Mookie
Betts leads to Sox
in a 9th inning comeback
June 24, 2016
...
The Red Sox were on the verge of a dispiriting loss, their ace
pitcher having been crushed by the Texas Rangers. But with two outs
in the top of the ninth and one strike away from defeat, they instead
pulled off the victory of the season, rallying to beat the Rangers,
8-7. The winning run scored on, of all things, a wild pitch.
The Sox had been 1-27 when trailing after eight innings.
They were down, 6-0, after three innings, starter David Price getting rocked by
the Rangers before being pulled after 2 1/3 innings.
Strong
relief work by Matt Barnes, Tommy Layne, and Heath Hembree and two-run home runs
by Hanley Ramirez and Jackie Bradley Jr. pulled the Red Sox closer but they
still trailed, 7-4, going into the ninth inning.
Facing
Jake Diekman, Bradley drew a walk. With two outs, Sandy Leon hit for Christian
Vazquez and lined an RBI double to left field, capping an epic 11-pitch at-bat.
Leon is 12 of 22 with four doubles and four RBIs in nine games. Texas called in
right-hander Matt Bush. Mookie Betts drove his third pitch, a 97-mile-per-hour
fastball, over the fence in left-center field to tie it.
Dustin
Pedroia walked and took third when Xander Bogaerts singled to right field. Texas
decided to pitch to David Ortiz and Bush's fourth pitch was a high fastball that
went to the backstop, allowing Pedroia to score.
With Craig
Kimbrel unavailable after pitching two innings Thursday, Koji Uehara was used as
the closer and he struck out the side for his second save. Red Sox relievers
retired the final 12 Rangers in order. Hembree (4-0) was the winner.
Price gave
up six runs in one of the worst performances of his career. The Rangers had 16
hits, the most against the Red Sox this season. Every starter had at least one.
Price had a 2.47 earned run average in his previous eight starts this season and
had held opponents to a .204 batting average.
But he was
in trouble from the start against Texas. Shin-Soo Choo led off the bottom of the
first inning with a home run to right field when Price left a fastball in the
middle of the plate. Ian Desmond, Adrian Beltre, and Ryan Rua followed with
singles to load the bases. Price was ahead of both Desmond and Beltre but could
not put them away. Prince Fielder then grounded to first base and Ramirez
started a 3-2-3 double play. That gave Price a chance to get out of the inning
having allowed just one run. But his next pitch was a cutter that stayed over
the plate and Elvis Andrus grounded it into left field for a two-run single.
Bobby
Wilson doubled in the second inning and scored on a single by Desmond. In the
third inning, singles by Andrus, Rougned Odor, and Jurickson Profar loaded the
bases. Wilson then lined a full-count fastball into left field and two runs
scored. That was the night for Price after 59 pitches. Price was charged with
six runs on 12 hits over 2 1/3 innings. It was the fifth time in 229 career
starts that Price lasted fewer than three full innings. By Game Score, a formula
developed by Bill James, it was the third-worst start of the lefthander's
career.
Barnes
threw 51 pitches over 2 2/3 innings, both season highs, in relief of Price. The
only mistake he made came in the fourth inning when Fielder belted a changeup
out to right center for his sixth home run.
Texas
starter Nick Martinez went six innings and allowed four runs on six hits. All of
the damage came on home runs. Ramirez had the two-run shot to center field in
the fourth inning and Bradley a two-run blast into the second deck in right
center in the sixth. It was the 13th home run for Bradley. Of his 74 hits this
season, 36 have been for extra bases.
