Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. relishes clutch hitter role
ALCS MVP Jackie Bradley Jr. showed how clutch he is, on Friday night, as he came up with a game tying run in the eighth inning.
The Boston Red Sox dropped Game 3 of the 2018 World Series Friday night. The game went all the way to the 18th inning, where the Dodgers walked it off, slimming the Red Sox’ lead to 2-1 in the series. The game caused a lot of emotions among Sox fans and was a disappointing loss, as there were times were the Sox could’ve closed it out, in extra innings.
However, a positive to take from this is that Jackie Bradley Jr, yet again, showed his worth on the offensive end. The ALCS MVP, who came up clutch with 9 RBI, against the Astros, hit a game-tying home run to right field in the top of the eighth. This was another two-out hit for Bradley and the Red Sox. It came off of Dodgers elite-closer Kenley Jansen and brought the Sox back into the mix, after a frustrating night at the plate against an impressive performance from Dodgers rookie Walker Bueler.
Bradley’s homer was only Boston’s third hit of the night. After a scoreless ninth inning, the game was propelled into 9 extra innings, leaving both sides to use plenty of their bullpen personnel – which will bare effects on tonight’s Game 4. Even though it wasn’t to be for Boston, as they lost their first road game in the 2018 postseason, they still remain in the lead in the Fall Classic.
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Bradley’s clutch home run shows critics that his outstanding ALCS performance was not a fluke. He is a capable batter, and although not considered among the most elite, has come up when mattered the most for the Red Sox, and that’s what they’ve needed from Bradley.
The athletic center fielder was shortlisted for the AL Gold Glove Award, at his position, on Friday, along with Mike Trout and Adam Engel. Although all are worthy nominees, Bradley’s heroics from the middle of the outfield, this year, should see him win a Gold Glove for, the first time – which is surprising, as he’s thrived there for a long time.
As the Sox now need to win 2 of 4 to claim their ninth world championship, Alex Cora will need to remain excellent in his decision making. One of these decisions for the upcoming two games in Los Angeles is how to manage his outfield. With Andrew Benintendi sitting last night, coming in for just the one at-bat as he pinch hit and struck out, it begs the question as to if Benintendi will come into the starting line up tonight, or will he remain on the bench. In these two pivotal games, it’ll be unlikely that probable AL MVP Mookie Betts and 2018 AL Hank Aaron Award winning J.D. Martinez start out on the bench.
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With Jackie Bradley Jr. as hot as he is from the plate, and the Sox’s best defensive player, you cannot risk leaving him out of the line up. However, this is a good problem to have for Cora, as it highlights the untouchable Red Sox outfield talent. Everyone needs to step up now for the Sox to push on and finish what they’ve started.