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"EMPTY STREETS, EMPTY SEATS" ... August 30, 2020 ... It was a bit of a wild day at Fenway as the Red Sox took on the for the rubber match of their three-game series. The wind was howling and pushing everything in the air out to right field. On top of that, the sun was almost comically bright, and the combination of those two factors made every ball in the air a bit of an adventure. The wind specifically also helped the ball sail out of the yard for five homers between the two sides on the day. One of those belonged to for the first dinger of Bobby Dalbec's career in just his second career plate appearance, and two more belonged to Rafael Devers (4-for-4). The Red Sox pounded Nationals pitching in general for eight runs, and while the pitching wasn’t perfect it was good enough for a 9-5 victory, pushing the Sox record to 12-22. With Zack Godley on the mound for this one, the Red Sox knew they probably were going to need some runs. That’s exactly what they got on this day where Fenway was being very generous to the hitters. Devers got things started with a fantastic 10-pitch at bat that led to a walk. Bogaerts then demolishing a homer off the light tower in left. That was quickly followed by a double from Kevin Pillar, who was brought home on a base hit from Kevin Plawecki. With the 3-0 lead Alex Verdugo lined a two-out single in the second inning, bringing Rafael Devers to the plate. Devers took advantage of the wind, hitting a high fly ball out to right field that just barely made it up and over the short wall into the Nationals bullpen and it gave the Sox a 5-0 lead. The third saw the first bit of real danger faced by the Red Sox starter in this game as he gave up back-to-back base hits to start off the inning. Godley settled down from there, though, giving up a two-out double but nothing else and it made score, 5-2. The Red Sox offense was not ready to slow down in the bottom of the third. It was Pillar and Plawecki to start things off, with the former smacking a leadoff single before the latter put one off the Monster for an RBI double. A couple batters later, Dalbec stepped back in. This time, he hit a towering fly ball to right field, and it was lost in the sun. Adam Eaton, the Nationals right fielder, had no idea where it was, and as it turned out, it went well past Pesky’s Pole for Dalbec’s first career home run and hit, giving the Red Sox an 8-2 lead.
The Nationals quickly answered back though, with Josh Harrison getting hold of one and using the wind to have it fly over the wall in straightaway center field for a solo shot to lead off the fourth. Fortunately, Godley didn’t let it snowball into more. After the Red Sox failed to score in the bottom of the fourth, Eric Thames hit a wind-aided solo homer to give the Nats another run. Ryan Brasier come in with an 8-5 lead in the eighth. He walked the first batter he faced and then got three straight outs after that to get out of the inning unscathed. The Red Sox added another run on Devers’ second homer of the day in the bottom of the eighth, as he hit an absolute laser around Pesky’s Pole. With the score now 9-5, Austin Brice came in, looking to finish things off. He did give up a two-out double on a ball that got caught up in that wind, but that was it. The scoreless frame finished off a rare series win for this Red Sox team. |
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