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DAVID ORTIZ |
"THE FUTURE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE"
Big Papi pounds the Phillies as the Sox sweep
September 6,
2015 ... David
Ortiz unloaded on a fastball and sent it six rows deep into the
right-field bleachers behind the visitor’s bullpen at Fenway Park.
The two-run shot got the Red Sox started and the result was a 6-2
victory. Ortiz added a sacrifice fly in the second inning before
leaving the game with tightness in his right calf.
Perhaps it’s all the running around the bases he has done lately. Ortiz has five
home runs in the last nine games, 31 this season, and 497 for his career. Ortiz
is on pace to become the 27th player with 500 before the season ends.
Lately, even the pitching has been better as Red Sox starters have a 2.85 earned
run average in the last 18 games. Rookie lefthander Eduardo Rodriguez added to
that trend, allowing one run over seven innings. He scattered eight hits, walked
one, and struck out seven. Rodriguez is 9-5 with a 4.05 ERA in 18 starts, 1.73
over the last four.
Philadelphia rookie Jerad Eickhoff got two outs in the first inning before
Xander Bogaerts singled. Ortiz then hit his home run. The home run was Ortiz’s
200th at Fenway Park, the most for an active player at any one ballpark. Only
Hall of Famers Ted Williams (248), Carl Yastrzemski (237), and Jim Rice (208)
have more at Fenway.
The Sox added four runs in the second inning, sending nine batters to the plate.
Jackie Bradley Jr. had a two-run triple, then scored on a single by Mookie
Betts. Bradley is hitting .418 with a 1.364 OPS in his last 24 games with 22
extra-base hits, 28 RBIs, and 27 runs scored.
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MOOKIE BETTS |
Rodriguez got some defensive assistance in the fourth inning when Betts made a
terrific play in center field. Betts raced back to track down a fly ball off the
bat of Darin Ruf, catching it just before it struck the bullpen fence in the
triangle. Betts then bounced gently off the wall, not even rattling his
sunglasses. Twice before this season, on June 12 and July 28, Betts sustained
injuries crashing into that same wall, the second a concussion that put him on
the disabled list. Rodriguez stood on the mound with his arms raised after the
catch, then applauded into his glove.
The Red Sox have won four of six on their homestand and at 64-72 are eight games
under .500 for the first time since July 20. They are one game out of fourth
place in the division and three games out of third. Those are modest
accomplishments. But a team on the verge of collapse in mid-July is now playing
with some verve, having won 20 of the last 34 games. The Sox have averaged 6.1
runs in those games. |
