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STEVE PEARCE |
THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ...
Steve Pearce has a big night for the Sox
September 4, 2018 ...
The Red Sox began the night looking
to take the second game of the series against the Braves by going up
against lefty Sean Newcomb. The Sox have struggled this year against
lefties so it was no certainty that they would be able to come away
with the victory.
Opposing Newcomb was Rick
Porcello who has struggled with his control lately while giving up entirely too
many long balls. Although both pitchers looked pretty good early it was Porcello
who cracked first, allowing a solo shot to Red Sox killer Kurt Suzuki in the
bottom of the second inning. That home run was the 24th allowed by Porcello this
year, the most on the team. Porcello then drilled Dansby Swanson in the head
with a slider that missed badly and looked like he had lost his sharpness from
earlier in the game. Despite hitting yet another batter in the bottom of the
fifth inning Porcello settled down nicely and left the game with a 3-1 lead.
The Sox did the important
work of the night during the top of the fifth and it all started with a base
knock from Porcello. Clearly Rick is still feeling himself after doing damage
against Max Scherzer earlier this summer and had this one circled on his
calendar. After the single allowed to Porcello, Newcomb walked Mookie which was
followed by a hit from J.D. Martinez. With the bases loaded Xander Bogaerts
would walk in a run. Shane Carle was the new pitcher for Atlanta and he quickly
gave up RBI’s to Steve Pearce and Eduardo Nunez giving the team their
aforementioned 3-1 lead. The team nearly batted around that inning leaving the
bases loaded with Porcello on deck.
In the top of the sixth
inning the Red Sox went back to work loading the bases for the third time of the
night. Pearce again delivered hitting a sharp single to drive in two more runs.
On the offensive side Pearce was the story of the night finishing 3-4 with 3 RBI
and a walk. Bogaerts also continued to look good at the plate hitting the ball
hard all night and delivering when it mattered. This would be all the scoring
during the contest.
Steven Wright, Joe Kelly,
Ryan Brasier, and Heath Hembree would pitch the 6th,7th, 8th,
and 9th innings, respectively. Each pitcher did well, however, it was
both Kelly and Barnes that stood out. In the 7th Kelly was able to
strikeout two batters, walk Ronald Acuna in a tough at-bat, and get Freddie
Freeman to groundout to end the inning. His stuff looked good and he seemed to
be hitting his spots. Brasier pitched the following inning and aside from a hit
given up to Nick Markakis he was dominant frequently pitching ahead in the count
to batters. It was encouraging from the bullpen.
All in all this was a great
team effort from the Red Sox. Porcello probably pitched a little worse than his
line suggests and Newcomb probably pitched a little bit better than his stats
suggest. This was win number 96 on the team’s march towards the best record in
club history. |
