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THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ...
The Red Sox set a franchise record
for seasonal wins
September 24,
2018 ... The playoffs officially have to go through
Boston. The Red
Sox clinched home field throughout the
postseason and they set a new franchise wins record. They’ve
accomplished all they can in the regular season. Nathan
Eovaldi looked good again in his start, and
Eduardo
Rodriguez also came out of the bullpen in
this game and looked very good in that role. The offense got going,
and it was overall a very good night at Fenway.
Eovaldi was hit
very hard by Baltimore the last time these two met. Tonight the righty was
getting whiffs and hitting the zone, and while the competition wasn’t what he’ll
be seeing in the postseason, the whispers for him making the October rotation
are sure to be louder after this outing.
The righty made quick work of the Orioles in the first
inning, allowing just a single in a nine-pitch effort that also included a
three-pitch strikeout. The second required a few more pitches, but he also
allowed just a single in that frame and struck out two Baltimore hitters, and in
the third he picked up his first 1-2-3 inning of the day as well as two more
K’s. Eovaldi’s cruise control continued into the fourth with a second
consecutive 1-2-3 frame with two more strikeouts.
In the fifth, he experienced his only bit of trouble of the
night as the Orioles started to catch up to him. That one started with a
hard-hit ground ball over to third base that Rafael
Devers couldn’t handle. Another single put runners on
the corners with nobody out, and in the next at bat Eovaldi tried to sneak a
splitter in. Instead, it bounced short of the plate, got by Christian
Vazquez and Baltimore had their first run of the night
on the wild pitch. With a runner now at second and still nobody out, Eovaldi
came back strong, striking out the next three batters he faced to finish his
night. The last inning wasn’t great as he tossed another wild pitch amid those
three strikeouts. Overall it was a strong showing. He finished with five innings
and ten strikeouts with just the one run allowed.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox offense was not having any trouble
with Dylan
Bundy and the Orioles pitching. They had a chance to
break out with a lead right off the bat when Andrew
Benintendi drew a one-out walk, stole second and moved
over to third when the throw down ended up in the outfield. They couldn’t cash
in, though, and he was stranded 90 feet from home.
The Sox wouldn’t waste any chances in the second. There, a
couple of guys who could displace Mitch
Moreland at first base in October, got into the
action. Steve
Pearce and Brock
Holt hit back-to-back doubles with one out, and Boston
had a 1-0 lead. Christian
Vazquez then followed that up with an RBI single, and
with two outs Mookie
Betts came to the plate. He was two stolen bases away
from a 30-30 season, but he settled for another home run this time. Mookie
smashed one over the wall in left field, and just like that it was a 4-0 lead.
After the Red Sox wasted a pair of two-out walks in the
third, they got back into action against Donnie
Hart out of the bullpen. The Sox got two straight
singles to start that inning, one of which came from Betts and
he’d steal second shortly after for his 29th swiped bag on the year. Benintendi would
knock in another run with a single, and after a J.D.
Martinez walk loaded the bases, Xander
Bogaerts knocked in one more with a single of his own.
It was a 6-0 lead after four.
Eduardo Rodriguez came
out of the bullpen and looked good. He cruised through his first inning of work
getting three fly outs on eight pitches. His second frame wasn’t quite as
impressive, but he did strike out two Orioles and allowed just a single.
In the eighth, Joe
Kelly came on to protect the five-run lead. He allowed
a base hit and a walk to start things off. After getting the first out by way of
the K, he issued another walk to load the bases and Alex
Cora had seen enough.
Ryan Brasier got
a chance to try and get out of the bases loaded jam. He got two consecutive outs
to end the inning, though one of them was on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead
down to four. Matt
Barnes got the ninth, and while he allowed the leadoff
batter to reach when he committed an error on a little ground ball up the first
base line, he immediately got a double play and faced only three batters to
finish out the game, clinch home field and set the franchise wins record. |
