The two-run blast marked his 18th homer of the season.
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Although Victorino is a competent hitter with surprising double-digit pop, he probably won’t be an everyday player albeit he won the starting right field job out of camp this spring. Ortiz walked on a full count.
“That was everything right there”, Ramirez said. “I haven’t been here for the whole rebuilding process, but I know they went through some tough times with the future in mind”.
With the way Ramirez had been sawing baseballs in half the past two weeks, the odds of Sipp feeding him a fastball were slim.
Boston, facing Houston reliever Will Harris, managed to recover the advantage in the bottom of the sixth, however, as, after Ramirez reached first to begin the inning on an error by Correa, he promptly scored on Sandoval’s second double of the contest. Ramirez couldn’t help but take a swipe at it, but he came up empty. His ERA is down to 3.27 for the year.
“I was sitting on a changeup”, he said. He threw 110 pitches, 80 for strikes.
Somehow he still muscled it down the left-field line.
The ball kept sailing until it finally landed in the seats above the Green Monster.
Junichi Tazawa, who hadn’t pitched since the previous Sunday but was not classified as injured, worked the eighth, and fellow righty Koji Uehara the ninth, the latter notching his 19th save in 21 opportunities.
At 39-45, the Sox are just six games behind the first-place Yankees in a crowded American League East, a division no team has been able to take control of.
Betts hit two RBI doubles and a sacrifice fly.
Representing the visiting Astros is Lance McCullers.
Red Sox left fielder Hanley Ramirez went 0-for-4 as his team-high, eight-game hitting streak ended.Collin McHugh (9-4) came up short in pursuit of his 10th win for Houston (48-35). “I left too many balls up in the zone”. He’s willing to do whatever to give us our best chance to win today.
The Astros are 13-4 in their last 17 Sunday games and 5-11 in their last 16 road games.
One can criticize Ramirez’s defense, which has been shoddy this season.
After leaving two runs on base in the preceding inning, the situation worsened for Boston in the seventh.
Not even 24 hours after Betts mental error running the bases, Betts goes 2-3, 3 RBI and a run scored.
Correa has six homers in 23 games.
In one 24-hour stretch in June, general manager Jeff Luhnow made LSU shortstop Alex Bregman the No. 2 pick of the draft and called up Correa, the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft, to make his major-league debut. Designated hitter David Ortiz cut the lead down to just two on an RBI single to Presley in center field while advancing Xander Bogaerts to third. Catcher Hanigan gave the Sox three hits in the nine-hole.
Bogaerts singled to set up Big Papi with two on and one out.
They took 2-of-3 in the series and have won three straight series for the first time since the first three of the season.
“We’re going to start sending down guys who are producing”, Hinch said.
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Along with Mike Bolsinger, Mike Montgomery, Carlos Rodon, Taylor Jungmann, and Steven Matz today is a great day to watch rookie pitchers. Our lineup is starting to deepen.
