“DIARY OF A WINNER”

THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ...
 2018 WORLD SERIES, GAME #4
Chris Sale rants and Steve Pearce sparks
the Sox to a nine run explosion to
come from behind and slam the Dodgers

October 27, 2018 ... The Sox  seemed dead in the water after six innings of play. The offense didn’t show anything in this Game Four. They were totally and utterly shut down by Rich Hill, and then the Dodgers had a big sixth inning to seemingly break the game open with a 4 to 0 lead. All of the momentum was with L.A., and nothing was going the Sox’ way. And then, things shifted.

Chris Sale then laid into his teammates, not with a pep speech like David Ortiz did in 2013, but with a rant. Sale hollered that Hill only had two damn pitches. He pointed with his pitching hand and extended his middle fingers for emphasis. He yelled at everyone a no one in particular.

The role players on the Red Sox roster then stepped up one by one, and they picked up the struggling stars. Mitch Moreland had the big three-run blast, then Steve Pearce tied it with a solo homer, and Rafael Devers drove in Brock Holt after he doubled. Pearce then slammed a bases-clearing double and Xander Bogaerts’ RBI single built up a five run lead. Mix in another incredible showing from Joe Kelly, and the Red Sox pulled it out, 9 to 6.

The top half of the lineup was hitless in Game #3, and they looked exactly like they did again. The Red Sox offense just looked totally lost. Steve Pearce reached on a walk in the first, but that was it. Both Betts and Martinez struck out in ugly at bats that inning. The second also featured a walk and in the third Eduardo Rodriguez led off the frame by getting hit by a pitch. That was as good an opportunity as any to get going, particularly with the top hitters coming up, but it didn’t work. Betts grounded into a fielder’s choice on which Rodriguez barely ran, and the Red Sox never got a runner beyond first base.

After the Sox went down in order in the fourth, they finally got their first hit of the night on a Christian Vazquez single. The catcher was the only hitter who looked competitive early in this game, flying out right in front of the wall in his first at bat and just missing a home run on a foul ball right before getting that single. He would, however, be stranded at first.

The good news for the Red Sox is that, like so many other times in this postseason, the pitching showed up to help make up for the complete lack of offense. It was impossible to really know what to expect from Rodriguez, who hadn’t pitched a full start in over a month and had been largely absent from the team’s plans for most of the postseason. It didn’t really look like he was going to get super deep into this game with his performance in the first. He did allow just a single in the inning, but it also took 24 pitches to do it.

Rodriguez began to look a lot sharper in the second inning and had the look of someone who wanted to go deep into the game. The Dodgers were able to get more hits than the Sox were against Rich Hill, but overall the results were the same and runners were not advancing beyond first base. He allowed singles in the second and fourth and nothing more than that.

The southpaw somewhat shockingly made it into the sixth with the top of the Dodgers lineup coming up and the score still stuck at zeros. Rodriguez kicked things off by hitting David Freese, but then he came back and struck out Max Muncy. Justin Turner came through with a double to put a pair in scoring position with one out.

After intentionally walking Manny Machado, it was Cody Bellinger up with the bases loaded and one out. Bellinger hit a ground ball to Steve Pearce. Pearce made the play and got the out at the plate, but then Vazquez made a massive mistake. The throw was a little high and he didn’t quite have time to step over and get a clear throwing path for the double play at first base. His throw ended up past Pearce, and the Dodgers scored. Then Yasiel Puig came through with what seemed like the dagger. He blasted a no-doubt, three-run shot and it was 4-0.

The Sox batters now had nine more outs to score at least four runs, which seemed like a tall task. They got something going in the seventh with Xander Bogaerts and Brock Holt both drawing walks to put two on with one out.

Strangely, Dave Roberts took out Rich Hill and turned to Ryan Madson. Madson had failed miserably in his last two appearances and he crumbled for a third time.

The Sox countered by bringing in Jackie Bradley Jr. and he popped out to shallow right field. That left it up to Mitch Moreland, who came in to hit for Matt Barnes. Moreland got a first-pitch changeup and blasted it deep into the right field bleachers. Just like that, it was a 4-3 game.

fter Joe Kelly tossed a scoreless bottom half, the Red Sox came back to the plate in the eighth with Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen trying for a six-out save. It didn’t take six outs. Instead, after a quick first out from Andrew Benintendi, Steve Pearce did the thing this time. Jansen missed middle-in with a cutter, and Pearce launched one just over the wall in left-center field, and it was all tied up.

That was all the Sox would get there, and Joe Kelly came back out to the mound. The righty gave up a leadoff single to Manny Machado, and after a strikeout and a fielder’s choice he was just an out from preserving the tie. Chris Taylor had other ideas, though, poking a base hit through the left side to put runners on the corners for Yamsani Grandal. Kelly came through with a massive strikeout to strand the runners, and we headed to the ninth with the game still tied at four apiece.

With Dylan Floro on the mound in the ninth Brock Holt came up and put a double down the left field line, leading to a pinch hitting appearance from Rafael Devers with one out and a runner in scoring position. Devers came through, putting a single through the middle of the infield to score Holt and give the Red Sox their first lead of the game. The Sox would load the bases after a ground out, an intentional walk and an infield single, and Pearce had a chance for some serious insurance. He came through again, ripping a bases-clearing double and giving The Sox a four-run lead. Xander Bogaerts added one more, and it was now 9-4, Red Sox.

Now it was just up to Craig Kimbrel to protect a five-run lead. He started off with a four-pitch walk to Brian Dozier. Then, pinch-hitter Enrique Hernandez smashed a two-run homer, and suddenly this was a three-run game just two batters into the inning. After getting the first out of the inning, Justin Turner ripped a single into left field. Devers then came through with a big play behind the bag and a perfect throw across the diamond for out number two, before Bellinger finally ended the game on fly ball.

GAME RECAP

2018 World Series, Game #4

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

BOSTON RED SOX

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

1

5

9

8

1

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

0

0

0

0

0

4

0

0

2

6

9

0

2B-Holt (Bost), Pearce (Bost), Turner (LA)
HR-Moreland (Bost), Pearce (Bost), Puig (LA), Hernandez (LA)