|
"THE FUTURE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE"
Wade Miley pitches his first complete game
September 5,
2015 ... Wade
Miley used a pinpoint fastball and relentless strike-throwing to keep
the Phillies hitless for the first four innings. After that, he could
have given up as many hits as he wanted. While Miley pressed the mute
button on Philadelphia, the Sox delivered an eight-run fourth inning
that essentially decided the outcome.
The Sox sent 11 hitters to the plate in the frame and banged out seven hits,
passing the bats to each other like batons. David Ortiz bookended the inning
with a leadoff single and a solo homer, the 496th of his career. The blast was
his 30th of the season, giving him the ninth 30-homer season of his career,
surpassing Ted Williams for the most in Red Sox history.
Ortiz’s single, though, was the springboard. After Travis Shaw flied out to
center, Rusney Castillo followed up with a single to left. Blake Swihart shot a
ground ball up the middle to plate Ortiz and give the Sox their first run. Josh
Rutledge singled to left-center to load the bases, and Jackie Bradley Jr. cashed
in with a two-run double to right that put the Sox up, 3-0.
After Mookie Betts worked a walk, the Phillies saved themselves a run when
rookie starter Alec Asher pounced on a comebacker from Brock Holt and made a
quick throw that narrowly beat Rutledge to the plate to force the second out of
the inning. But just when they thought the inning might end, Xander Bogaerts
shot a liner into the right-field corner that hopped around the warning track.
While Phillies right fielder Aaron Altherr tried to chase it down, Bradley,
Betts, and Holt scored on the double. When Bogaerts saw the relay throw from
second baseman Cesar Hernandez bounce away from catcher Carlos Ruiz, he made a
break for the plate. A crafty slide to the inside of the plate allowed Bogaerts
to sneak in for a four-run double (of sorts) that put the Sox up, 7-0. Ortiz
capped the inning by shooting a fly ball into the right-field stands just beyond
the Pesky Pole for his fourth home run in eight games as he continues his march
to No. 500.
Betts went 3 for 4, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Rutledge, who was
2 for 4, had his third multi-hit effort in four games. Bradley’s 2-for-4 day
made him 10 for his last 18.
Miley (11-10), who pitched the first complete game of his career, held the
Phillies to just two runs on five hits, needing only 110 pitches. He had five
strikeouts in the first three innings. For three of them, he needed four pitches
or fewer. He threw first-pitch strikes to eight of the first 10 batters. With 19
called strikes, he had the Phillies puzzled at the plate.
Manager Torey Lovullo was told in the seventh inning that Miley had never
pitched nine innings. The way Miley was dealing, Lovullo wasn’t going to take
him off the mound. |
