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Another Walk-Off Win for the Red Sox!

What a day in Boston today! Not only was it Jackie Robinson Day all through the Major League, it was also Patriots Day, the Boston Marathon was being held, & the Red Sox took the sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays in a big way.

Ryan Dempster was on the mound today for his third start as a Red Sox, looking for a win. He struck out 10 and allowed 2 hits and two walks in seven innings. It was Dempster’s 15^th career game with double–digit strikeouts.  

Jacoby Ellsbury started the offense for the Red Sox in the first hitting his third triple of the season and was then brought in on a groundout RBI by Shane Victorino. Evan Longoria tied it in the fourth with his first home run of the season. Then came Saltalamacchia in the fifth with a lead off homerun right into the Rays bullpen. Dempster left after the seventh bringing in Koji Uehara to pitch a perfect eighth. Andrew Bailey came in in the ninth looking for his first save of the season, unfortunately for Bailey it did not start out well. Bailey gave up a hit to Desmond Jennings, who then stole second. Bailey also gave up a hit to the next batter Ben Zobrist, which brought in Jennings tying the game. Joel Peralta came in as relief for Tampa in the bottom of the ninth. Peralta walked Pedroia and then gave up a hit to Mike Napoli who doubled to left center bringing home Pedroia for another walk-off win for the Red Sox.

Here's a look at the game highlights & Napoli's game-winning walk-off double.

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References:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/recap?gameId=330415102

Buchholtz Loses Second No-Hit Bid

Today Clay Buchholtz came so close to his second career no-hitter he could almost taste it; unfortunately Kelly Johnson of the Tampa Bay Rays came up to bat.  Buchholtz went eight innings only allowing two hits, four walks, and struck out career-high 11 batters.

The Red Sox had a huge fourth inning, scoring four runs. Jacoby Ellsbury started the inning off with a single. Then Victorino reached first on a bunt, moving Ellsbury to second. Pedrioa then singled to right loading the bases for Mike Napoli. Napoli came up and doubled deep into center field, bringing home Ellsbury and Victorino. Stephen Drew then grounded into a fielder’s choice to first, bringing in Napoli, and reaching due to a throwing error by Rays shortstop Escobar. Middlebrooks added to the tally in the bottom of the eighth with a sacrifice fly to bring in Pedrioa.

During the game Buchholtz has great command over his four pitches. Kelly Johnson was down in the count 0-1 on Buchholtz’s 101^st pitch, he swung, broke his bat, and sent the ball flying over first baseman Mike Napoli and landing in short right field. Buchholtz left the game at the end of the eighth after throwing 109 pitches. Andrew Miller came in as relief in the ninth, also only let up one hit.

When Farrell was asked what was different about Clay in this outing compared to his first no-hitter, he replied “He knows himself more as a pitcher. I think where that shows up is in those spots where he’s got men on base, runners in scoring position. You don’t see that emotional spike as evident as maybe his first year or so. That’s where he’s been able to execute quality pitches in those tight spots.”

From the looks and sounds of it for this Red Sox fan, I could not be happier to see what I have seen from Buchholtz over these first three starts. When Farrell left for Toronto two years back, we all saw our pitching staff change dramatically and not in a good way. Now that Farrell has returned and hired quite the coaching staff to back him up, it seems evident that our pitching aces have started to return to the amazing pen we all remember.

References:

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/recap?gameId=330414102
http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/buchholz-no-hit-bid-ends-photo-204505787--mlb.html

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