Porcello 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, going seven solid innings in Boston’s 9-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night. Tazawa then yielded a two-run single to Logan Forsythe to tie the game before Tazawa closed out of inning by retiring Kevin Kiermaier.
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“This is what happens down toward the end of the year”, Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. The Red Sox as a team have also hit well at home games. The Red Sox took a step back with Tuesday night’ loss to visiting Tampa Bay.
Since the Cy Young Award was first introduced in 1956, four of the six Red Sox pitchers to lead the majors in victories went on to win the award.
Odorizzi got the first out in the fifth before Ramirez hit a fly ball down the right-field line that squeezed around the fabled Pesky Pole for his 18th homer of the season. That is until he inexplicably gave up a two-run homer to the number nine batter in Tampa’s line-up, Luke Maile, who only had one home run on the year before that.
ASTROS 4, ATHLETICS 3 (at Houston) – Evan Gattis hit an RBI single to cap a three-run rally in the eighth inning keyed by a wild pitch on a strikeout, leading Houston.
LHP Drew Pomeranz, who suffered a tough loss to the Rays and Jake Odorizzi in St. Petersburg last week, faced the same team and same pitcher Tuesday night. Sox 9-4. Fernando Abad pitched a scoreless 9th inning to have the Sox and Porcello take the first win of the series. Alex Colome survived a hit and a passed ball in the ninth while picking up his 29th save.
Boston Red Sox’s Hanley Ramirez hits a grand slam in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, in Boston.
Only two of Boston’s better hitters have done well against Smyly – David Ortiz 5-for-14 and Mookie Betts 5-for-15.
“I don’t miss much with my curveball”. “They probably recognized that from the last outing and I just wasn’t as good with the fastball locations”. I threw it and left it over the middle. “That’s all there is to say about it”.
Buchholz reached doubles figures in losses for only the second time in his career. He joined Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Tris Speaker and Tony Conigliaro as the only Red Sox players with 500 hits before age 24.
If the Tampa Bay Rays continue to play spoiler as they have, the rest of the American League East is in trouble.
Rays: Cash has made a decision to go with six starters when RHP Aex Cobb returns to the rotation this weekend against Toronto after being sidelined since Tommy John surgery in May 2015. Before Monday, the Rays had at least one player on the DL every game since beating Minnesota 12-5 on July 6, 2011 – a string of 853 consecutive games.
Left hander Drew Smyly will be on the hill to oppose the Red Sox for the second time this year.
The NY Yankees scored a big-time win in Kansas City last night, beating the Royals 5-4 in ten innings when Chasen Shreve, fresh on a call-up from the minors, was put into a bases-loaded, one out situation in the tenth, asked to protect a one-run lead against the defending World Series champs with a sea of royal blue rooters roaring in his ears.
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But the Rays came back from being behind 6-4 when Forsythe singled to center. Price has a 7.68 ERA in Texas over seven games and 34 innings pitched. Wieters then crushed the first pitch for a two-run homer to right that snapped a 3-3 tie.
