The Red Sox needed a win...and badly. After getting stunk out of two very poor games this weekend, Alex Cora and co. need something to cling onto heading into Memorial Day. After playing much better defense and scoring in big moments in a great sweep in Tampa Bay, it’s like they turn into Mr. Hyde at Fenway Park. Or maybe a poorly stitched together Frankenstein because everything falls apart and the games are monstrous to watch. With your ace on the mound, how would the team respond?
Key Moments
T1: Escaping An Early Jam
Well, Houck was ready early. With runners on the corners, he heaves a gnarly back-door slider to strike out Jake Bauers and escape the inning sans-runs.
B4: Scoring First!
Hey, how about taking a lead against the Brew Crew! After a lead-off triple by Wilyer Abreu, Rafael Devers smacks a sac fly well deep enough to edge the Red Sox in front.
T5: Quick Surrender
And then William Contreras—who’s been a pest this series—continues to nag the Sox as he brings home the tying run in rapid fashion.
B5: Wasted Chances
With runners at second and third and one down, you gotta do something to support your starter. Jarren Duran, what a bad whiff on a high fastball. Wilyer Abreu, hard contact but right at Sal Frelick.
B8: Dominant Duran
Duran definitely made up for this one. Three pitches in the 8th, and a go-ahead run. Rafaela and Duran, the speed guys, combine for a lead-off double and a great oppo slap RBI single.
T9: Clean Kenley?
Two strikeouts and a well played bunt? Hey, nothing to be mad about like Chris Martin, eh? With rumors swirling he’ll be dealt at the deadline with the Sox having no intention of bringing him back, outings like this are exactly the type of thing to increase his value.
Three Studs
Tanner Houck (6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 93 pitches)
His record is so not reflective of the dominance he’s showcased this season. I continue to be wildly impressed by Houck’s emergence as the ace of this roster and this has such a cascading effect on the rest of the rotation.
Wilyer Abreu (3-for-4, 1 run)
This is really for his fourth inning. For how many fly balls opponents have lost in the sun, Abreu by some miracle finds this in time with the sun in his face. I hope a lot of us know first-hand how harsh that sun is in right field in the early afternoon, so props to Wilyer. Then he shows up in the bottom of the inning with a lead-off triple to break the deadlock.
Ceddanne Rafaela (2-for-3, 1 run, 1 K)
Yes, it was Duran who drove Rafaela in, but he got on base and made impacts both times. That’s much more what I want to see in addition to the defense.
Three Duds
Garrett Cooper (0-for-4, 1 K)
For what feels like NPC status for both our first base choices for the foreseeable future, Cooper frustrates the hell out of me a lot more. Would we actually be better served by Bobby Dalbec? Imagine a world that sentence actually makes sense.
Reese McGuire (0-for-3, 2 K)
Hey, just not your day sometimes.
David Hamilton (1-for-3, 1 K)
One hit and a steal, which is ok, but the pop-up bunt in the 5th is uglyyyyy.
Play of the Game
M7: You Know What
This had to get its own section. After being bunted on twice, once for a single and once a successful sac bunt, Chris Martin does get out of the 7th without any damage. Postgame, he alleged he muttered something about being upset about the multiple bunts, and Quintin Berry (yes, the 2013 Red Sox World Series champion turned first base coach) took quite the exception. The whole sequence of events is just weird. From what I can lip-read myself, there were a lot of f bombs flying around, and Martin did say the word bunt, so what he’s saying holds up. But why get so upset if you held the runs off the board? Berry says later in the scrum “you don’t talk like that to me”, but who is he talking to? Martin is nowhere in frame, maybe he’s pointing in that general direction but there’s a slew of Sox trying to create a barrier at that point, so who knows who said what? Honestly, the best part about this is the Netflix camera and boom mic right in the middle of this. I keep forgetting there’s a series coming after the season (maybe that’s a good thing and a testament to their crew being out of the way), but these are gonna be fun moments to watch from that perspective.
Poll
Who was the Player of the Game?
-
2%
Ceddanne Rafaela
(3 votes) -
4%
Jarren Duran
(5 votes) -
75%
Tanner Houck
(78 votes) -
15%
Wilyer Abreu
(16 votes) -
0%
Other (answer in the comments)
(1 vote)
May 27, 2024 at 04:38AM
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Red Sox 2, Brewers 1: Feisty, Hard-Fought, Foes Finally Foiled - Over The Monster
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