Red Sox 9, Indians 1
Indians fall to 55-63
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Recap
Trevor Bauer was very bad tonight. Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez was very good today. If you want to skip the next 500+ words, that's the gist of it. If you choose to read on, well, I can't stop you.
Bauer has been inconsistent this whole season, showing signs of brilliance amidst mediocrity, but has been especially poor lately. Tonight's ugly start was a tale of both bad pitching and bad luck, but few would argue that Bauer didn't soundly "earn" the loss. He struggled right out of the gates, giving up a one-out triple to Brock Holt [bad pitching]. Holt was erased on a nifty play by Mike Aviles, who snagged a high bounce off the bat of Xander Boegarts and was able to tag Holt from behind. Boegarts should have been out after making a wide turn at first, but Aviles botched the throw [bad luck]. David Ortiz then crushed a near-homer double to drive in Boegarts [bad pitching] to start the scoring. He finished the 1st having already thrown 22 pitches, and it would only get worse.
The Red Sox 2nd started with two singles [bad pitching], an awkward fielder's choice out/error by Aviles that resulted in runners on second and third [bad luck], and a walk [bad pitching]. Sense a pattern yet? It keeps going. Bauer had Mookie Betts dead to rights, as Betts swung through a nasty slider for the second out of the inning. Betts headed back to the dugout but on his way, the call was somehow overturned by the third base ump, who ruled the third strike a dropped foul tip. Replays showed an obvious lack of contact, but the play was non-reviewable [stupid bad luck]. Two pitches later, Betts crushed a liner off the green monster that was badly misplayed by Ryan Raburn, allowing all three runners to score [bad pitching *and* bad luck]. Brock Holt added insult to injury wit an RBI single. Trevor struck out the next batter, but would exit the game after 52 pitches with two outs in the 2nd inning. His bullpen did him no favors after the 2nd inning, but it really made no difference. Why?
Because on the other side of the coin, the Indians offense couldn't generate a run against Eduardo Rodriguez to save their lives. The Tribe didn't even have a baserunner until Francisco Lindor singled in the 4th. After that, baserunners were sporadic and futile. Michael Brantley's solo homer in the 7th was the only black mark on Rodriguez' night. Hell, the Indians only sent more than four batter to the plate once in the entire game (the 8th). Rodriguez dominated over eight innings, despite not being overpowering. He struck out just five, and gave up six hits, but was a ground ball machine. Jean Machi finished the game forthe Red Sox with a 1-2-3 9th, wherein Jason Kipnis pinch hit in his first appearance since returning from the DL.
The starting pitchers played the biggest role in this game on both ends, but the Tribe bullpen was also disappointing. Kyle Crockett, Ryan Webb, Austin Adams, and Jeff Manship each gave up a run, ensuing that the Indians couldn't possibly make a comeback after Bauer's rough start.
There's not much else to say about this one. It was a blowout, sure, but an otherwise unremarkably lost game in the waning weeks of an unremarkably lost season. Guess we just try to get 'em back tomorrow with Klubot on the hill.
Win Expectancy Chart
Source: FanGraphs
Roll Call
Total Comments: 171
Total Commenters: 22
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | PyroKinesis | 33 |
2 | JulioBernazard | 21 |
3 | Ryan Y | 19 |
4 | gte619n | 16 |
5 | notthatnoise | 13 |
6 | palcal | 12 |
7 | Phil Kehres | 11 |
8 | Denver Tribe Fan | 11 |
9 | Bone02 | 7 |
10 | westbrook | 6 |
11 | V-Mart Shopper | 6 |
12 | Stairs | 4 |
13 | tgriffith1992 | 2 |
14 | mainstreetfan | 2 |
15 | Spidey | 1 |
16 | hans | 1 |
17 | emd2k3 | 1 |
18 | shenvalee | 1 |
19 | CTTribe73 | 1 |
20 | Matt R. Lyons | 1 |
21 | BuenosAires_Dawg | 1 |
22 | Jason Lukehart | 1 |