The Red Sox Pre-Cap Podcast: Recapping the Nationals, Previewing the Yankees

Welcome back to another episode of The Pre-Cap Podcast, your spot on the OTM Podcast Network to hear the latest from every series as well as a preview of whatever is next on the Red Sox docket. In today’s show, we look back on the last regular season series against the Nationals and ahead to the Wild Card game against the New York Yankees.

After losing the Baltimore series, the Red Sox found themselves in as precarious situation in the AL Wild Card race. The New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and Seattle Mariners had a chance to make it to postseason.

In the first game of the weekend, Eduardo Rodriguez pitched well. He went five innings and struck out six while walking three batters. Honestly, this is one of the better versions of E-Rod we have seen recently. Hunter Renfroe was the key bat in this game as he hit a three-run bomb in the sixth. The bullpen was able to lock it down and the Sox took the first game.

In the second game, we saw two young starting pitchers face-off: Josiah Gray versus Tanner Houck. This was a great game to watch and, honestly, this was the best game from Tanner Houck. He finally went five innings but also had eight punch outs with zero walks while retiring all 15 batters he faced. Such an excellent (and clutch) performance. Enrique Hernández was the clutch bat in this game as he went 2-4 with two RBI. The Sox took the second game 5-3.

The final game on Sunday was not for the weak. We had to win this game if we wanted to eliminate the possibility of a three (or four) way tie for the AL Wild Card. Chris Sale started the game and...was not sharp. He had the strikeouts but you could really see that he was not the Chris Sale we were hoping to see; the breaking pitches just didn’t have the same crispness. Sawamura followed and shut down some key spots before Garrett Richards came in. Richards gave all of Red Sox nation heart burn in his inning of work. He gave up three earned runs in his inning of work. At that point, things looked grim.

That was until Rafael Devers entered the chat.

Devers is such a clutch hitter. In his second home run on the day, he smashes a two-run bomb off Kyle Finnegan in the ninth inning to but the Sox on top for good.

The Red Sox sweep the Nationals and look towards a Wild Card matchup against the Yankees.

Let’s. Go.

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