The Los Angeles Dodgers piled on 18 runs in Major League Baseball as David Price and the Boston Red Sox moved equal top of their division. Price had good stuff.
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After Buchholz stymied the Rays – a last-place team, but one that entered this series having scored 55 runs in their previous seven games – the Red Sox rotation has a 2.69 ERA in the month of August, second only to the Cubs. The win pushed Boston into a tie for first place in the American League East with the Toronto Blue Jays while the Rays fell for the second time in eight games.
Benintendi drove in a run with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly, then kept Price’s bid for a shutout alive by denying Steven Souza Jr. what would have been a two-run homer with an eighth-inning catch that almost sent him tumbling over a short wall in the left-field corner. Tampa Bay has now lost four straight games against Boston for the first time since 2010.
The Red Sox have been pretty strong as of late, winning eight of their last 10 games while putting up three runs or more in all 10 contests.
Price, seeking his first win as a visitor at Tropicana Field after three losses, retired the first nine batters in order and allowed only one hit in the first five innings. Buchholz got Evan Longoria to strike out looking to end the inning with the tying run in scoring position.
If anything, Cash said, Miller has done better than expected: “I think we’re surprised … at how quickly he has adapted”.
“It’s different than I thought it was going to be the first time I got sent to the bullpen”, he said.
“Just kind of in shock over there at third base, how I got thrown out”, Kiermaier said of Mookie Betts’ assist from deep right field. It would be the returning Chris Young who ultimately delivered the big hit, doubling down the left field line to bring Ramirez home and move Leon to third, where he would score on a sacrifice fly from Andrew Benintendi.
Since the beginning of July, in fact, Price has made 10 starts and pitched eight innings five times.
“I had a lot of good things happen”, said Price, the 2012 AL Cy Young Award victor who helped the Rays make the playoffs four times before being traded in 2014. It doesn’t happen a whole lot.
“Pretty stunned”, Souza said. “He ran a long way, was at full speed”. The ability to go to both sides of the field depending on where the ball is in the zone is something that Benintendi has shown, but has not necessarily been able to do consistently thus far.
Tampa Bay’s Steven Souza Jr. rounded first base, stopped and stared in amazement. If all goes well, there’s a chance he could start Friday night against Kansas City. RHP Koji Uehara (right pectoral strain) threw 33 pitches in his first mound session and will be evaluated in a week. To make room for Young, the Red Sox optioned LHP Henry Owens to Triple-A Pawtucket.
Clay Buchholz has become one of the Red Sox’ most important pitchers. And so does his 2.70 ERA in the three starts Buchholz has turned in since filling in for Wright.
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The New York Yankees claimed a 5-1 win over the Seattle Mariners, the Chicago Cubs held on to beat the San Diego Padres 5-3 and the Oakland Athletics thrashed the Cleveland Indians 9-1.
