State of the Sox
A weekly summary of how the Red Sox performed and where they are heading
Opponents: Rays (A), Orioles
Week Record: 2-4
Overall Record: 73-70
Current spot in standings: 4th place in AL East
It was another rough week for the Sox as they played two division rivals and preceded to lose 2/3 in both series, affectively taking them out of Wild Card contention.
The week started off good against the Tampa Bay Rays in game one when, the team scored seven straight runs after falling behind 3-0 in the first.
After the first inning, Brayan Bello really settled down and threw a fantastic six innings, and Tristan Casas had an amazing day at the plate with two hits and four RBI’s, including a three-run home run.
Thanks to Masataka Yoshida and Adam Duvall as well, the team ended up taking this game, 7-3.
Game two of the series started off similarly to game one, as the Rays were able to jump out to a 3-0 lead, forcing the Sox to have to fight back into this one.
Following an Enmanuel Valdez two-run homer, the Rays tacked on two more to take a 5-2 lead.
Justin Turner and Casas combined for three RBI’s to tie it at five in the seventh inning.
Things looked good when in the 11th inning, Luis Urias knocked in Rob Refsnyder to give the team a 6-5 edge.
Kenley Jansen however did not have his best stuff and as a result gave up a walk-off three-run home run to Brandon Lowe, winning the game for the Rays, 8-6.
The series finale was a low scoring one, as the Sox took an early 1-0 lead off of a Connor Wong triple, but that would be all as Tyler Glasnow dominated for six innings, punching out 14 Red Sox players.
The Sox pitching was not too shabby itself as it Pivetta gave up two solo shots in 4.2 IP and three runs overall, the bullpen after him was solid.
Unfortunately for the Sox, the pitching did not get much help from the offense and the Rays took the series, with a 3-1 win.
After an off day on Thursday, the team welcomed in the best team in the AL to Fenway, in the Baltimore Orioles.
Game one was as ugly as a game as you could imagine as Tanner Houck got lit up and the offense was no where to be seen as the Orioles took it going away, 11-2.
Saturdays game was a wild affair as it all started with the Sox taking a 2-0 lead in the first off of a Justin Turner two-run home run.
The Orioles promptly put up seven unanswered runs.
A four-run fourth inning got the team back into this one, 7-6, but this was met by the Orioles putting up five runs between the sixth and seventh, highlighted by Gunner Hendersons three-run home run.
The team would ultimately go to the ninth, trailing 13-9, and had a chance to tie it after a two-run double from Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu RBI single made it 13-12.
Valdez flew out to left field with Story at third to end the game, clinching the series for Baltimore.
The positives from a game like this however, was a four-hit game for Rafael Devers, five-hit game for Abreu, and a multi-hit game for Valdez.
After trailing 3-0 in the series finale on Sunday, the team got a spark from Ramon Urias two-run error that led to Story getting to second base.
While still down 3-2, Reese Mcguire hit an RBI triple to tie it and Devers singled him home to give the team the lead.
The big blast came off the bat of Casas as he hit a three-run home run to put this one out of reach, 7-3, and things would stay that way for the rest of the game.
This week was not great as ofcourse another losing record and at times not competing with these teams.
We did get to see into the future a bit as Abreu had a few big games, Rafaela got more playing time and has looked great, Casas is heating up, and Bello went 2-0 against two of the best teams in baseball, definitely some positives.
The Sox however remain in fourth and will look to keep it that way when they welcome in the New York Yankees to Fenway Park for a four game series starting tonight.
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