Red Sox do damage in Houston with win

The Red Sox bats came to the Lone Star State ready to play. They hit McHugh early and often. By the end they would rack up 15 hits. Stephen Wright was sharp and steady and lowered his ERA to a jaw-dropping 1.40.

Boston got the hit parade started right away. In the first inning Mookie Betts set the tone with a triple, though he got a little lucky that the throw to third wasn’t great. Dustin Pedroia singled to bring home Mookie. This should not come as a surprise since Pedroia has the best batting average against the Astros of anyone in MLB. A sacrifice fly by Hanley Ramirez scored Pedroia and put the Sox up 2-0. HcHugh’s cutter just wasn’t doing it for him tonight.

The Sox got one run in each inning from the second to the fourth. In the second, Mookie Betts hit a double that not only scored Jackie Bradley Jr., it broke a panel in the outfield scoreboard. Texas native Brock Holt hit an RBI single in the third inning, much to the delight of his family members wearing “Brock Star” t-shirts in the stands. In the fourth, Xander Bogaerts hit an RBI double to score Mookie.

The first time the Sox went a whole inning without a hit was the seventh. They went down one-two-three in the eighth as well. In the ninth, the Sox tacked on another run. Mookie Betts hit his second triple of the night and scored when the ball got away from Astros catcher Erik Kratz. Betts is the youngest player to get multiple triples in a game since Dewey Evans in 1974.

Steven Wright made it 6.2 innings. He looked sharp until he started to lose control in the bottom of the seventh. His knuckle ball was nearly untouchable at the start of the game. He finished with 116 pitches, four hits, one earned run, and six strike outs.

Heath Hembree finished off the seventh inning by striking out George Springer. In the eighth he got back-to-back strike outs, gave up a run, and got a fly-out to right field. Robbie Ross Jr. got two outs and gave up a run in the ninth before being replaced by Craig Kimbrel.

Game Notes

• Stephen Curry was in Houston watching the game and cheering on the Sox.
• Mookie Betts was a home run short of the cycle. Last season, Brock Holt was the most recent Red Sox player to do it.
• Going into tonight’s game the Astros had the second most strike outs in MLB.
• Before the game, the Astros honored David Ortiz by presenting him with a black Stetson hat.
• Scary moment when Xander was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game.