Bradley Jr. Leads Offensive Outburst Against Phillies

As spring training games so, this game was a pretty great one to watch. Viewers got to see some old guys, some new, and some of the Red Sox top prospects in a game that had a little bit of excitement before the Red Sox pulled ahead for good. Getting the start was prospect Brandon Workman in his first major league spring training game. Workman looked great through the first two innings, mixing a hard fastball and a filthy 12-6 curveball with good command, before he began to struggle in the third inning. However, he was fine and was just hurt due to some bad fielding on a high popup on a windy day which fell between three men.

March 20, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox center fielder

Jr. (74) doubles during the first inning against the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Luckily for Workman, he was backed by some good offense– even against one of the toughest lefties in the game in Cliff Lee. After a 1-2-3 first inning, the Red Sox put two men on base to start the second before the big blow. That blow was a three-run, opposite field, lefty-on-lefty home run by none other than Jackie Bradley Jr., who continued his ridiculous spring by giving the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.

The offense continued in the third inning as three consecutive hard-hit singles by Shane Victorino, Dustin Pedroia, and Mike Napoli loaded the bases with no outs. It looked as if the Phillies may be en route to escaping the little jam when Will Middlebrooks hit a hard grounder just to the left of shortstop Jimmy Rollins. However, it got by the veteran shortstop, deflecting off his glove to score two runs and give the Red Sox a 5-0 lead. The Red Sox got one more run on a sacrifice fly to center by Jackie Bradley Jr., his 4th RBI of the game and 9th of the spring.

After those runs were all scored, the Red Sox allowed the Phillies to get back into the ballgame, starting with two runs allowed by Workman in the third. Workman was followed by a perfect inning by Andrew Bailey, before Daniel Bard ran into some trouble. He would allow an unearned run on two hits in the inning. Sean Henn and Noe Ramirez worked scoreless 6th and 7th innings before the big bats did some damage for the Phils.

After an excellent seventh inning, John Farrell left Ramirez in for the eighth. He would allow plenty of damage in his additional third of an inning as he allowed back-to-back home runs: a two run shot to Chase Utley and a solo homer to Ryan Howard. Ryan Rowland-Smith got out of the jam, and the Red Sox got back in front on a ninth inning RBI by Shannon Wilkerson. Marco Duarte would close out of the game with a perfect inning and notch his second save of the spring to give the Red Sox a 15-14 spring record.