How Did The Red Sox Respond To Their 10-Game Winning Streak Being Snapped? A Xander Bogaerts Walk-Off Grand Slam
IT’S TIME TO PARTY!! I LOVE THIS FUCKIN’ TEAM!!
This was about to be one of the most frustrating losses of the entire season, but then Jackie Bradley Jr. and Xander Bogaerts happened. Let’s start from the beginning — can we talk about this lineup? Jesus Christ. Mookie Betts, Brock Holt, JD Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, okay. Great. But then we round out with Jackie Bradley Jr., Eduardo Nunez, Blake Swihart, Sandy Leon, and Tzu-Wei Lin. Yikes, dude. Day game after a night game lineup like you read about, and that’s exactly how it played out over the first eight frames.
JD Martinez blasted his major league-leading 29th home run in the fourth inning, a solo shot, and then it was radio silence until the ninth inning. One run. Surprised? Me neither. The lack of offense really didn’t feel like a huge deal at the time, because Eduardo Rodriguez was cruising. That was until Swihart flipped a ball to Rodriguez at first base, resulting in a collision that took the left-hander out of the game. They’re calling it a sprained ankle, and he was walking around after the game. He had shut out the Blue Jays through five and a third, four-hit innings, needing just 67 pitches to do so.
Rodriguez was working at a pace to where he could’ve actually completed seven innings for the first time all season. So, of course he got hurt while he was in the middle of what was looking like his best start of the year, all while he was riding a streak of 16.2 innings scoreless innings dating back to his start against the Nationals. The Rodriguez injury led to Boston needing to use six pitchers for the second straight game, too, so the injury was costly in more ways than one.
After losing their starting pitcher, Heath Hembree completed the sixth inning and handed the ball over to Joe Kelly, who has been struggling lately to say the least. Nobody on the Red Sox needs the All Star break more than this guy. Less than 24 hours after being charged with three earned runs without recording an out, Kelly gave up a base hit and a double to start the seventh. Both runs would later come in to score, giving Toronto a 2-1 lead that it looked like they would hold on to.
I thought the Red Sox were fucked for sure after they didn’t score in the bottom of the eighth. Mookie Betts ended up on second base after a base hit and an error and then swiped third base to put the tying run just 90 feet away with one out. Brock Holt couldn’t get the ball in the air for the sac fly, grounding out to second base, followed by JD Martinez punching out on four pitches. I thought that was their best chance to tie the game up for sure. At the time, it was. But there would be more chances.
Xander Bogaerts led off the bottom of the ninth with a double down the left field line and immediately came in to score when a surprise hero emerged in the form of the Mendoza Line Man himself, Jackie Bradley Jr., who doubled in Bogaerts to tie the game at two. It felt like the Red Sox were going to finish them off in the ninth with a runner in scoring position and nobody out, but then I remembered how dreadful the lineup was beyond Bogaerts. Three straight outs were recorded from there, and we were on to extra innings.
After Craig Kimbrel preserved the tie in the top of the 10th, Betts once again got things going by reaching base on an E6. Ball right through the legs. Hate to see that. With Brock Holt at the plate, Betts was running on the 2-1 pitch, leaving the left side of the infield completely vacated for what would’ve otherwise been a tailor made double play ball to end the inning. Great work by Holt to execute the hit and run, putting runners at the corners.
An intentional walk to Martinez to load the bases brought Bogaerts to the plate, and he pissed on a 2-0 fastball at the top of the strike zone to dead center for a walk-off grand slam. This fucking team, man. The media can write their little columns and do their little radio segments about how nobody cares about the Red Sox in Boston anymore, and they’ll continue to look dumber and dumber after every single victory.
The Red Sox had a catcher playing first base, a utility infielder at third base, second base and DH, a DH in left field and a second baseman in right field, and they won. Again. That’s 11 of 12, and 16 of 19. The best team in baseball strikes again, and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it.
In the series finale, the Red Sox will look to take three of four from the Blue Jays with the return of Brian Johnson, who will be opposing Marcus Stroman. Johnson has made two starts in place of the injured Steven Wright and has allowed three earned runs in 8.2 innings. Over his last 13 appearances, Johnson has a 2.45 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 25.2 innings.
Stroman had an awful start to his season with an ERA of 7.71 through his first seven starts, hit the disabled list with right shoulder fatigue, and has pitched pretty well since returning. He had one shit start, allowing six earned runs to the Mets, but has allowed one earned run or fewer in his three other starts since returning.
Final score: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 2 — 10 innings