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CONSISTENT AT BEING INCONSISTENT
...
The Sox win on a walk-off walk
June 12,
2019 ...
The Red Sox won a baseball game on a walk-off walk. Rick Porcello
was on
the mound with the Sox desperate for a win, and he was the story of
the game. The
first inning did not seem to bode well for the rest of this afternoon contest.
Porcello did appear to be in control in that first inning, retiring each of the
first two batters in relatively short order before getting up 0-2 on Elvis
Andrus, the third batter of the game. The Rangers shortstop put the two-strike
pitch into center field for a base hit, though, and the inning would continue.
Nomar Mazara launched one out to deep center field over the head of Jackie
Bradley Jr. The ball bounced up and over the wall into the bullpen for a
ground-rule double, holding Andrus at second. They wouldn’t be able to avoid
runs, though, as Hunter Pence ended a long at bat with a double of his own out
to center field. Just like that, it was a 2-0 lead for Texas when they were one
strike away from going down in order in that first inning.
Porcello settled down in a big way after that first inning and cruised through
the next few innings. Meanwhile, the offense found themselves in catch-up mode
before they even took their first swing. Sox got going early, though, with
Andrew Benintendi smacking one-out double in the bottom of the first to stay hot
and eventually coming around to score and cut the deficit in half on a Rafael
Devers RBI single.
After
the lineup went down in order in the second, the Red Sox got going again in the
third and again it was thanks to Benintendi. He came up with two outs and a man
on first after a Bradley Jr. leadoff walk. Benny would hit the ball hard again,
this time smacking a triple out to right field to drive in the run and tie the
game. He would be left at third, though, as the Red Sox settled for the tie.
From here we fast-forward to the fifth and it was Benintendi
again, this time driving in Michael Chavis on the outfielder’s second double of
the afternoon. With that, the Red Sox had their first lead of the day.
Porcello
then came back out for the seventh, but after allowing a two-out base hit his
day was over and Brandon Workman came on to finish the frame. He did so
successfully, getting a strikeout to keep the Red Sox up by one. He’d come back
out for the eighth, too, but he wasn’t so successful there. After getting a
quick first out,Workman hit Shin-Soo Choo as the latter turned to bunt. Then,
Delino Deshields Jr tried to move Choo up with a bunt of his own. He got the
bunt down, but Christian Vázquez watched his throw to first sail way away from
Michael Chavis. Instead of having a man on second with two outs, the Rangers had
a pair in scoring position with one out for Andrus. The shortstop wouldn’t get a
hit this time around, but his fly ball to right field was deep enough to score
the run and tie the game. Workman would get out of it from there, but it was a
new game heading into the bottom of the eighth.
There,
the Red Sox offense got a couple of quick outs before Devers came through with a
double out to right field. After Xander Bogaerts drew an intentional walk, it
was Eduardo Núñez coming on to pinch hit for Brock Holt. Núñez grounded out
weakly on the first pitch he saw and the game remained tied heading into the
ninth.
After
Matt Barnes pitched around a two-out walk and a wild pitch in the ninth for a
scoreless inning, the Red Sox got to work in the bottom half. It was Vázquez
making up for his error to start off the inning, rocketing a ground-rule double
out to center field. Bradley then put a base hit into right-center field,
but Marco Hernandez, who came in to run for Vázquez, got a bad read and was
forced to stop at third. After Chavis drew a walk, the bases were loaded with no
outs in a tie game in the ninth inning. Mookie Betts didn’t even have to get the
bat off his shoulder to win it, either. Mookie drew a walk to drive in the game
winner. |
