strikeouts. His earned run average climbed to 4.23. Cardinals starter Mike Leake, who looks like a somehow scrawnier version of Clay Buchholz, went seven innings and allowed two runs. He struck out five without a walk. The Sox put at least one runner on base in every inning but the fourth, but Leake was able to make pitches when needed. Bogaerts tripled to right center with two outs in the first inning before Leake struck out Benintendi on four pitches. Bradley singled with one out in the second inning and never advanced. Mookie Betts singled with one out in the third and advanced on a wild pitch. But Dustin Pedroia grounded out and Bogaerts had a fly ball to right field. Sandy Leon led off the fifth inning with a single but Deven Marrero grounded into a double play. Betts's leadoff single in the sixth inning was wasted. Moreland led off the seventh inning with an infield single and took third on a throwing error by Diaz, the shortstop. Bradley then launched a first-pitch sinker to straightway center field for his fourth home run. The ball landed just below the top of the batter's eye, 441 feet away. Bradley has three home runs in his last seven games and is steadily emerging from what was a long slump. Facing Trevor Rosenthal in the eighth inning, Pedroia drew a walk with one out. Bogaerts's second triple, almost to the same spot, scored Pedroia. Benintendi's fly ball down the line in left was deep enough to score Bogaerts and the game was tied. |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
