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"THE FUTURE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE"
Clay Buchholz's shutout
pitching and
Rusney Castillo's
timely hitting and fielding,
lead the Sox to a nice win
June 2, 2015 ... The
wounds of a brutal seven-game road trip were still fresh when the Red
Sox returned to Fenway Park tonight. Staring up the standings at all
of their AL East rivals, even if only four games separated them, left
everyone from the clubhouse to the front office carrying the weight
of the season’s disappointment so far.
Despite the talent, the
payroll, the daily work, and the process, manager John Farrell admitted, the
season has not been acceptable to anyone. All the while, owner John Henry was
meeting with the media, both venting and taking responsibility.
The Sox’ 1-0 win over the
Twins was still marked by many of the issues that made May such a struggle,
ineffectiveness at the plate nearly undermining a solid performance on the
mound, but for a team that had just lost six of seven, it was a win. Starving
for run support most of the season, Buchholz again had little room for error.
For as sharp as he was in his eight shutout innings, the lineup had to claw to
muster a run for him to work with.
The Sox put Twins starter
Mike Pelfrey in a tight spot early but let him off the hook. In the second
inning, Pablo Sandoval worked a one-out walk and Mike Napoli followed with a
double off the Monster to put a pair of runners in scoring position. But
Bogaerts reached for one of Pelfrey’s splitters on a 1-and-2 count and bounced
it to shortstop Danny Santana, who was playing in on the grass and threw
Sandoval out at the plate. Sandy Leon popped to short to end the threat.
Buchholz was carving up
the Twins lineup, using his fastball, cutter, and curveball. He piled up eight
strikeouts and allowed just five baserunners (three hits, two walks). He was two
pitches away from an immaculate inning in the fifth, when he struck out Eddie
Rosario and Eduardo Escobar on three pitches apiece, then started Aaron Hicks
with a first-pitch strike. He walked Hicks on six pitches, but came back and
rang up Santana on four pitches to finish off the inning.
Buchholz was still
looking for his first win at Fenway Park this season. It wasn’t until the
seventh that the Sox put him in position to get it. Bogaerts fell behind,
0-and-2, to Pelfrey, but after fouling off a slider and a sinker away, he was
waiting on another offspeed pitch. When Pelfrey left a splitter over the middle
of the plate, Bogaerts shot it deep to center field. As he watched it fly, he
thought he finally put the Sox on the board. The ball dotted the wall on the 379
sign and Bogaerts settled for a double. Leon’s five-pitch walk brought Castillo
to the plate, and after Pelfrey missed low with a first-pitch sinker, then got
one over for a strike, Castillo fouled off three straight pitches before taking
a knee-high sinker on the inside of the plate and shooting it up the middle for
the single that scored Bogaerts. Leon was thrown out at third to end the inning,
but the run counted.
The next step is turning
around the season, a game at a time. |
