The Red Sox Sweep Detroit and Finally Look Like a Real Baseball Team
The Red Sox are heading back to Boston after capping off a three-game demolition of the Detroit Tigers with a 4-0 shutout on Wednesday night.
Final Score: Red Sox 4, Tigers 0. Boston improves to a 16-21 record and somehow, someway, sit 1.5 games back of a playoff position. Despite striking out 15 times and leaving eight runners on base, using both Greg Weissert and Zack Kelly, Boston is tied for the major league lead with five shutouts on the season.
Sonny Gray Shines off the IL
Sonny Gray came back in the minimum time required from the IL after a hamstring tweak on April 20. Of course, the injury occurred against these same Tigers because that’s how the baseball gods work. Gray threw five scoreless innings on just 70 pitches. Interim manager Chad Tracy said pregame Gray would be on a pitch count, he threw three simulated innings at Fenway over the weekend and did not have a rehab start in Worcester.
Four hits, two walks, two strikeouts and stranded five Tigers, including a bases loaded jam saved by a Wilyer Abreu web gem. Efficient, composed, and while we’re yet to see the strikeouts, this is the version of Gray Craig Breslow traded for. He didn’t light up the radar gun, but he attacked the zone, induced weak contact, and ended his night in line for his eventual win.
Kelly and Weissert… Didn’t Implode???
After Gray exited the contest, the relievers (Tyler Samaniego, Zack Kelly and Greg Weissert) shut the door for four more scoreless innings. Samaniego continues to impress us all this season. He threw two shutout innings after Gray, and still owns a career 0.00 ERA over 13 innings with 11 strikeouts. The only drama coming from Kelly doing his absolute best to make this game interesting. Two walks, two strikeouts from “the Sack” and an incredible grab by—again—Wilyer Abreu. 44% strikes on 25 pitches, somehow a zero on the scoreboard. Weissert didn’t inherit any baserunners and shut the door on only 11 pitches. In a year where late innings not headlined by Aroldis Chapman often feel like open mic night for opposing hitters, this was a revelation.
Put the Ball in Play, Good Things Happen
Offensively, the Sox didn’t need fireworks. They manufactured four runs on four hits with seven walks, with a ton of help from Detroit’s corner infielders. In the third, on a 3-2 count Caleb Durbin hit a weak foul pop-up to first baseman Spencer Torkelson. He couldn’t rein it in near the Red Sox dugout and the next pitch Durbin lined a two-run double down the left field line scoring Marcelo Mayer and Carlos Narvaez. In the fourth Masataka Yoshida singled, Ceddanne Rafaela walked, and Carlos Narvaez grounded one to third. Enter Colt Keith who let the ground ball through his five-hole, scoring two more. Small ball with a small amount of opponent self-destruction. The Red Sox won a nine-inning game where they struck out 15+ times and had four or less hits for the third time in franchise hitstory. We will take it. After a game like this it almost makes you believe this lineup can actually sustain something for more than six innings a week.
Series Recap
Monday’s opener was all about Payton Tolle, Boston’s top prospect and No. 8 nationally. We knew he’s capable of throwing like an ace at Fenway Park, but replicating that 80-grade fastball on the road was yet to be seen. The piglet dominated seven innings with eight strikeouts and only one hit. Jarren Duran hit his third home run in four days, and Marcelo Mayer added an RBI on in a multi-hit performance.
Tuesday was the highlight of this series sweep. A 10-3 laugher you already know about if you read last night’s digest. Ceddanne Rafaela went full superhero—three-run homer in the first, four RBIs total, three hits, elite defense. Brayan Bello the relief pitcher came in after a horrendous opening inning by Jovani Morán. Seven brilliant innings of one run ball that he will not get enough credit for. He still stinks. The third inning was pure comedy: five runs on a parade of RBI singles and Tigers mistakes. Then back-to-back homers from Contreras and Abreu in the fourth because why not? Framber—bitch boy—Valdez got ejected after drilling Trevor Story. Detroit looked broken. Boston, dare I say… alive?
Three games. Three different ways to win. Starting pitching threw 19 innings, giving up one earned run (0.47 ERA). The bullpen held firm for a change. The defense is on a foreign level, four errors in their last 21 games and hold the number one position in nearly every standard, and advanced metric nerds care about (I am nerd). The offense mixed in power with Duran, Rafaela, Contreras and Abreu all going deep. It was the complete package—the kind of baseball this team has teased us with in flashes but rarely strung together for any significant stretch.
So here’s the big question: Did we just beat a bad team? Or did we make a good team look bad?
This Weekends Menu: Marlin
Now the real test starts tonight: a four-game set against the Miami Marlins. Winners of their last six, 24-12 on the season and undefeated against the AL East. Projections had them near the bottom of the American League again, yet those projections also had the Red Sox scoring with bases loaded and no outs. This is the series Boston must dominate if they want to climb out of irrelevance within the division. Last year, Boston swept this series, capping off a 10 game win-streak into the All-Star break.
The outlook? Cautiously optimistic, with emphasis on “cautiously.” The rotation gets a breather with some favorable matchups. Well, actually as of 9:15 Thursday morning the Sox are slated to face “TBD” in three of four games. Griffin Jax—yes, the relief pitcher turned starter because it’s Tampa—will face Jake Bennett tonight. Bennett set the standard high in his MLB debut versus Houston. Can he produce another quality outing? Find out tonight at 7:10 pm, only on NESN, where if you’re into technical difficulties every inning, this is the place for you. Now bring on the juggernaut Marlins. Time to see if this winning version of the Red Sox sticks around for a while.