“DIARY OF A WINNER”

THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ...
Holt and Lin pace the Sox in another sweep

September 16, 2018 ... The Red Sox had a tough task ahead of them against Jacob deGrom. The Sox got one big inning against him thanks to a Brock Holt home run, and then some clutch late-game action from Tzu-Wei Lin, Holt and Andrew Benintendi.

On the pitching side, Chris Sale looked good to start and the bullpen was solid, though far from perfect, making his second start since returning from the disabled list. In the brief time Sale was on the mound, he looked good. He only threw three innings in the game, but was able to keep the Mets at bay throughout. He needed only 11 pitches to get through a 1-2-3 first, and in the second he allowed a single but only faced three batters thanks to a caught stealing. Finally, in his third inning of work, he tossed another 1-2-3 inning and his day ended with 40 pitches

On the other side, the Mets were rolling with Jacob deGrom, who has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball this season. Going up against someone like deGrom was never going to be easy. That’s how it played out for a couple of innings, at least. The Red Sox went down in order in each of the first two innings, with deGrom racking up five strikeouts in the process.

Then, in the third, they got going. After a fourth consecutive strikeout for the Mets ace to start the inning, Rafael Devers got Boston’s first hit of the day with a single up the middle. Christian Vazquez then poked one through the right side on a hit and run to put runners on the corners, and that brought Betts up to the plate. He hit it well, but settled for just one run on a sacrifice fly. Holt then came up with a runner on first and two outs, and he continued to be red-hot at the plate. deGrom tried to sneak by a fastball by the Red Sox utility man, but it didn’t work. Holt shockingly put one into the Sox bullpen, and suddenly they had a 3-0 lead.

Less shockingly, they didn’t do too much off deGrom after that. This was the first time a team has scored three off of him since before the trade deadline. Anyway, after that third inning deGrom allowed a walk and a double over the next three innings, but nothing more.

So, after Sale left and the offense scored three in the following inning, it was up to the bullpen to hold the lead for six more frames. Hector Velazquez got the first chance, and he made things difficult for himself. After two outs to start the inning, the righty hit a batter, allowed a single then threw a wild pitch to put two in scoring position. He eventually got Todd Frazier to pop one up in foul ground by third base to end the threat.

Velazquez would only throw that one inning, with Drew Pomeranz getting the call to start the fifth. He looked good in that inning setting the side down in order, but things didn’t go as swimmingly in the sixth for the lefty. He immediately gave up a single and a double to put two runners in scoring position just two batters into the frame, but then got a fly ball to right field that was shallow enough to hold the runner. He wasn’t so lucky the next time when Wilmer Flores hit a fly ball to right field. The run scored, though a good throw would have gotten him. Instead, Betts’ throw was much weaker than we’d typically expect. As it turns out, he had tweaked something in his left side, and after the play he was removed from the game.

So, Betts was out of the game, but Pomeranz was not. That wouldn’t last long. Michael Conforto smacked a double into the triangle in center field. It was a ball that Jackie Bradley Jr. probably would catch, but he moved over to right after Betts was removed with Tzu-Wei Lin taking over in center. It cut Boston’s lead to one. That brought on Heath Hembree to try and clean up the mess and keep the lead, and he did with a ground out.

In the seventh, Hembree would come right back out but things didn’t go as well this time around. The righty walked the first batter of the inning then hit the next, and that was it for him. Joe Kelly then came into a tough situation with two on and nobody out with a one-run lead. He’d get a strikeout and a fly out to get to within one out of escaping the jam, but Amed Rosario came through with a base hit to score a run and tie the game. That was all they’d get, but the deed was done.

After the Red Sox managed just a single (and a stolen base) against deGrom in the seventh, Brandon Workman was on for the eighth. He looked good yet again, allowing a leadoff walk but working around that with a pickoff and a pair of strikeouts.

In the bottom half, the Mets went to their bullpen with Seth Lugo entering for deGrom. Tzu-Wei Lin led things off, and he smacked a double off the Monster in left field. After moving to third on a flyout from Holt, Andrew Benintendi hit a deep fly ball and it was enough to knock Lin in and give Boston their lead back.

So, the Red Sox had a lead again. Steven Wright was brought on for the save chance. He walked one batter, but was otherwise perfect to lock down the victory.

GAME RECAP