By Patrick Whalen

The Red Sox had game 2 of their series against the Orioles rained out tuesday night, so the Sox got to play their second double header against the Orioles this season. In game 1 the Red Sox absolutly pumbled the Orioles in a 19-3 route. David Price got the start and went 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. A very average start but Cora has been limiting his guys to around 5 or 6 inning starts in an attempt to keep his guys rested and fresh for the ALDS. But enough with the pitching lets get to the 19 runs.

The Sox were swinging early and often scoring 5 in the first inning. Bogaerts started it off by doubling home J.D. Martinez and Andrew Benintendi. Later that inning with the bases load the red hot Rafael Devers hit a bases clearing double to score Bogaerts, Mitch Moreland, and Ian Kinsler. That would end up being it for Orioles starter Ryan Meisinger as he would only manage a third of an inning giving up 4 hits and 5 runs.

The Orioles got 3 runs back in the second thanks to a Trey Mancini solo homer and a Renato Nunez two run homer. But those were the only two mistakes Price made all day as he would proceed to quiet their bats for the rest of the day. Meanwhile the Red Sox would proceed to embaress the Orioles for the rest of the afternoon as many players would reach new career milestones. The milestones started when in the second inning Mookie Betts stole second base for his 30th of the season. Surprisingly becoming only the second Red Sox player to ever do it.

That would only be the begining of the afternoons highlights. The Sox opened the scoring again in the 4th thanks to a J.D. Martinez 3 run home run. That home run gave J.D. hist 42nd of the year and also raised his RBI total to 127. The homer tied Dick Stuart for most home runs in their first season with the Sox. J.D. also passed Manny Ramirez for 4th most RBI’s in their first Red Sox season. The homer also gave the Sox a 8-3 lead in the fourth inning.

In the 5th the Sox added two more runs thanks to Ian Kinsler doubling home Mitch and Devers then singling home Kinsler to make it 10-3. In the 6th the Sox added two more runs thanks to Xander Bogaerts setting two career milestones. With a homer to center Bogaerts set a new career high with 22 home runs and his first 100 RBI season. Most people when they look at the Red Sox always focus on the great success of Mookie and J.D. but Xander Bogaerts has had arguably the most improvement this season and has been a huge part of the Sox great success.

The Sox would continue the onslot in the 7th scoring another 3 runs. This time it was the young kids going deep as Devers and Blake Swihart both homered. Devers hit a solo shot to dead center for his 20th of the season and Blake then followed up by going back to back Devers for his 3rd of the season. That would also now give Devers a homer and 5 RBI’s on the day. Later in the inning Benintendi doubled home Tzu-Wei Lin with his 40th double of the season making it 15-3 in the 7th inning.

Did the scoring stop there, of course not. The Orioles, who are already terrible to start with, are trotting all these young guys out of the bullpen to get them experience and Buck Showalter could not even deal watching that anymore. So with a roster that has plenty of pitching thanks to September call ups and the expanded roster Buck Showalter brought in Jace Peterson, a second basemen, to pitch the 8th. The Sox got the 8th started right with Devers hitting anbsolute nuke that would have made Kim Jong-Un jealous. Devers second home run of the day was a 447 foot solo shot to right field to make it 16-3 and give Devers 2 homers and 6 RBI’s on the day.

Tzu-Wei Lin then doubled home doubled to center scoring Swihart and Sandy Leon making it 18-3. Benintendi later singled home Lin to finally get us to our final score of 19-3. The offense was the big focus of the afternoon but don’t forget about the bullpen as Steven Wright, Heath Hembree, and Brandon Workman combined for 4 innings of shut out ball. This game would also increase the Sox franchise season wins record to 107. Would this offense carry over to the night cap game,…uh no.

Yes, sadly the Sox would lose game two but its not as bad as it looks. The Sox wanted to make the night game more compdeitive, so Cora put out a line up of equal skill level with the Orioles that consited of Jackie Bradley Jr., Steve Pearce, and Devers being the three best hitters in the line up. With that line up and Chris Sale still on a pitch count/ innings limit it was pretty much a spring training game for the Sox. Sale threw 92 pitches over 4.2 innings giving up 4 hits, 3 runs, and striking out 8.

Most fans and analyst were very concered about Sale’s performance last night. He wasn’t throwing that high 90’s gas that we had seen him recently dominate with and with his next start being game 1 of the ALDS it is a concern that we didn’t see his dominate stuff in his tune up start. I believe Sale knows that when needed he can go to that gas and that he did not want to exert himself more than nessicary today. His slider was filthy and seemed like he wanted to make sure he had that ready for the postseason. Also, Sale probably thought that it was better to play it safe and not overexert his shoulder and not risk reinjuring his sholder in a meaningless game before the ALDS. I believe Sale will be fine being fully rested and charged up for game 1.

Now for the rest of the game the Sox was not good. The offense did struggle only scoring 3 runs, granted half the line up was in Pawtucket last month. The main concern in this game was the bullpen. After Sale came out Eduardo Rodriguez came in and threw 1.1 innings, giving up no runs. This was a very promising sign and preview for what E Rod’s postseason role could be.

But then the bullpen struggles can when Matt Barnes, who is recently back from injury, only threw a third of an inning giving up 4 hits and 3 runs. For a guy who is trying to secure his 8th inning role back this outing was not helpful for him. Hector Velazquez then got out of the 7th inning limiting the damage to 3 runs in the inning. Ryan Braiser then came in and thurled a perfect 8th inning, which really helped his case to be the 8th inning set up man in the postseason. Cora then brought on Kimbrel in the 9th to get him some work after not pitching in 5 days. The 5 days definetly showed as Craig just did not have it giving up 4 runs while walking 3. Kimbrel could only get through a third of an inning of work before he gave way to Robbie Scott who finished the 9th inning.

The Sox would fall by a score of 10-3. Putting the Sox at 107-52 for the season with 3 games remaining. If the Sox can sweep their 3 game series to end the season they could become the first Red Sox team to ever reach the 110 win milestone. Also if the boys out in Oakland can stay hot a sweep of the Yankees might mean a Wild Card game in Oakland. On a side note it was also great to see the Rem Dawg, Jerry Remy make a stop in the NESN booth during the night game as he recovers from another battle with cancer. We miss you Rem Dawg and are keep you in our prayers.