Freddie Freeman went 2-for-4, hitting his first home run since Opening Day against the Red Sox on Wednesday.
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The power-starved Atlanta Braves finally hit one out. The others were Pedro Martinez in 1998, Curt Schilling in 2006 and Clay Buchholz in 2013. Dating back to last season, he has eight straight starts allowing two earned runs or less, the longest current streak in the American League. After he was traded to the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, Price was quite dominant in his 11 starts, posting a 9-1 record with a 2.45 ERA and 87 strikeouts in just 74.1 innings pitched. He also tied another legend in George Brett with his three extra base hits at 1,119. It’s not the end of the world, but at the very least, it should be enough at this point to get the Red Sox thinking about their rotation, and how they’re going to fill that fifth spot in the long run. Adonis Garcia and Drew Stubbs have Atlanta’s other homers.
The Red Sox jumped ahead 2-0 in the first against Bud Norris (1-4). The Red Sox owned Atlanta for the first three games of the series, with David Price striking out 14 batters and Dustin Pedroia homering twice in the same game.
“I don’t mind walking guys in situations”, Buchholz said.
David Price signing with the Boston Red Sox during his introductory press conference at Fenway Park.
Adding to the intrigue surrounding the now former streak, 437 home runs were hit throughout the league since the Braves’ last homer on April 10 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
There’s really no telling what Steven Wright’s role with the Boston Red Sox would have been at the start of the season had it not been for an injury to Eduardo Rodriguez.
It isn’t a good look for Buchholz to give up five runs to arguably the worst offensive team in baseball and let’s not forget that he still has yet to pitch a winning game for the Red Sox.
Philadelphia, which entered the series below.500, will try to complete a three-game sweep today. All five of the Atlanta runs were fueled in part by walks as Buchholz helped a weak offense find its way.
“I felt the ball just kind of bounce off the tip of my glove and I just threw my right hand at it and I was able to catch it”, Castro said through a translator. It was the third grand slam of Pedroia’s career, and the first time he’s hit the famous right field foul pole. On the second double, he passed Boston greats Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx. It was only the third home run in eight games for the Orioles, who have scored just five runs in their last four games. “I’m pretty serious most of the time, so it’s good to have some fun every now and then”. Price’s ERA dropped to 5.76 and he moved to 3-0 on the season. The Red Sox did get their customary first-inning run despite some serious weirdness when Xander Bogaerts was called safe on a neighborhood play at second, thought he was out, and quickly put truth to that by heading for the dugout and getting tagged.
The Sox got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning after Pedroia drove in a run.
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Wright – The 31-year-old knuckleballer is 2-2, but could easily be 4-0 this season.
