|
|
A TEAM THAT COULDN'T
GET THE JOB DONE ... June 13, 2017 ... For the second straight night, the Red Sox found themselves in extra innings with the worst team in baseball. They gave their starter, David Price, a leg-up in his fourth start of the season with an early two-run lead. He gave it back. They gave him another lead. He gave that back. When his six innings were done, they once again had to rely on a bullpen that hasn’t done much budging this season and timely hitting. Between Robby Scott, Blaine Boyer, Craig Kimbrel, Heath Hembree, and Fernando Abad, the Sox bullpen pitched six shutout innings to keep the Sox afloat. For his two innings of work in the 11th and 12th, Abad picked up the win. Over the five-game homestand, the Sox bullpen gave up just one earned run in 22.1 innings. They came into the game with the fourth-best bullpen ERA in the majors (2.97). In the 12th inning, Andrew Benintendi delivered. With runners on first and third, he got a 1-and-2 slider from Phillies reliever Luis Garcia and laced it into the right field corner for a ground-rule single that gave the Sox a 4-3 walk-off win. Benintendi also cut down what would’ve been the go-ahead run in the eighth inning when he threw out Howie Kendrick at the plate. Andrew gave the Sox their second walk-off win in as many nights and their third walkoff of the season. He went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, Xander Bogaerts went 3 for 5, and Mitch Moreland went 2 for 5 as the Sox picked up their fourth win in the past five games. An erratic first inning by Phillies rookie starter Ben Lively allowed the Sox to jump out to an early lead. Dustin Pedroia stung him for a one-out single, and Bogaerts follow up with a double to make it second-and-third. A 2-and-2 slider to got away from Lively and plunked Moreland to load the bases. Then he and Benintendi to put the Phillies in a 1-0 hole. After an intra-quick six-pitch first inning, Price got into a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the second. Mookie Betts helped him out of it. Cameron Rupp sent a liner to Betts in right. Betts hauled it in quickly and immediately turned to throw. At third, Odubel Herrera broke for the plate at the crack of the bat, flinched when Betts made the grab and had to scurry back to the bag. With two outs, Price struck out Tommy Joseph to get out of the inning. He threw 32 pitches (17 strikes, 15 balls). The Sox continued to get production from the bottom of the lineup. Jackie Bradley Jr. led off the second with a double to center, and two batters later, Christian Vazquez laced a liner to right for a double that scored Bradley ad gave the Sox a 2-0 lead.
Struggling with command early on, Price coughed up the lead the Sox gave him. He tried to go in with a cutter to Aaron Altherr but left it over the plate, and Altherr launched it over the Monster for a game-tying two-run homer. It was his 11th homer of the season. In four starts since his return from the disabled list, Price has given up five homers. Moreland’s bat is still scorching. Lively left a changeup dangling up and in, and Moreland launched it into the bleacher seats in the Triangle for a solo shot that put the Sox up 3-2. He extended his season-long hitting streak to eight games. Price ended up in another tight spot in the sixth when he gave up a one out ground-rule double to Joseph and then a single to Maikel Franco to make it first-and-third. A Michael Saunders ground ball to third pushed Joseph across to tie the game at 3. Price finished the inning by striking out Cameron Rupp on thee straight pitches. He was done after six innings, giving up three runs on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts. Price has given up at least one homer run in each of his outings this season and nine straight going back to last year. It was the first time since 2010 that he gave up four walks in back-to-back starts. |
.jpg)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
