FanPost

Sale's Return Ruined by Defensive Ineptitude in Chaotic Sixth

July 12

Before the game even starts, there’s a boost for the Sox, both in morale and in personnel: Chris Sale is slated to make his season debut tonight against Kluber. Sale has recovered from the injury suffered during the lockout. In this division in particular, having Sale back should do the Sox wonders. He last pitched in the ALCS. Paredes leads off the bottom of the fourth with a double to left, only the third hit Sale has allowed on 59 pitches to this point. Paredes moves to third on a groundout before a fly out strands him and bails out Sale. Red Sox Nation holds its collective breath in the top of the fifth: Story is hit on the hand by a pitch and has to be taken out in favor of Jeter Downs. X-rays would be negative, so a disastrous injury appears to have been avoided. Story did swing at the pitch, so it is a strike and he is not awarded first base, but Downs singles to left-center on the next pitch to put runners at the corners with one out for Cordero, whose groundout scores Verdugo and finally gets the scoring started at 1-0 Boston. Downs goes to second on the play and scores three pitches later on a triple to left-center by Dalbec to make it 2-0. Phillips tried to make a spectacular catch akin to the one he had last night, but he overran (or overslid) the ball this time, allowing the run to cross and the inning to continue. A groundout ends the inning. Sale’s outing finishes after five, and it is as good as anyone could hope: no runs on three hits, while stranding four, and issuing no walks and striking out five. Brasier, on the other hand, is not as lucky.

The Rays put two on with one out in the bottom of the sixth. After Cora goes back to the bullpen, a two-out single to center by Mejía scores Ramirez and breaks the shutout to make it 2-1. Then chaos unfolds. Pitcher Matt Strahm is hit by a line drive. He throws the ball to first to end the inning but misses, thereby allowing Paredes to score and tie the game at 2-2. With Strahm on the ground, the throw to the plate also misses by a lot, so Mejía scores as well as it becomes 3-2 Tampa Bay. While all of this is happening, the batter, Taylor Walls, moves up to second on the error. This is ruled a single with two errors, one on Strahm and one on Cordero. So instead of a quick inning, we have anything but. Another thing the Sox wanted anything but is another injury: Strahm is removed with an injury to his pitching (left) hand suffered on the play. This is revealed to be a left wrist contusion. Sale, despite his remarkable debut, will not be a factor in the outcome of the game anymore and therefore gets a no-decision. A strikeout by Ort ends the inning at last. No game is ever normal at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Verdugo leads off the top of the seventh with a double to the left-field corner. A single to left by Downs puts runners at the corners, but Verdugo is picked off at third by the catcher for the first out of the inning. Boston's misfortunes seem to be bountiful at the Trop tonight! The Sox put two on with two out later in the inning, but a pop out strands them. The Sox fall, 3-2, but they have no one to blame but themselves for their sloppy sixth inning.