One day after scoring fourteen runs against the Indians, the Sox repeated their performance, this time against the formidable force that is Max Scherzer, who entered the game with a sub-3.00 ERA.
What can you say about a day that saw 21 Boston baserunners? The Sox were just plain hitting. Again. Carl Crawford picked up four more hits including two triples--his OPS is up 100 points in the last two games. The Sox received major contributions from call-ups in Josh Reddick (3-for-5 and a lot more comfortable-looking at the plate than when we last saw him in Boston) and Drew Sutton (2-for-5 with a pair of doubles). Jacoby Ellsbury was even playing the part of a three true outcomes player (which he should generally avoid), homering once and walking twice.
Maybe they would've done more if given a chance in the ninth inning, but out came the tarp and away went the game into the record books.
Wait, I know what you can say! Alfredo Aceves should not leave this rotation until he proves incapable of holding down the spot! While Tim Wakefield is, as always, a coin flip, Alfredo Aceves seems to be just plain solid. Actually, he was better than that. Once again he went out and threw a reasonable number of innings on a reasonable pitch count (six innings, 98 pitches), holding the opposition to just a lone run.
Were there occasional bouts of wildness? Yes, definitely. I don't think Aceves will ever be the sort of guy to go out there and dominate lineups on any sort of a regular basis, but right now he looks to be a dependable guy to go out there and give the team six innings while keeping them in the game. And that's what they need right now.
Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, we're tied for first place inthe American League East, percentage points be damned!