The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 6-3 on Sunday, Aug. 13 at Fenway Park. The Red Sox bats finally came alive, and the Sox bullpen was once again dominant. Shortstop Trevor Story showed encouraging signs of getting back to his usual form as he went 4-4 with three doubles. The Red Sox made up ground on the Seattle Mariners in the wild card race as they are now only 1.5 games back of Seattle, one of the two teams the Sox need to catch to obtain the third wild card position. The other team, the Toronto Blue Jays, currently hold the third wild card spot and are three games ahead of the Sox.
The Tigers got on the board first in the top of the second inning. To lead off the inning, Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford hit first baseman Spencer Torkelson. The next batter, second baseman Zach McKinstry, singled to right, and after Torkelson went from first to third, McKinstry advanced to second on the throw to third. With the infield back, designated hitter Miguel Cabrera grounded out to short, scoring Torkelson, making it 1-0 Tigers.
The Red Sox struck back in the bottom of the second with a two-out rally against former Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez spent six seasons with the Red Sox, with a 4.16 Earned Run Average (ERA). In the opener of the series, the Red Sox honored Rodriguez with a video tribute on the big screen at Fenway Park.
After center fielder Adam Duvall popped out and second baseman Pablo Reyes flew out, first baseman Triston Casas drew a walk. With Casas at first, catcher Connor Wong tripled as he sent one down the line and into the right field corner, easily scoring Casas.
One inning after the Red Sox tied the game, they took the lead. The first run of the inning came on a one-out home run from designated hitter Justin Turner, his 19th home run of the year. That made it back-to-back games with homers from Turner after he missed four straight due to a bone bruise in his foot. If there was an award to be given to the Sox player who has been the biggest surprise, it would go to Turner. After a year like last year, where he only hit 13 home runs, many thought that Turner’s age was catching up to him. Instead, this year he has already surpassed that home run total and is on pace to surpass his Runs Batted In (RBI) total from last year in the next couple of days. After Turner homered, Story singled and then stole second and third.. With two outs and Story at third, Duvall delivered a clutch RBI single to put the Sox ahead 3-1.
Duvall picked up three more RBIs with one swing in the fifth inning. After Story was credited with a double on a ball that got lost in the sun by left fielder Akil Baddoo, left fielder Masataka Yoshida singled. With runners on the corner, Duvall launched a 403-foot homer over the Green Monster, making the score 6-2 Red Sox.
The final pitching line for Crawford was 4 2/3 innings, two runs and three hits. Tigers’ hitters only swung and missed six times against Crawford on 36 swings. That is a whiff percentage of 17, which is significantly lower compared to his whiff percentage of 27 on the season. Crawford also only induced one whiff out of the 17 fastballs he threw, which is 6 percent. On the season, he has a 23.5 whiff percentage on the fastball. Crawford simply did not have his swing-and-miss stuff, which led to the Tigers’ hitters doing damage when Crawford missed inside the zone.
The Red Sox did not score again, and the game ended with a final score of 6-3. The bullpen went 5 1/3 innings, and the only run they allowed was unearned. With the win today, the Sox took the series, making it two straight series wins. The Red Sox went 5-2 in the seven-game stretch against the Royals and Tigers, two struggling teams. While fans hoped for at least one sweep, the Sox did what they had to do with two series wins.
The Red Sox will have an off day and then start a series with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, Aug. 15. The Nationals have a record of 53-66. Their offense ranks 19th in runs, and their pitching staff ranks 27th in ERA. Pitcher Nick Pivetta will start game one for the Sox, facing Nationals starting pitcher Josiah Gray. The Red Sox will look to get this all-important road trip off to a great start by taking game one in Washington.
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