Hanley Ramirez watches his three-run blast sail into the Green Monster seats. It all started when they swept the Tampa Bay Rays, and there was no turning back after that for the Red Sox.
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– On days when Rick Porcello doesn’t have his best stuff, it certainly helps to have hitters like Hanley Ramirez and Travis Shaw backing him up.
Porcello had not surrendered five runs in a start since June 2 at Baltimore. However, it seems unlikely and unwise that the Red Sox would be willing to go after those players either because of the amount of prospects it’d take to get a deal done or because it’s doubtful they’d get a deal done within the division.
The Twins are 10-6 this season when Brian Dozier homers. The 29-year-old lefty has been brutal at Fenway Park in his career, with an 0-2 record and a 9.88 ERA in three starts in Boston.
“We played the game hard and did what we needed to do”. “So it’s combination of everything”.
Rick Porcello deserves a better line than he has for this game, at least for now.
We nearly had a repeat of Saturday’s atrocity. After the outing, the righty’s ERA stands at 3.44.
“Not a good night from the mound”, manager John Farrell said. “They found some holes early on and we probably didn’t execute as we’ve been defensively to give them an extra out early on”. Camped under a fly ball, Holt began battling the sun and the ball bounced right off of his glove. But once again, he’s keeping the game under control. We did a great job offensively.
Things did get a bit dicey in the eighth inning after Minnesota managed a pair of runs against relievers Matt Barnes and Junichi Tazawa.
“Four runs through the first two innings is very uncharacteristic for (Price)”, Farrell said.
Brad Ziegler came on to pitch a flawless ninth inning, having now retired 19 of the 20 batters he has faced since joining the Red Sox.
“I just feel good here, ” Porcello said. It’s balls on the ground.
General managers looking to acquire a difference-making starting pitcher at the trade deadline are all too familiar with one of the game’s cruelest truths: Starters are both a precious commodity, and also wildly volatile.
In terms of the big picture, aka the Boston Red Sox, the big news Friday at Hadlock Field concerned Andrew Benintendi’s move from center field to left.
The Red Sox have homered in each of their last 15 games, the second-longest streak of the season. That was the last hit for Boston until the Red Sox threatened in the ninth. Byron Buxton’s bunt single plated Suzuki, and Buxton later scored on Nunez’s single.Dustin Pedroia opened Boston’s rebuttal in its five-run second with an RBI double.
Boston starter David Price lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on 11 hits and two walks with four strikeouts. It was Shaw’s 12th homer of the season, and second while playing first base.
The Twins tied it when Max Kepler tripled leading off the fourth before scoring on Kennys Vargas’ grounder.
– While Bogaerts was awarded his stolen base after a review, Brock Holt saw his sixth-inning attempt get over-turned following the umpires going to replay.
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Juan Centeno replaced Suzuki behind the plate. There are two games left in Boston’s series against the Twins to possibly retake their lead, before they play the Detroit Tigers.
