IAN KINSLER

THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ...
Ian Kinsler helps piece together a Sox win

September 3, 2018 ... The Red Sox did get themselves a win thanks to a bend-but-don’t break performance from the pitching staff as well as timely hitting led by Ian Kinsler. The Red Sox came into this game hoping Nathan Eovaldi was going to be able to figure some things out and get him on a bit of a roll heading into the final stretch of the year and hopefully well beyond that.

The first inning was immediate trouble for the righty when he didn’t give himself a chance to breath before getting into a jam. He did strike out Ronald Acuña to lead off the game, but Eovaldi immediately walked the next two batters he faced. After recording his second strikeout, he walked Johan Camargo and found himself in a pickle with the bases loaded. Fortunately, he got a ground ball out to shortstop to end the inning and keep the game tied at zeros.

Over the next couple of innings Eovaldi settled down a bit and got a 1-2-3 second before allowing just a single in the third. In the fourth, he started to lose it again and Alex Cora wasn’t going to let it happen too long. Eovaldi walked the first batter he faced, his fourth of the game already, before allowing a single to the next batter he faced. After giving up a hard-hit flyout for the first out of the inning, Cora pulled the plug and brought on Brandon Workman. The righty did walk the first batter he faced to load the bases, but Braves pitcher Touki Toussaint hit a grounder that resulted in an out at the plate before getting a pop up to escape the trouble. So, the Red Sox walked a tightrope through four but kept the Braves off the scoreboard.

While this was going on, the Sox offense was looking for a better and more consistent showing than what they provided in Chicago, particularly in the final game. Early on it didn’t look great when Mookie Betts led off with a strikeout and J.D. Martinez grounded into an inning-ending double play to finish off the inning in three batters. The Red Sox would then manage just a walk in the second before going down in order in the third and fourth.

In the fifth, after Workman got out of that tough jam, the hitters finally started to get going against Toussaint. After a strikeout to start the inning, Eduardo Núñez got the rally going with a double. Ian Kinsler jumped on the first pitch he saw in the next at bat for a double of his own before Christian Vazquez contributed a third consecutive double. Just like that, it was a 2-0 lead for the Red Sox. A couple batters later Betts would come up with Vazquez in scoring position and two outs on the board, and the star outfielder ripped a single to plate the Sox third run of the game, and they’d leave the inning with the 3-0 lead, though they also left Betts at third.

In the bottom half of the fifth Steven Wright came on for his first appearance in the bigs since June, and he hit the first batter he’d see. The knuckleballer also gave up a single in that inning, but three ground balls were enough to maintain his team’s shutout against the Braves.

After the Red Sox managed just a single in the sixth, Joe Kelly got the call for the home half. It didn’t get off to a great start when Ozzie Albies led off the inning and got a fastball middle-middle. The Braves second baseman is not a large man, but he’s got some pop and he blasted the mistake over the wall in right field to cut the Sox lead to two. Kelly did come back after that and get three straight outs.

The Red Sox went down in order again in the seventh, and Ryan Brasier came on for the bottom half of the inning. The righty got himself in a bit of trouble against the middle of Atlanta’s lineup by allowing singles to two of the first three batters he faced. A slow infield single loaded the bases and Kurt Suzuki capitalized with a deep fly ball to score one run and cut Atlanta’s deficit to one. That sac fly ended the day for Brasier, and Heath Hembree came in to try and get out of the jam with runners on the corners and two outs. He got Albies to strike out and the Red Sox left the seventh with a one run lead.

The Sox bats came alive again in the eighth and got some key insurance. A single, a walk and an error loaded the bases with two outs, leaving it all up to Kinsler. The veteran already had an RBI in the game but he added to that total with a big base hit into right field, scoring two more and extending the lead to three.

With the newfound lead, Matt Barnes came on for the bottom half of the eighth. He allowed the first batter to reach on a weak infield single, and the runner would get to third on a stolen base and a ground out, but Barnes kept the run off the board facing four batters.

The Red Sox added three more thanks to a big two-run double from Xander Bogaerts and a sacrifice fly by Núñez, and suddenly it was a six-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. Despite the large lead, Craig Kimbrel still came on to get the work in. He’d walk one but shut the door besides that and the Red Sox went home with a win.

GAME RECAP