Sox Indians

The Red Sox Fall to the Indians in Extras Again in Game 3

Posted on by Patrick Whalen

By Patrick Whalen

The Sox fall again in a tough loss to the Indians in 11 innings. The Sox named Hector Velazquez the starter for game 3 going with the bullpen approach. Velazquez would end up going only 3.1 innings giving up 4 hits and 2 runs before giving way to the bullpen in a tie ball game. The Sox had scored earlier thanks to an Adam Plutko wild pitch that allowed Mookie Betts to score in the 1st and later Devers would drive in Vazquez in the 3rd.

Steven Wright would give up an unearned run after relieving Velazquez in the 4th to make it a 3-2 Indians lead. The Sox would not go quietly though as Mookie Betts would homer to dead center in the top of the 5th to tie the game back up at 3.

That would be the last run that Plutko would give up as he would go 6 innings giving up 5 hits and 3 runs. After the home run, it became a battle of the bullpens. Bobby Poyner came in and threw a shutout 5th inning and then William Cuevas would come on to throw the next 5.1 innings. For the Indians Dan Otero, Jon Edwards, Neil Ramirez, and Adam Cimber would keep the Sox bats quiet for the 7th 8th and 9th innings.

The teams then headed to extras for the second night in a row. The Indians brought in Josh Tomlin in the 10th and he kept the Sox bats quiet again during the 10th and 11th. But he was not able to silence Brock Holt’s incredible air drumming to the beat of the fans drums.

Cuevas was able to keep the Indians off the board in the 10th inning but ran into some trouble in the 11th and gave way to Robby Scott who ended up giving up the walk-off hit to Greg Allen to end the game. Another tough loss for the Sox as they could not set the clubs single-season record for wins for the second night in a row. Again we can’t be too disappointed because of the fact that maybe only one of the guys who pitched last night will probably be on the postseason roster in Steven Wright and yet the Sox only lost by 1 in extras again. Also seeing Mookie Betts getting back in the field and homering was a great sign for his health.

The Sox will now come home to finish up the season with 3 games against the Orioles and 3 against the Yankees. Tonight the Sox are going with Nate Eovaldi who is 5-7 with a 3.98 ERA on the season as he tries to make a push to make the postseason rotation. The Orioles will be sending out Dylan Bundy who has had a season to forget going 8-15 with an ERA of 5.37. Let’s hope tonight is the night the Sox set the franchise record of 106 regular season wins.

The Red Sox Battle Back to Force Extras Only to Lose Becasue Drew Pomeranz Stinks

Posted on by Patrick Whalen

By Patrick Whalen

It was another windy and brisk fall night in Cleveland as the Sox looked to take game 2 of their series with potential ALCS foe, the Indians. Rick Porcello took the mound for the Sox tonight and it was not pretty for Ricky tonight but he was still able to grind through 5 innings of work giving up 4 runs, 3 earned, over 8 hits. Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger also had a not so pretty outing going 5 innings over giving up 2 runs with 3 hits and 5 walks. Both runs coming via solo bombs by Rafael Devers and Blake Swihart.

Both bullpens looked strong tonight giving up just 3 total runs over the last 6 innings. For the Red Sox, Robby Scott was able to work out of another big jam and try and showcase why he should make the postseason roster as the Sox main lefty matchup man. But not to be outdone by Scott’s one inning of work Brian Johnson would come in and throw 3 scoreless innings to make his case for the postseason roster. Also, an extremely promising sign tonight for the Sox was Joe Kelly coming in for the bottom of the 10th inning and getting out of runners on first and second with no outs jam by striking out Josh Donaldson and Yonder Alonso and getting Melky Cabrera to ground out. An appearance that looked much like the Joe Kelly of the first half of the season and if the Sox can get him dealing like that again he may be able to stabilize the bridge to Kimbrel in the 8th.

Brad Hand would end up giving up the tying runs in the 8th as he inherited one of Andrew Miller’s runners. Benintendi would drive home Brock Holt and Blake Swihart on a liner to left to get the sox back in it.

In the end, though it wouldn’t be enough because Drew Pomeranz came on to pitch in the 11th which all Sox fans know is Cora’s way of saying let’s just go back to the hotel and get some rest for tomorrows game. Drew wouldn’t record a single out giving up 2 singles and a walk to load the bases and then Michael Brantly hit a liner to left to end it. I really do not understand why Drew is still even on the roster he’s got an ERA over 6 this year and just straight up stinks. Like would any major league hitter actually be afraid to face this guy?

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The Sox offense did again struggle tonight leaving 10 men on and going 1 for 8 with men in scoring position. It may have looked like a pitchers duel on paper but Porcello and Clevinger really grinded to get through their 5 innings. It could have easily been much worse for either pitcher if either team actually took advantage of the struggling starters.

On the bright side, we may see Mookie back in right field according to Alex Cora depending on how his injured left side feels before the game. As for the pitching matchup, the Sox have not named a starter yet so we could be seeing another bullpen game while Cleveland is going with Adam Plutko who has a 4-5 record with a 5.27 ERA. Hopefully, the Sox can get the bats going again tomorrow and take the series to boost the team’s confidence going into the playoffs. Also if the Red Sox win tomorrow it will be a franchise single-season record of 106 wins under first-year manager Alex Cora.