July 31, 2016
...
The Red Sox were trailing by three runs in the ninth
inning and Mookie Betts was down to his last strike against Los
Angeles Angels closer Huston Street. Many of the fans at Angel
Stadium were walking up an aisle, looking over their shoulders to see
what surely would be the end of the game. That the Sox had two
runners on base wasn't trivial. But they hadn't had a big hit all
day, all weekend, really.
Betts
lined a single to center field and a run scored. With the tying run suddenly on
base, Dustin Pedroia launched a slider to center field that cleared the fence.
Not even Mike Trout could reach it. Pedroia let out a scream as he rounded first
base. Xander Bogaerts was next and he homered to left field. In a span of six
pitches, the Red Sox had an unlikely 5-3 victory, one of their best of this or
any season.
Bogaerts,
who rarely shows much emotion on the field, pointed skyward as he crossed the
plate and gave leaping high-fives to three teammates before he arrived at the
dugout.
Yunel
Escobar singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth off Brad Ziegler. But
Pedroia fielded a grounder from Kole Calhoun, tagged the runner, and flipped to
first to end the game. Trout was left on deck.
Pedroia
was called out on strikes in the fifth inning by umpire Gabe Morales and stood
at the plate arguing that the pitch was high. Farrell hustled out of the dugout,
prodded Pedroia out of the way and was ejected a few seconds later. The
alternative was seeing Pedroia get tossed.
Pedroia
grounded out with Brock Holt on second base to end the seventh inning, leaving
him with a .250 batting average with runners in scoring position. But when he
came up again in the ninth, the slate was clean. There also was redemption for
Clay Buchholz, who pitched three scoreless innings for his first career victory
in relief.
The Angels
took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning. Escobar singled to center with one out and
went to third when Calhoun dropped a flare into shallow center, just out of the
reach Pedroia. Trout, down 1 and 2 in the count, ripped a line drive to the left
side that ticked off the glove of a leaping Bogaerts. Escobar scored and Calhoun
went to third. With Trout on the move, Albert Pujols grounded to second. The
only play was at first and Calhoun scored. Andrelton Simmons drew a walk to
extend the inning and Jeffrey Marte dropped a bloop single into center that
scored Trout.
Wright
allowed 10 hits over five innings but half were softly hit. Still, he has a 6.18
earned run average in his last seven starts.
Tyler
Skaggs and three relievers held the Sox to five hits over the first eight
innings. The Red Sox had struck out 11 times and not come close to scoring.
Until the ninth inning, the Sox had not scored in 16
consecutive innings and were on the verge of their eighth loss in 10 games.
