The talk of Saturday night was not the solid outings by a pair of young starters, it was not about Mookie Betts getting sent back to the minors, nor was it about Shane Victorino. No, the talk of Saturday night was all about a single swing of the bat by Mike Napoli.
Before we get to Napoli at the plate, he also scored from second on a ball hit by Victorino that got through Alcides Escobar. That evened the score after Omar Infante drove in Jarrod Dyson on a sac fly to get the scoring started on the day.
In the bottom of the sixth, Duffy caught way too much of the plate and Mike Napoli not only hit it out of the park, but over the monster, across the street, and nearly into the windshield of a car leaving the parking lot. It was just Napoli’s 11th long ball on the season, but it was the deciding shot as the Boston Red Sox went on to win 2-1.
While Duffy gave up the monster shot, it was the only earned run he gave up in 6.2 innings, which brings his season ERA to 2.66 as he falls to 5-10 on the season (cue Brian Kenny screaming for someone to kill the win).
Rubby De La Rosa was fantastic, as he went seven innings and allowed just a single run, to bring his ERA a couple points better than Duffy’s, at 2.64. He did walk four batters on the day.
Koji Uehara came in and put up another perfect inning to record his 20th save of the year.
So far, the Red Sox have won the first two games of the second half but are still seven games under .500. The Royals have now fallen behind the Cleveland Indians in the Central and are an even .500 on the season. The Red Sox go for the sweep on Sunday as Jon Lester faces off against the young flamethrower, Yordano Ventura.