August 06, 2018

Pearcing Blow Dealt to the Yankees


Homestand Highlights

Record (8-2)      Season (79-34)  GB 0.0     Series Play (25-7-4)
  • Coming into this homestand, Boston was 5 games up on the second place New York Yankees, and after visits from Minnesota and Philadelphia, the lead inched up to 5.5 games. This critical series with the Yankees got off to a really shaky start with Brian Johnson taking Chris Sale's turn in the rotation. New York roared out to a 4-0 lead after an inning and a half, but the aging C.C Sabathia couldn't suppress the Boston bats enough to Yankee manager Aaron Boone's liking. Boone went to the pen for Jonathan Holder to begin the fourth after the Red Sox closed the gap to 4-2. What followed could be one of the most pivotal moments of the season for Boston. Led by the heroics of Steve Pearce, who launched a three-run rocket, the Sawx put a snowman on the board to salt this game away early. For Pearce, it was the second dinger of the game and his fourth-inning blast put Boston ahead for good. He also smashed a solo shot off Sabathia in the second, and then he capped his stunning evening off with a two-run bridge job off Luis Cessa in the sixth for the home run hattrick. Boston won in a laugher 15-7 and put 19 hits up on the board. Checking back in on Johnson's effort, despite giving up 2 homers to New York, he incredibly whiffed 11 batters in only 5 innings of work to pick up his second win of the year.
  • The next two games against New York showcased a pair fascinating pitching performances by Rick Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi. Porcello threw one of the most dominating efforts this season by any Red Sox starter allowing only one hit in a complete game 4-1 victory. Porcello (14-4) struck out 9 Yankees with the only blemish being a solo homer by Miguel Andujar in the third. Steve Pearce was not done raking as he gave Rick all the offense he would need by cranking a two-run blast off Yankee ace Luis Severino in the first inning. It would be Pearce's fourth home run in his last 6 trips to the plate. Nathan Eovaldi (5-4) extended his scoreless innings streak to 15 in a Red Sox uniform with a sparkling 8 inning effort, and this time, it was the other Sawx first baseman who led the offensive charge. Mitch Moreland ripped a two-run homer in the first inning and Boston never looked back taking game three 4-1. The contributions of both Moreland and Pearce have helped make Boston the top AL team at the position in batting average (.280) and runs batted in (80).
  • The final game saw David Price stifle his naysayers that scoffed at the idea that he could have any success against the Yankees. Price tossed 6 scoreless innings and with a pitch count in the mid-90s, he should have received hugs and handshakes upon his return to the dugout nursing a 1-0 lead. Instead, Cora vapor locked and reverted to John Farrell 2.0 sending Price back out for the seventh. New York promptly put the first 2 runners aboard which forced Cora to bring in Heath Hembree. With the Yankee's Shane Robinson willing to give Boston an out attempting a sacrifice bunt, Hembree foolishly gave him a free pass to load the bases. Toss in a Xander Bogaerts error and suddenly Boston trailed 2-1. Hembree then gave up an RBI single to Giancarlo Stanton, and for good measure, misfired allowing the fourth run of the inning to move up to third base to later count via a sacrifice fly. With the offense sleepwalking through most of this contest, no one could have imagined what was to occur in the home half of the ninth. This miraculous uprising could very well have put the nail in the coffin with regards to New York's first-place aspirations in the AL East. Aaron Boone called on Aroldis Chapman to secure a Yankee victory. Chapman mixed in three walks among his 2 strikeouts which brought JD Martinez up with the bases loaded and 2 out. Martinez wasted no time as he lined Chapman's first offering into center to narrow the Yankee advantage to 4-3. As fate would have it, Xander Bogaerts came up hoping to atone for his miscue in the seventh. He whacked a chopper to Yankee third baseman Miguel Andujar, but he shoved his throw in the dirt and pinch-runner Jackie Bradley Jr. kept running all the way from second to score on the error to tie the game. The series came full circle in the bottom of the tenth as Johnathan Holder took the hill. Holder was battered in the series opener as Boston blitzed him for 7 earned runs, and after getting two quick outs, the roof fell in once again. Sandy Leon hit a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. After intentionally walking Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi grounded a single up the middle to score Leon and deliver an unbelievable series sweep. In both teams' last 38 games, the Red Sox are 29-8 compared to the Yankees 18-20 mark which has turned the two-game deficit the Red Sox faced on June 21 into a 9.5 game lead. This was also Boston's 11th series sweep of the 2018 season.
  • After dropping the homestand series opener to Minnesota, Boston bounced back splendidly in game two as Minnesota was greeted with a walk-off loss courtesy of Mookie Betts. With the club down 3-2 in the ninth after a rare Craig Kimbrel meltdown, Rafael Devers pressed the reset button with a screaming frozen rope that cleared the right field fence to knot the game 3-3 and issue free baseball. Then in the bottom of the tenth, Betts drilled a 0-1 pitch from Matt Belisle out of the park for the first walk-off winner of his young career. Chris Sale was once again doing his thing in the opener punching out 10 batters but was denied the win due to Kimbrel's hiccup. In Fenway Park’s 107-year history, Chris Sale is the only pitcher to allow 0 runs and record 10+ strikeouts in 3 consecutive starts at the venue. In those 3 games, Sale has thrown 20.0 scoreless innings with 35 K and 4 BB. The Red Sox went on to take the final two games of the series, and the finale was the debut of aforementioned newcomer Nathan Eovaldi. Fresh from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade for Jalen Beeks, Eovaldi wasted no time in impressing his new mates firing 7 innings of shutout ball in a 3-0 win. Eovaldi pounded the zone very economically to the tune of 82 offerings, and a tip of the cap to Jackie Bradley Jr. on yet another ridiculous grab to back Eovaldi's effort.
  • The Phillies' series featured another Red Sox walk-off in the opener courtesy of Blake Swihart. After a fabulous pitching duel between David Price and the Phillies' young sensation, Aaron Nola, both teams carried a 1-1 tie into the thirteenth inning. Swihart has answered the call after coming into the game to bat for Sandy Leon in the ninth inning belting a double into the right-center field gap to score Eduardo Nunez. Since Christian Vazquez went down with the fractured finger, Blake had been providing some stellar defensive work behind the plate. His bat was also beginning to factor into the equation nicely batting .294 with a pair of doubles on the homestand. Unfortunately, his hamstring flared up and he was forced to the 10 day DL. As I feared, less is more with Sandy Leon on the offensive side of the ledger. There is no question that Sandy is a fantastic defensive backstop and game caller  (the Red Sox are 21-1 in the last 22 games he has started and he has a streak of 13 straight wins), but he is only batting .133 since Vazquez went on the DL on July 8th. Conversely, Swihart had been batting .324 in 10 games. Depth is thin at this position and longtime farmhand Dan Butler had to be summoned from the PawSox. Drew Pomeranz (1-5) did nothing to inspire confidence in the second game of the miniseries with Philly. Even though he only allowed 2 earned runs, he walked 4 batted and plucked 2 others. Boston's offense never got on track and fell 3-1 to Philadelphia. With Sale down with a wonky shoulder and Eduardo still making his way back from his ankle sprain, they'll have to keep trotting him out there for now. However, it only seems to be a matter of time before he is dumped in the bullpen.
Homestand by the Numbers

Name G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA
▼		 OBP SLG OPS
Ian Kinsler72823101130165420.478.571.7391.311
Eduardo Nunez9383651432052510.389.421.5831.004
Rafael Devers313122410121100.333.385.6671.051
J.D. Martinez104639613502851410.333.435.6151.050
Andrew Benintendi10474461340053631.295.340.386.727
Blake Swihart518172520011300.294.333.412.745
Mookie Betts104540811402651030.275.356.525.881
Jackie Bradley Jr.10353177211541300.226.314.452.766
Steve Pearce728234500484700.217.357.7391.096
Xander Bogaerts830261520013701.192.300.269.569
Mitch Moreland6252414001411100.167.200.292.492
Sandy Leon828262420012400.154.214.231.445
Brock Holt934291320003510.103.235.172.408
Tzu-Wei Lin1000000000000
Tony Renda1001000000000
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/6/2018.
Name G GS
▼		 W L SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA GB/FB BAbip SO9
Nathan Eovaldi22215.07001900.0035%.1755.4
Brian Johnson22110.2105451633.3830%.31813.5
Rick Porcello22214.265511423.0746%.1188.6
David Price2214.0123341001.9351%.2866.4
Drew Pomeranz1115.04224303.6038%.2675.4
Chris Sale116.030021000.0064%.27315.0
Matt Barnes50115.031131001.8038%.37518.0
Ryan Brasier505.24223303.1861%.2224.8
Heath Hembree504.25312601.9362%.38511.6
Joe Kelly404.02001200.0040%.1824.5
Craig Kimbrel3013.13335308.1011%.3338.1
Tyler Thornburg4014.01002300.0033%.1116.8
Hector Velazquez2012.04111204.5063%.5009.0
Brandon Workman102.01110114.5067%.0004.5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/6/2018.




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