“DIARY OF A WINNER”

THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ...
 2018 ALCS, GAME #1
Chris Sale's pitching lacks command
while the Sox offense and defense fail

October 13, 2018 ... This was a very strange game that pitted two aces against each other. Chris Sale didn’t look at all like himself, as his velocity was down and his slider command totally disappeared for long stretches of this game. He limited damage and was killed by poor defense which led to multiple runs. After him, the Sox relievers continued to issue walk after walk before somehow escaping time after time. The Red Sox offense, meanwhile, had a couple of chances for big innings against Justin Verlander but didn’t come through.

The Red Sox didn’t get a whole lot going against Verlander, but they did seem to have an early chance in the bottom half of the first. With the game still knotted up at zeros, they had a chance to get out to an early lead when Mookie Betts ripped a leadoff single then got to second with one out on a wild pitch. With J.D. Martinez at the plate, they had a chance. The slugger drew a walk to put two on with one out for Xander Bogaerts. After letting a middle-middle fastball go by on the first pitch, he got another one on the second offering of the at bat. Unfortunately, he missed it and turned it into an easy, inning-ending double play.

Verlander mowed through the bottom of the order after that, and then continued that momentum in his second trip through the heart of the Sox lineup. After that first inning, the Astros ace retired the next nine Red Sox batters he faced.

Meanwhile, Chris Sale was not close to the same level as Verlander. Not only was his velocity down but he also couldn’t command his slider. Sale just couldn’t put George Springer away in the first inning. Eventually, the Astros leadoff man would work a walk, but then the Sox caught some breaks. Jose Altuve grounded into a fielder’s choice, then Alex Bregman hit a little bloop to right field. Betts couldn’t quite come in to make the catch, but Altuve was caught in no-man’s land. Although Betts’ throw to get him at second base was off the mark, Bogaerts made a great play to pick a ball in the dirt while barely staying on the bag for the second out of the inning. Sale then came back with his first strikeout of the night, and it was a scoreless frame.

The second inning was where the real trouble for Sale began. He walked Carlos Correa, then hit Martin Maldonado before walking Josh Reddick, and suddenly the bases were loaded for the top of the lineup. It was absolutely disastrous. He finally got some strikes to Springer, but the Astros outfielder ripped one that got through the right side to score two runs. Eduardo Núñez, who got the start at third, probably should have at least knocked it down and limited it to one run. Really, though, these runs were first and foremost on Sale for walking the entire bottom third of the lineup. He did escape after that.

Sale still didn’t look great following that second inning, though he was able to limit any more damage. In the third inning he did issue a leadoff walk to Alex Bregman, but the Astros helped bail him out with an ill-advised stolen base attempt that ultimately helped Sale face only three batters in the inning. He’d come back with a 1-2-3 fourth that included two strikeouts to end his day.

After that, Joe Kelly entered the game looking for a big performance. He did just that in the fifth inning, coming in against the 9-1-2 hitters in Houston’s lineup and shutting them down in order.

Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Verlander started to finally show some signs of vulnerability. Steve Pearce came up to lead off the inning, and he ripped a base hit through the left side. After a strike out to Brock Holt, the righty issued walks to both Núñez and Jackie Bradley Jr., and the bases were loaded. That brought Mitch Moreland up to pinch hit for Sandy León, and he drew yet another walk. Just like that, the Astros lead was cut in half. Mookie Betts then had a huge chance with the bases loaded and one out, but he missed it. Betts got a perfect pitch middle-in, but he rolled it over to third base, leading to a put out at the plate. That left it up to Benintendi, but Verlander took it out of his hands. With two strikes, the ace threw a curveball in the dirt that led Bradley come in to score, and it was a tie game.

Benintendi ended up striking out shortly after that to end the inning on a controversial strike call on the outside corner. Red Sox hitters had been frustrated by the outside corner all night and frustrations boiled here. Benintendi had to be stopped by coaches, and Alex Cora was eventually ejected between innings.

So, with the score tied and the Red Sox down a manager, we headed to the sixth with Joe Kelly coming back up. He started things off by hitting Bregman, but then he appeared to get a tailor-made double play ball. Instead, Núñez dropped an easy chopper, and the Astros had their first two runners on. Kelly looked like he was ready to get out of it, but with two outs Carlos Correa hit a soft liner that fell into left-center field to give Houston their lead back. Matt Barnes then came in and got out of it on one pitch.

Despite his control issues in his previous inning, Verlander came back out for the sixth, and he dominated with an easy 1-2-3 inning. Suddenly, The Sox only had nine outs remaining to at least tie the game.

After Barnes worked around a pair of walks in the top of the seventh, Ryan Pressly came on to pitch for the Astros. The Sox did get one runner to reach on an error, but that was it.

Ryan Brasier allowed a couple more baserunners on a hit batter and a walk, but he pitched a scoreless eighth. Lance McCullers came on for the bottom half for the Astros, and he tossed a 1-2-3 inning.

Brandon Workman came on for the Sox in the ninth, and he made a mistake right away. The righty left a pitch middle-middle to Josh Reddick, and he blasted one way out to right field for a solo shot to give Houston a two-run lead. Workman then allowed two walks before Yuli Gurriel sliced one into the right-field seats, and that was the dagger. With a 7-2 lead, Houston now commanded this game. The Red Sox managed just a single in the ninth, and mercifully this game was over.

GAME RECAP