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Red Sox Recap: O Canada! Stop With The Blue Jays’ Beating!

By Brandon Nickel

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If you haven’t heard by now, it’s July 1st. It’s Canada Day. The Boston Red Sox and their starting pitcher Rick Porcello sure know it. They went into the mother bird’s nest and felt like they had their eyes pecked out. Well, Red Sox Nation likely wanted to do that to themselves, after watching today’s game.

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In front of 45 392 fans in the Rogers Centre, the Toronto Blue Jays laid the biggest holiday smackdown on the Red Sox, with a hitting display to put all fireworks in the country to shame. The brunt of it was felt by Porcello, who must have felt like the hounds were unleashed as soon as he started.

As early as the bottom of the first inning, the Blue Jays began their aerial assault.  After the first two Blue Jays singled, followed by a Jose Bautista strikeout, Porcello uncorked a wild pitch, which went for naught as Edwin Encarnacion lit up Porcello’s 84-mph changeup for a home run to left field. The shot also scored Jose Reyes and Josh Donaldson. The next batter Canadian-born Russell Martin was then hit by a pitch, which put him on base for Justin Smoak to hammer his sixth home run of the season into right center field.

To add insult to the gaping wound of an injury, Porcello’s pickoff play on Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar was not initially successful at second base. It took a challenge replay to make anything go in Boston’s favor. Porcello did get out of the inning without any more damage.

That is, until the bottom of the second inning. Bautista, possibly feeling scorned for not getting in on the beatdown in the first, homered to left center field and also scored Reyes in the process.

That was mercifully it for Porcello and Boston fans watching. Red Sox manager John Farrell had seen enough, as well. He sent Robbie Ross Jr. out to relieve Porcello. Fans were upset that Porcello lasted even that long:

That social commentary was as clean as most of Twitter got. Much worse could have been included in this report, and even though this is a professional media platform, and fans are often overdramatic, it must be said that they cannot be blamed for their outrage on this day.

Well, as much as their anger was founded, it didn’t disappear once Porcello left. In the bottom of the third inning, Smoak blasted another home run, a solo shot, to left center field.

After that, the run flood settled to calmer levels. It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth inning that the waters rushed high again. Jonathan Aro replaced Ross, to the sight of Bautista hitting a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Reyes.

If you’re wondering what happened on the other side of those frames, the answer is Mark Buehrle. The Blue Jays starting pitcher had smooth sailing throughout the first six innings. It was only when Red Sox left fielder Hanley Ramirez lined sharply to right field that Buehrle was in any danger. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval followed with a groundout to move Han-Ram home for the first Red Sox run of the day.

Aaron Loup replaced Buehrle to start the eighth inning, and he was greeted by a Mookie Betts solo home run. The game was then 9-2.

That was as much as the Red Sox would come back. After catching the opening pitch from hockey celebrity and Canadian icon Don Cherry, Josh Donaldson put a cap on the day in the bottom of the eight inning by hitting a two-run homer over the center field fence. The Blue Jays won the game 11-2, in an absolute beating.

Game Notes:

  •  The Blue Jays pounded the Red Sox with the long ball, hitting five home runs on the day.
  • After returning from a hand injury, Ramirez went 1-for-4 at the plate.
  • The Red Sox earned six hits, no walks, and 10 strikeouts. When you strike out more than you hit, it’s likely going to be a tough day at the office.
  • The Blue Jays went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base. The Red Sox went 0-for-6 with RISP and left four runners on base.
  • Buehrle threw 106 pitches, 73 for strikes, and struck out seven Red Sox batters. He allowed a single earned run on four hits and no walks. Not bad for a veteran contemplating retirement.

Grades:

F. . Game Ball. <strong>Rick Porcello</strong>. STARTING PITCHING

Can you give a Z as a grade? Today was a total disaster. Porcello only threw 44 pitches, 29 for strikes. While that percentage, on paper, sounds good, the fact that he gave up seven runs on seven hits means that he was fooling nobody. Nothing that came out of his hand was going to deceive any of the Blue Jays. Five of the nine Toronto starters had multiple hits before Porcello even left the game, and he didn’t even come out for the third inning. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

D-. . Game Ball. <strong>Robbie Ross Jr</strong>.. RELIEF PITCHING

Ross gets the game ball by default. He didn’t do as bad as Aro, which isn’t saying much for a relief pitcher. Ross allowed a run on three hits, a walk, and a strikeout. Not great to give up a home run; however, when your counterpart in your bullpen gives up three runs on six hits and a strikeout, you start to look a bit better. And I stress ‘a bit’.

D. . Game Ball. <strong>Mookie Betts</strong>. OFFENSE

Again, this award is by default. Sandoval missed out on the game ball because he didn’t cross the plate like Mookie did, although that’s because Betts’ hit was a homer. Put it this way: a player who was 1-for-4 at the plate was the guy who won the game ball, today. That statistic shows the complete ineptitude that the Red Sox as a team showed against the Blue Jays. When you do so poorly against a veteran pitcher who is openly thinking about retirement in the media, there’s not much to brag about in Boston.

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