After giving up five first inning runs in his last start, Wright was back in a similar situation in this one.
Advertisement
Porcello (18-3) became the majors’ first 18-game victor and the first Red Sox pitcher in 70 years to open a season 13-0 in Fenway Park, and Mookie Betts hit his 30th homer, a solo shot, and drove in two runs for Boston.
Who will grab the rubber match when the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays meet this afternoon at 1:35PM ET?
Tigers 4, White Sox 3: Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Detroit, which pulled within a game of Baltimore for the A.L.’s second wild card. Tampa manager Kevin Cash said the club will call one or two pitchers up when the rosters expand on Thursday, and add more bodies when Double-A Durham finishes next week.
It was easy peasy for number one womens’ seed Serena Williams in her first round match at the U.S. Open tennis tournament yesterday.
The game was tied 2-2 after three innings before Boston took charge with three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth. Ramirez hit the next pitch over the Green Monster for his 19th homer of the season.
Smyly was keeping Boston’s hitters off stride for most the early innings with good off-speed pitches, but elected to try a fastball against Ramirez.
Red Sox Manager John Farrell has always been real positive about Buchholz’s expectations, “I don’t know that we ever truly lost faith in the talent of Clay”, said Farrell, who was the pitching coach when Buchholz broke into the majors in 2007. Porcello was looking for his 18th win of the season which would make him have the most wins of any pitcher in the AL. It was the second career homer for Maile, who drove a 1-2 curveball out to left and ended what had been a strong start for Drew Pomeranz. “I just left it up a little bit too much and he got it. I was convicted to throwing it, it just leaked back over the middle”.
2B Dustin Pedroia returned from a two-game absence to attend a family funeral and singled leading off the bottom of the first, his 14th hit in his last 18 at-bats.
In 400 at-bats between Single-A Salem and Double-A Portland, the switch-hitting Cuban infielder is batting.298 with 31 doubles, six triples, 15 homers, 45 stolen bases, a.411 on-base percentage and a.928 OPS. On a 1-2 pitch, Tazawa threw a ball right down the pike and Forsythe ripped a 2-RBI single for a 6-6 tie.
– Jackie Bradley Jr. had a huge day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a solo home run, an RBI double and two runs scored. Farrell said he would fly on his own to the West Coast “to keep him away from others. being so contagious”.
Boston finished 17-13 in August and will hit the stretch month now right in the thick of a playoff race. They were 24-21 – only slightly better than water-treading – since the All-Star break entering Wednesday’s matinee series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Advertisement
Rays: Off Thursday, home against Toronto on Friday with Alex Cobb making his 2016 debut against Francisco Liriano (7-12).
