Red Sox Pitchers Get Embarrassed by Rangers’ Powerful Offense
By John Green
Rangers 18-Red Sox 3
Speaking to the editor about this recap I stated to him that “I don’t even know where to go with this”– Yes, it was that kind of game for the Red Sox and more specifically their pitching staff. Virtually from start to finish, they couldn’t get the job done.
Trouble found it’s way to Jon Lester early–After Dustin Pedroia put one just over the monster seats in the Sox half of the first, Lester quickly coughed up the lead and then some in the second.
It started with a 2-run shot from Mike Napoli, followed by walk,single,walk and a slow roller off the bat of Elvis Andrus that Lester couldn’t make a play on, allowing Yorvit Torrealba to score from third.
Josh Hamilton followed that madness with a weakly hit fly ball that Cody Ross completely whiffed on, allowing Craig Gentry to score from third.
Finally–after a 49 pitch frame–Lester was able to get Michael Young to ground out to end the inning but it was ugly no matter which way you sell it and it was far from over.
The Red Sox’ ace allowed the first three to reach in the third on a base hit and two walks before being relieved of his duties in favor of Scott Atchison who would allow all three runners to come around and make it a 7-3 game.
The Rangers powerful bats were just getting started though.
After a few relatively quiet frames–with a solo homer mixed in from Michael Young–things got hideous for the Sox in the eighth with Mark Melancon on the mound.
A mammoth 3-run home run–Jerry Remy described it as “one of the longest he’s seen at Fenway”–came off the bat of Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre followed immediately with a solo shot and not to be outdone, Nelson Cruz stuck the dagger in with a 2-run homer.
Three home runs, zero outs later and Mark Melancon looks 2012’s version of Tim Wakefield from last year. Somebody better buy him a mop because he’s sure to be filling some clean-up duty with the Sox.
The Rangers would add a pair in the ninth–making it 18-3–on Mike Napoli’s second blast of the game and Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo shot in the Sox half of the eighth but it wasn’t enough to spark a late inning comeback, obviously.
Bottom line–the pitching on the Sox side of this game sucked. Jon Lester wasn’t himself from the jump, Scott Atchison inherited a mess that he couldn’t make magically go away and Mark Melancon has a 49.50 ERA on the season–enough said.
The Red Sox and Josh Beckett will look to salvage a split with the Rangers tomorrow night at Fenway Park.
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