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ONE LAST RUN FOR A
RED SOX LEGEND -
FROM SEASON CHAMPS
TO PLAYOFF CHUMPS
The Sox bounce back against the Orioles
April
13, 2016 ... When Craig Kimbrel took the ball
in the ninth inning to close the door on the Sox' 4-2 win, he stared
down three of the same hitters that spoiled things for him in the
Fenway home opener, two days before, and he steamrolled them. The Sox
broke up the Orioles' seven-game win streak to start the season and stopped
their own three-game skid with the win.
Joe Kelly
didn't make it past the fifth inning, putting an already taxed Sox bullpen back
to work in the sixth. He gave up seven hits and issued five walks while throwing
116 pitches, but struck out six. The two-run homer he gave up to Davis in the
fourth inning was the only harm done. He fought through long innings to put
himself in line for the win.
But for
the fifth time in just eight games this season, the Sox had to dig themselves
out of a hole. Kelly got out of the inning without any more damage, and it
didn't take long to get the runs back.
In the
bottom of the inning, with two on and none out, Xander Bogaerts shot a ball into
the left-field corner. While Orioles left fielder Hyun Soo Kim was chasing it
down, Sox third base coach wheeled both Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia around
and tie the game at 2.
In the
fourth, Brock Holt worked a leadoff walk. Then, after Ryan Hanigan struck out
looking, Jackie Bradley Jr. stroked a 1-and-1 slider deep off the 380-foot
marker on the short fence in right field for a triple. Holt scored from first to
put the Sox up, 3-2. One batter later, Betts shot a sharp ground ball up the
middle that clipped Orioles pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez and died in the infield grass
for second baseman Jonathan Schoop to snag and then fire to first. He got Betts
but Bradley came in with the fourth run.
With Kelly
done, Matt Barnes and Tommy Layne had to combine to get three outs in the sixth,
then Layne and Junichi Tazawa had to put together a 1-2-3 seventh to build a
bridge for Koji Uehara's clean eighth. That set the stage for Kimbrel's dominant
ninth. |
