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ONE LAST RUN FOR A
RED SOX LEGEND -
FROM SEASON CHAMPS TO PLAYOFF CHUMPS
Rick Porcello and
David Ortiz slug the Giants
July
19, 2016 ... The first time David Ortiz got
hold of one of Giants starter Jake Peavy's cutters Tuesday night, he
put a vicious swing on a pitch dangling over the middle of the plate,
struck his home run pose in the batter's box, and waited for the ball
to sail into the bleachers in center field. But the wind knocked it
down before it could make it out.
But when
Ortiz came back to the plate in the fourth with
runners on first and second, there wasn't any wind
to worry about. He got another cutter on the first
pitch from Peavy and put another charge into it.
The three-run homer helped push the Sox to a 4-0
win at Fenway Park.
The homer
gave Ortiz 23 for the season, 526 for his career, and 468 in a Sox uniform as
his farewell tour marches on. It also snapped Ortiz out of a mini-slump after
going 6 for 29 in his previous eight games.
Brock Holt
extended his hitting streak to eight games with a solo homer in the third inning
that gave the Sox a 1-0 lead.
In the
meantime, Red Sox starter Rick Porcello stretched his win streak at Fenway with
6 1/3 scoreless innings, holding the Giants to four hits with three strikeouts
and two walks. With his 12th win of the season, Porcello improved his record at
Fenway to 9-0. The last Red Sox pitcher to start a season 9-0 at home was Dennis
Eckersley in 1978. His ERA at Fenway dropped to 2.98, more than a run better
than his 4.02 ERA on the road.
Even
though Koji Uehara left the game with a strained right pectoral after striking
out Brandon Belt to start the ninth, Tommy Layne finished the inning by getting
Buster Posey to pop up and striking out Brandon Crawford.
The Red
Sox are 14-5 when Porcello takes the mound, winning each of his last six starts,
and are 10-0 in his starts at Fenway. He's gone at least five innings in each of
his last 26 starts dating to last August.
The last time the Red Sox won a pitcher's first 10 home
starts was 2004 with Curt Schilling. Before that it hadn't been done since 1961
with Don Schwall. The Red Sox have won seven of their last eight and nine of
their last 11.
The Red Sox moved to within a half-game of the Orioles, who
lost to the Yankees, 7-1. |
