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ONE LAST RUN FOR A
RED SOX LEGEND -
FROM SEASON CHAMPS TO PLAYOFF CHUMPS
David Price and
the Sox
batters club the Orioles
September 12, 2016 ...
The first place Red Sox again showed the full extent of their talent
with a 12-2 blowout of the Orioles at Fenway Park. With 19 games
remaining, the Sox own a two-game advantage over the Blue Jays with a
three-game divide having opened between them and the Orioles.
The Sox have now won five of their last six games while improving to 20-10 in
their last 30. To a greater extent than perhaps any other point this year, their
lineup is once again bludgeoning opponents (7.8 runs per game in September), but
this time, the effort is being complemented by rotation excellence (2.89 ERA)
and even a shutdown bullpen (0.83 ERA).
David Price (16-8) did the honors by reeling off his
career-best seventh straight victory with eight innings in which he allowed just
two runs on two hits (solo homers by Orioles mashers Chris Davis and Manny
Machado) while striking out nine and walking none. His dominant changeup
accounted for 13 of his 15 swinging strikes against a fastball-hunting Orioles
team.
In his last six starts, Price has lived up to
his ace billing. He has six straight starts of at least six innings and two or
fewer runs, posting a 1.93 ERA with 43 strikeouts and seven walks in that time.
Price’s dominance was exceeded by that of his lineup, which
dispatched Orioles starter Wade Miley (8-13) after just 1innings.
The team crossed the plate four times before making a single out in the first
inning, with Dustin Pedroia (hitting .447 as the leadoff hitter), Xander
Bogaerts, and David Ortiz loading the bases with three straight singles, aided
by some Orioles defensive fumbling.
MVP candidate Mookie Betts seized the
opportunity, drilling a 3-1 slider from Miley over the glove of left fielder
Steve Pearce for a two-run double. The two-bagger was Betts’s 40th of the year,
establishing him and Ortiz as the second set of Sox teammates with 30 homers, 40
doubles, and 100 RBIs in the same season. The other such instance came when
Ortiz collaborated with Manny Ramirez in 2004.
One batter later, Hanley Ramirez served a
soft single to left to drive in Ortiz with a third run. Yet even with the Red
Sox offense humming at high gear, Betts, who was initially held at third, wasn’t
satisfied. He observed Pearce’s despondent lob back into the infield, and
exploded to the plate, ahead of shortstop J.J. Hardy’s relay. That opportunism
is becoming a hallmark of Betts, part of the five-tool impact that has made him
a leading contender for postseason awards.
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CHRIS YOUNG |
The Sox continued to pile on, their lineup
amassing 16 hits. Outfielder Chris Young led the way with a 4-for-4 performance
that included a homer and two doubles. Since his return from two months on the
sideline with a hamstring tear, Young is hitting .333 with a 1.151 OPS in 15
games.
Young was joined by Pedroia, Bogaerts, Ortiz,
Ramirez, and Sandy Leon in collective multiple hits. Young, Ramirez, and Ortiz
all homered, with the DH’s sixth-inning launch representing both his 33d this
season and the 536th of his career, tying him with Mickey Mantle for 17th on
baseball’s all-time list.
A curtain call proved his final gesture of
the night. Ortiz was replaced in the seventh by pinch hitter Yoan Moncada, who
struck out swinging on a changeup from lefty Brian Duensing for his ninth
straight strikeout, perhaps the only false note of the night for the Sox. No
matter. This is a learning moment for Moncada, who is getting a front-row view
to a contending team whose potential is crystallizing.
As September rolls forward, a team that is
now 7-3 this month appears to be setting its goals considerably higher, with
each victory against AL East rivals making those pursuits seem ever more
attainable. |
