David Ortiz took the day off and so did the Red Sox offense, and Royals’ starter, undefeated Bruce Chen [5-0], shutout the Boston batters for 7 2/3 innings, while Jon Lester [10-7], surrendered three first-inning runs and Kansas City won 5-1.
"The Sox [70-47] still lead the idle second place Rays by 2 games."
Lester [4.37] was unable to locate his pitches in the first inning and had to expend 41 tosses and an error by LF Gomes exacerbated his struggle.
- Lorenzo Cain doubled (19) to LF.
- After Eric Hosmer grounded out, moving Lorenzo Cain to 3rd, Billy Butler walked.
- Alex Gordon hit a sacrifice fly, that was misplayed by left fielder Jonny Gomes allowed Lorenzo Cain to score and Billy Butler went to 2nd and Alex Gordon to 1st.
Gomes explained that he intended to lay back and then run hard to make the catch, giving him plenty of momentum for a throw to the plate.“I got behind it, but my plant leg slipped and took a chunk out of the grass…I just couldn’t make up the ground.”
Gomes had to make a futile last-minute lunge, trapped the ball and mimicked a catch, but third-base umpire Greg Gibson wasn’t buying it and Cain scored.
- Lester got the second out, when Miguel Tejada popped out to second baseman Dustin
- Pedroia on the infield fly rule, but walked Justin Maxwell to load the bases.
- Mike Moustakas singled on a line drive to right fielder Shane Victorino, scoring Billy
- Butler and Alex Gordon sending Justin Maxwell to 3rd.
- Brett Hayes struck out swinging.
“If you’re going to get a guy like Jon Lester, you better do it in the first inning,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “To get three on the board early was big, it allowed Bruce that little breathing room we always talk about. And then Jon found his gear and made it through the seventh inning. He pitched a great game, too.”
Lester regained his control and shut out the Royals for the next 6 innings; he allowed 4 hits, walked 2 and K’d 4.
Lester struggled in his last outing after three solid starts to end July, but was 6-2 with a 1.64 ERA in nine career starts against Kansas City — his lowest ERA against any AL club and the lowest among active Major Leaguers with at least 50 career innings against KC. He had allowed one earned run or fewer in seven of his last nine starts against the Royals.
Former Red Sox lefty, Bruce Chen now at [1.79] had worked six innings in each of his first four starts with a 1.50 ERA and was 4-6 with a 5.59 ERA in 19 games (11 starts) against Boston and he was masterful tonight, throwing first pitch strikes and keeping the Sox batters off balance by effectively changing speeds: no runs, 6 hits, 1 W and 1K in 7.2 innings.
Chen threw a little bit of everything last night, but the one trait every one of his 108 pitches shared was that none reached 89 mph. As it is, he only touched 88 twice, content to paint the corners with a fastball he generally threw anywhere from 81 to 87.
On the other end of the spectrum, he busted out a 69 mph eephus over his final two innings, adding that to a curveball that hit just about every mph in the 70s.
“It’s not how hard you throw, it’s where you throw it…He just worked both sides of the plate, got in our hands, and went away. He throws three pitches with 6 mph differences in all. He can throw a fastball at 83, a fastball at 88, a curveball at 74, a curveball at 79. He stayed on the edges.” Gomes said.
”A phenomenal job,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He was ahead in the count most of the night. He commanded the ball down, commanded the ball up, changed speeds. Anytime you see a lot of popups, out-front swings, you know Bruce is on his game and he got an awful lot of them tonight.”
“Lurky” Luke Hochevar, RHP, a member of the AL ERA leading, pen [2.80] picked up the save: IP: 1.1, 1 run, 2 hits, no Ws or Ks.
“I wasn’t going to let the tying run come to the plate [against Chen]…Bruce wasn’t going to face it — one. And two, I made my mind up early in the game that I wasn’t going to let Bruce face that lineup a fourth time around and Ellsbury was the only one that did that.” said Yost.
The Sox avoided their 10th shutout of the season with a run in the 9th–Jonny Gomes doubled (14) and Drew knocked him in with a soft line drive single to LF.
On his first pitch reliever Rubby de la Rosa hit 96 on the gun, but Billy Butler hit the 2-seam heater—that was right down the middle–on the screws, about 413 feet to center for his 10th HR.
After retiring Gordon and Johnson and going 3-1 on Justin Maxwell, de la Rosa hit 97 on the gun, but Maxwell brought down his Silver Hammer on another the 2-seam heater—that, once again, was right over the heart of the plate—for his 4th HR, giving the Royals a 5-0 bulge.
“Maxwell just crushed it, and so did Billy,” Yost said. “Anytime you can take a ball out to center field here or the opposite way here, you really have to smoke a baseball and both of those kids did that.”
The Sox now share the MLB lead with Atlanta and Pittsburgh, all with 70 Ws, while the Pirates lead MLB with a .614 W%.
Tomorrow: RHP Jake Peavy (9-4, 4.14) vs. RHP Ervin Santana (8-6, 2.97), 8:10 p.m. (ET), NESN.
Saturday: LHP Felix Doubront (8-5, 3.56) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (12-7, 3.96), 7:10 p.m. (ET), NESN.
Sunday: RHP John Lackey (7-9, 3.21) vs. RHP James Shields (6-7, 3.08), 2:10 p.m. (ET), NESN.
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- With Daniel Nava back from paternity leave, the Red Sox optioned righthander Steven Wright back to Triple a Pawtucket.
• Clay Buchholz had what John Farrell said was his most strenuous throwing from 90 feet. He is scheduled for 30-35 pitches in the bullpen Friday.
“He’s making steady progress,” Farrell said.
• LHP Franklin Morales, who threw an inning for Double A Portland Wednesday, could be activated off the disabled list as soon as Friday. He has been on the DL since June 23 with a strained pectoral muscle on his left side.
With Matt Thornton going on the DL on Wednesday, the Sox want that third lefty reliever.
“We’ve come to know that three lefties in the bullpen is a little bit of a luxury,” Farrell said.
• RHP Alex Wilson had a setback with his sprained right thumb. He pitched in four rehab games for Pawtucket and is not scheduled for another outing.
“We’ve got to get that thoroughly checked again,” Farrell said.
• Happy birthday to Craig Breslow, who turned 33 today.
• Junichi Tazawa was perfect for two innings Wednesday and in recent outings has shown the same command and velocity he did earlier in the season.
“There was a stretch where he was very conscious of not letting some fastballs leak back onto the plate,” said Farrell. “A couple of righthanders had squared him up. Subconsciously he got into a little bit of cutting the baseball and it limited his velocity.
“I think he really felt like it was time to just cut the ball loose. He’s been more aggressive; he’s been more efficient. Last night was as probably as good as he’s been all year. He’s a key member of our bullpen. That ability to go against lefties and righties late in the game, control the running game, swing-and-miss ability. All that is key for us.”
- Today is Day 9 of Will Middlebrooks and Xander Bogaerts Held Hostage as the Sox platoon Brock Holt and Brandon Snyder at third base.
So when will the Sox make a move?
“When one of the players mentioned steps up and says by his performance and his actions this is one that’s going to make us the best team,” Farrell said. “That’s what is the bottom-line goal here, what is our best team.
“There might be some fluctuation with that. I’m not saying a move is imminent. That’s the view that’s taken with the four names that have been talked about at third base.”
Bogaerts is hitting .275/.368/.462 at Pawtucket and played seven games at third base. Middlebrooks is hitting .259/.314/.459 at Pawtucket. Obviously he has more experience at third.
[http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/]
- Clay Buchholz UPDATE
Red Sox righthander Clay Buchholz threw 27 pitches in the bullpen at Minute Maid Park this afternoon, his first such work since July 14 in Oakland.
He came away enthused about the condition of his right shoulder and plans to throw again in Kansas City on Friday.
“I’m not really sure how long it’s going to take, but I’m on my way,” Buchholz said.
Buchholz has not appeared in a game since June 8. The Sox thought he was progressing before the All-Star break until a setback in Oakland led to his being examined by Dr. James Andrews.
This time around, the pain was gone.
“It was night and day compared to that,” Buchholz said. “It’s been while since I’ve thrown with any kind of intensity off a mound. A little sore I guess from all the stuff we’ve doing. But it’s different than the last time I was on the mound.”
Buchholz will need several bullpen sessions before he advances to either a simulated game or a minor league game. He is several weeks away from rejoining the major league rotation.
- Napoli has hit better in the second half of the season during his career. But he hit .200 with a .741 OPS in his first 17 games after the All-Star break. Napoli is hitless in his last 15 at-bats and has left 23 runners on base.
On Wednesday afternoon, Napoli worked with hitting coaches Greg Colbrunn and Victor Rodriguez on his swing, specifically cutting it down in the interest of making more consistent contact. Then he met with Farrell.
“We talked about a couple of different things that we might look to do with the lineup,” Farrell said. ‘He’s all on board with all of it.”
• Reliever Koji Uehara has allowed only one unearned run in 17 games since the start of July, spanning 18 1/3 innings. He has a 15-inning scoreless streak, one frame shy of his career-long of 16 (June 22-July 31, 2011).
• Shortstop Stephen Drew has an eight-game hitting streak (.464), while Mike Napoli is hitless in his last 15 at-bats.
John Farrell on rookie RHP Rubby De La Rosa:
“We saw him as a starter and being a depth starter throughout the course of the year. But as things emerged, the trade for [Jake] Peavy, now that we have the flexibility to put him in the bullpen, we’re certainly not going to get that kind of arm in a trade. He has the potential really giving us a shot in the arm, no pun intended.”
Gomes is 6 for 16 as a pinch hitter with four home runs, a double and seven RBIs. Hall of Famer Joe Cronin set the Red Sox record of five pinch-hit homers in 1943. The only other Red Sox player with four was Del Wilber in 1953.
The Sox have six pinch-hit home runs as a team, one off the team record set in 1953.
Gomes and Atlanta’s Evan Gattis have the most pinch-hit home runs in the majors this season.