|
|
"THE FUTURE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE" September 21, 2015 ... Xander Bogaerts’s potential doesn’t seem to have any limits. He bombed an eighth-inning grand slam that enabled the Red Sox to overtake the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-7, to move out of last place for the first time since June 9th. Bogaerts drove in five runs and is up to 78 RBIs to go with his .323 average, which is second in the American League. Limits? There do not seem to be any. Bogaerts has lamented that he hasn’t hit more home runs. His two preseason goals were to show more power and steal more bases. But he’s surpassed what was expected in other areas such as hits and batting average. The Red Sox trailed, 3-0, after the first inning, but starter Eduardo Rodriguez got better, departing after six innings. The Red Sox trailed, 3-1, heading into the seventh inning, but scored three runs. Mookie Betts led off with a single and advanced to second on Dustin Pedroia’s infield hit. Bogaerts crushed a ball to the wall that just missed being a three-run homer, driving in one run. That brought Ortiz up with runners on second and third and no outs against Alex Colome, and he got the tying run in with a groundout to deep shortstop. Travis Shaw’s sacrifice fly to right scored Bogaerts with the go-ahead run. Now it was simply a case of the Sox bullpen being able to hold the lead. Tommy Layne allowed a single but got the next out. On came Alexi Ogando, who walked pinch hitter John Jaso, allowed a single to Brandon Guyer, and Grady Sizemore drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a double to left field. With Jean Machi in for Ogando, Logan Forsythe added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly for a 6-4 Tampa Bay lead. But the Red Sox had one more rally in them. All with two outs. Rays reliever Xavier Cedeno got the first two outs but then hit Jackie Bradley Jr. with a pitch. Rays manager Kevin Cash came out with the hook, bringing in Gomes. Betts singled and Pedroia reached on an infield single. Bases full for Bogaerts, who went down low to loft the winning hit, his seventh homer. Robbie Ross Jr. preserved the lead in the ninth, but he did allow a Richie Shaffer homer. He has converted all five save opportunities. The Red Sox managed one run off Chris Archer, who has now worked 203⅓ innings this season. He went five innings, allowing three hits. The Red Sox were able to get his pitch count up as he issued five walks and struck out only three, which made for a long night for the Tampa Bay bullpen. But this was a back-and forth game that showed a lot of determination from two teams at the bottom of the standings. It wasn’t exactly what Major League Baseball had in mind for a Tampa Bay-Red Sox tilt in late September. Two teams fighting to stay out of last place. With the loss, Tampa Bay was eliminated from the AL East race. |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
 |