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“DIARY OF A WINNER” |
THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ... August 20, 2018 ... The Sox pitcher Rick Porcello had the wind knocked out of him after taking a hard liner to the stomach. Two pitches later, Cleveland's Greg Allen knocked the energy right out of Fenway Park. Allen hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning right after Porcello was struck, Corey Kluber tied for the major league lead with his 16th win and the Indians beat the Red Sox 5-4. Cody Allen posted his 25th save. In a meeting of AL division leaders - and a matchup of the last two Cy Young Award winners, it was 3-all into the seventh. Porcello (15-6) retired the leadoff batter and walked the next hitter. Yan Gomes followed with a liner that hit Porcello near the stomach. Porcello retrieved the ball near the mound, threw to second for a forceout and then slid to his knees, grabbing the spot where he was hit. He was checked on the mound, took a practice toss or two, and stayed in the game. Allen then sent a drive into the Indians' bullpen for his second home run of the season. Porcello said after he caught his breath that he was fine. He was more bothered by what he threw after that. Kluber (16-6) pitched into the seventh inning and matched Washington's Max Scherzer and the Yankees' Luis Severino for the most victories in the majors. Michael Brantley and Melky Cabrera also homered to help the AL Central-leading Indians improve to 14-4 in August. Xander Bogaerts had an early two-run single and an RBI single in the ninth for East-leading The Sox. The Red Sox had the first two runners on against closer Cody Allen in the ninth, and scored a run on Bogaerts' dribbler with two outs before Ian Kinsler flied out with two runners on base, leaving them with just their fifth loss in 22 games. Kluber, who won his second Cy Young Award last year, gave up three runs and nine hits, striking out six and walking one in 6 1/3 innings. Porcello allowed five runs on three homers, fanning six and walking one over seven. Bogaerts flicked a low-and-away pitch into right-center with two outs in the first for his single. Andrew Benintendi's opposite-field RBI single made it 3-0 in the third. Trailing 3-0, Cabrera homered into the Sox bullpen in the fifth and Brantley hit his drive into Cleveland's bullpen the next inning. The clubs combined for a half-dozen highlight defensive plays. The best two were: a long running grab by Allen off the bat of Kinsler and a diving catch by Andrew Benintendi, robbing Allen. Christian Vazquez (DL, fractured right pinkie) has been catching bullpens and hitting soft toss. Cora hopes he'll start taking BP later this week. He also was in CF catching pop ups from a machine before BP. Rafael Devers (DL, strained left hamstring) did some light running on the field. |
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