Craig Breslow summed up the state of the Red Sox succinctly after giving up a walkoff homer to Houston’s Jose Altuve on Thursday night that extended Boston’s season-high losing streak to eight games.
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Detroit immediately regained a four-run advantage, however, as Castellanos led off the top of the sixth inning with a solo shot over the Green Monster off of Red Sox reliever Noe Ramirez, pushing the score to a final of 5-1.
The Tigers have hit 1.6 homers per game since superstar Miguel Cabrera went down with a strained calf July 4 after hitting 0.9 beforehand.
After his fast start, Rodriguez admittedly cooled considerably.
Bogaerts isn’t really an “X-Factor”, per se, as he has been the best hitter on the Red Sox and leads the club with a. 310 batting average, 109 hits and is tied for the team lead with 47 RBI.
NOTES: The Red Sox placed 2B Dustin Pedroia back on the 15-day disabled list before the game. It was an approach of dominance from the start, retiring three straight in three of the first four innings and getting himself out of a potentially tight bind unscathed after allowing a lead-off double in the third. The former Cy Young victor is in the last year of his contract and according to the Detroit Free Press, he has no intentions of re-signing with the Tigers at the end of the season.
Eduardo Rodriguez (6-3) rebounded from a miserable start by pitching seven strong innings.
Cespedes started the bottom of the second inning with a defensive miscue in the outfield, but was able to quickly “Shake It Off” to prevent the Sox from cutting into the 2-0 deficit.
Verlander pitched mostly in the low 90s but touched 95 when he needed it, most notably in a fourth inning that saw the Red Sox put two runners on before Alejandro De Aza ground into a double play.
Asked about Ortiz, Ausmus said, “I don’t know if he’s slowing down or not, but he was fine tonight”.
Xander Bogaerts continued his hot hitting as of late as well, finishing 4-for-5 with two runs.
Manager Brad Ausmus and a trainer came to the mound and Simon walked off slowly.
Verlander is 0-3 with a 5.57 ERA on the season. “Without going through a major reshuffling of the bullpen”, Boston manager John Farrell said, not mentioning any specific names, “there’s going to be some opportunities for guys to come in and do the job.”If Ogando isn’t going to get some of the high-leverage opportunities he once did, that would appear to create opportunities for others”.
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“What changed?” Greene said, repeating the question. Struggling RHP Alfredo Simon will pitch for the Tigers against RHP Steven Wright on Saturday…. The defeat dropped Detroit again back to a game below. Simon went six solid innings yesterday and only allowed one run on five hits. Tigers 4, Red Sox 0. The Los Angeles Dodgers are now the frontrunners to acquire the 31-year-old pitcher, but the Boston Red Sox seem to be making a big push.
