Red Sox Unmercifully Kick The Shit Out Of The Rangers, Win Their Sixth Straight To Continue Building Division Lead
.@asben16 treated America to a VERY nice night of baseball for its birthday. #RedSox pic.twitter.com/DDySzT5EYt
— #VoteX (@RedSox) July 5, 2017
It’s been a weird season, man. We’re only halfway through, and the Red Sox have already dealt with a ton of injuries, manager firing rumors, player, coach and executive controversies/drama, all while having to resort to call-ups of random players that we’ve never heard of before to come to the aid of a team that had a $200 million payroll on Opening Day. Despite all of that, here the Red Sox sit, four games up in first place, the largest division lead that any team in the American League East has held in 2017.
This team has been questioned, and rightfully so. They had question marks entering the season, they had question marks throughout the first half, and they’ll have question marks even as they head into the All Star break next week. They are far from perfect, as are most teams. They have flaws that could prove costly come October, as do most teams. But with Dave Dombrowski’s approval rating here in Boston dropping with each Travis Shaw home run and each day spent on the disabled list for Tyler Thornburg and Carson Smith, this is a huge trade deadline coming up for the Barstool non-believer.
But before we look ahead, let’s take a second to appreciate where the Red Sox have been over the last week, and that’s beating that candy ass all over North America. Last night, after notching a season-high 21 hits and 15 runs on Sunday in Toronto, the Red Sox hammered the Rangers for 19 hits and 11 runs in Texas. Over their current six-game winning streak, the Red Sox have scored an MLB-leading 53 runs on an MLB-leading 85 hits. They’re averaging over 14 hits per game over their last six games, while the team is hitting .346 with a .956 OPS overall.
Over their current six-game winning streak, the Red Sox have SEVEN players who have an OPS over a thousand. Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Deven Marrero, Tzu-Wei Lin, Hanley Ramirez, Mookie Betts, and Dustin Pedroia have combined to hit .411 with an 1.171 OPS. Benintendi alone is 6 for his last 6 after going 5-for-5 with 4 runs scored, 6 RBI, and two homers last night. Oh, and in addition to tearing the cover off the ball all night, Benintendi also made the play of the game:
The Red Sox haven’t lost a game yet with Lin in the starting lineup, either. In just his last three games, Lin already has two three-hit performances. Since August 15, 2015, Pablo Sandoval also has two three-hit games.
You know what’s probably the most impressive thing about last night’s game? Betts, Pedroia, and Xander Bogaerts, the top three hitters in Boston’s lineup, went 1-for-16. You got the five-hit night from Benintendi, a couple hits from Mitch Moreland and Hanley, and three-hit nights from Lin, Bradley, and Christian Vazquez. It’s not quite the 2003 Red Sox lineup that set all kinds of offensive records and had a guy winning a batting title out of the ninth spot in the lineup, but when your top three hitters take the night off and you still end up with 19 hits, that’s pretty damn impressive.
He’s not exactly in the good graces of Red Sox fans these days, not that he ever really was, but David Price is quietly pitching really well. Quietly, as in his performance is going unnoticed. His actions away from the field, not so much. But after his confrontation with media in the clubhouse prior to his start in New York a month ago, the Yankees tagged him for six earned runs in five innings. That start has skewed how good he’s been otherwise. In his seven other starts, including last night’s outing in which he went six shutout innings and struck out nine batters, Price has a 3.21 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and has 41 strikeouts in 42 innings.
Price exited the game in the seventh inning (never should’ve been out there anyway) when John Farrell came out to the mound with a team trainer, but the manager insisted after the game that Price didn’t come out with an injury. Per Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, Farrell said that he wasn’t sure if Price was “fatigued” or not, so that’s why he brought the trainer with him. He’s full of shit, because nobody ever brings a trainer out to the mound because they think their pitcher is “fatigued”. What’d you think, the fuckin’ guy was gonna collapse out there, and you wanted an extra body with you to catch him just in case? Be honest with us one time, Johnny Steelcock.
Final score: Red Sox 11, Rangers 4