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Red Sox Recap: Boston Wins Game, Series Vs. Blue Jays

By Brandon Nickel |

The Boston Red Sox don’t have that much between themselves and the Toronto Blue Jays. The 13.5 games that the Red Sox are behind the Blue Jays is pretty much it. Granted that’s a big factor, not to be dismissed; however, the Red Sox have 25 wins in the months of August and September, while the Blue Jays have 31. In that span, the Red Sox won two out of three games against the Blue Jays in Fenway Park, and today marked the second series win, taking two games from Toronto at the Rogers Centre.

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In front of 46 743 screaming Canadians, the Red Sox started Rich Hill on the mound against wily veteran Mark Buehrle. Today’s game was the first start for the lefty 35-year-old Hill, who hasn’t played a full regular season since 2007 for the Chicago Cubs. Buehrle has had a great season, but had been suffering lately from wear and tear on his throwing shoulder, requiring a bump in the rotation dates and a cortisone shot to the plagued area.

At first, it looked like the new Red Sox pitcher was going to have a rocky introduction to the Great White North, as the Blue Jays struck first in the bottom of the second inning. Dioner Navarro smacked a two-run homer to left field that scored Edwin Encarnacion. Ben Revere followed that up with a single that cashed in Kevin Pillar to take a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth inning, Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz led by example, grounding out to first base but forcing a throwing error by Buehrle, who covered first base for the out, which allowed Xander Bogaerts to score. The lead was 3-1.

In the top of the fifth, the Red Sox completed the comeback. Travis Shaw shot a single to left field, which scored Mookie Betts and Bogaerts.

Then came the eighth inning.

Sep 20, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Rich Hill (62) throws against the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth inning at Rogers Centre. Boston defeated Toronto 4-3. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

To that point, both starters had only a couple bad moments but had strong showings, respectively. But the Blue Jays broke down defensively, which was out of character for them considering much has been made about how great that they had been as a team up until that point. With Brett Cecil pitching, Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval reached on a fielding error, as the pitcher couldn’t quite pick up the grounder into his glove. Mark Lowe replaced Cecil and earned a groundout by Rusney Castillo which moved Sandoval to second. Sandy Leon singled to right field to move Sandoval to third. Finally, Jackie Bradley Jr. smashed a sacrifice fly to center field to score Sandoval to take the lead for the first time in the game.

Deven Marrero replaced Sandoval after the frame was over, playing third base for the rest of the game. Noe Ramirez, who relieved Hill in the bottom of the eighth inning, was happy to see Marrero when Chris Colabello grounded out to him to end the threat, as the Blue Jays had the tying run at second base.

Robbie Ross Jr. came into the game in the bottom of the ninth and struck out Blue Jays pinch-hitter Justin Smoak to waste another Blue Jays runner at second base to end the game, 4-3 in favor of the the Red Sox.

Game Notes:

  • The Red Sox were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base. The Blue Jays were 1-for-7 with six men left on base.
  • Shaw misplayed a pickoff attempt by Ramirez to first base, but the error went for not as the Blue Jays did not cash pinch-runner Dalton Pompey in.
  • Bogaerts went 2-for-5 to set his batting average at .322 for the season, much better a number than last season.

Grades:

<b>Rich Hill</b>. STARTING PITCHING . B. . Game Ball

It was Hill’s first MLB win as a starter since 2009. Give the poor guy a hand, here!

Hill went seven innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, no walks, and an amazing 10 strikeouts on a patient and excellent-hitting Blue Jays lineup. Much of his pitches were low, forcing eight groundouts to two flyouts. Out of 107 pitches, 84 of them were for strikes. A great outing for a man in and out of the minors for multiple teams throughout his career.

<b>Robbie Ross Jr.</b>. RELIEF PITCHING . A. . Game Ball

Both Ramirez and Ross gave up a hit, but neither gave up much more than that. Both men struck out a batter and didn’t walk anyone. Ross edged Ramirez for the game ball simply because his inning meant that he had his fourth save of the season. However, both men deserved credit for the bullpen’s overall grade. Nice job!

B. . Game Ball. <b>Travis Shaw</b>. OFFENSE

Shaw went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, making him responsible for half of the team’s offense. Both Bogaerts and

Dustin Pedroia

had two hits, with Bogaerts crossing the plate twice, but Shaw was seeing the ball better at the plate than the others.

As a team, the Red Sox had 10 hits and two walks to five strikeouts. Compared to the 12 strikeouts by the Blue Jays, the Red Sox looked much better and more threatening per inning. Not bad for a team in the American League East cellar against the division leaders. The Red Sox seem to have the Blue Jays’ number, at least in the last two series.

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