Los Angeles’ Ricky Nolasco pitched seven scoreless innings, guiding the Angels to a 2-0 win against Houston which put a dent in the Astros’ wildcard hopes.
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But Wednesday night was different.
Ortiz destroyed the phone after disagreeing with home-plate umpire Tim Timmons over two called strikes in the seventh inning of a 7-3 Red Sox victory. The Indians trailed 2-1 until Jason Kipnis and Jose Ramirez lined RBI doubles in the fifth. Aaron Hill hit a dribbler in front of the mound and beat the throw to first base following a miscommunication between Brach and catcher Matt Wieters.
Mancini became the first player in club history to homer in each of his first two major league starts, and the first to homer for each of his first two major league hits.
On the very next pitch from Brach, Boston rookie Andrew Benintendi blew open the game by sending a 94 miles per hour heater just barely over the electronic scoreboard in right field for a three-run homer. They gave him the exact bullpen phone that he obliterated on July 27, 2013. “I know they’ve had their backs against the wall before and I’m confident that we can we definitely bounce back from this”. Ortiz left the phone behind when he left the field, as you can see in the lower right picture above, with Jones holding out the phone as if to say, “Hey, you forgot something!”
It’s what good teams do, and make no mistake, the Red Sox, winners of seven straight, are good right now. “Something happens and then it all starts to pile on”.
Chad Kuhl gave up a run and five hits over six innings to pitch the Pirates to a 4-1 triumph at Milwaukee. “That was a fortunate break for us”. Will they take a shot at the Orioles?
The Red Sox have won eight straight to move within one game of Texas for the overall best record in the AL, and the home-park advantage that can bring in the league championship series.
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Instead, the throw presented the Red Sox with another chance, to which they fully availed themselves fully. We know what we’re capable of and we just couldn’t get it done this series. Maikel Franco and Cameron Rupp drove in two runs apiece to back Jack Eickhoff, who got the win despite allowing solo homers by Mark Eaton, Todd Frazier and Alex Avila.
