Red Sox 7, Diamondbacks 2: Back on Track

The West Coast is decidedly not the best coast. Not only do the games start way too late, but they also have terrible broadcast angles. San Diego, Anaheim, and now Arizona each have off-centered angles that really don’t do pitches justice. Get me back to Fenway where I have a centered camera and a reasonable start time. I digress.

Now that I’ve got the geography and game presentation complaints out of the way, I’ll give the Red Sox some praise. A wire-to-wire win to get off the losing streak is a great way to snap the losing streak. It’s especially great to see the offense get back on track, grinding out at-bats and knocking Brandon Pfaadt out of the game in the fourth inning. When they’re seeing pitches like they’re able to, it can be a really long night for opposing pitchers.

The pitching was solid, the bats were hot, the D’Backs had some cool uniforms, and we start the series with a win. Whitlock on the mound tomorrow, let’s keep it rolling.

P.S. Dave O’Brien said that Nick Ahmed played his high school ball at “East Meadow”. As someone from the normal Longmeadow, I’m glad to hear that even Dave O’Brien doesn’t respect East Longmeadow enough to properly identify them. Go Lancers.

Three Studs

Chris Sale (5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K)

Nothing too crazy from Sale tonight, but five solid innings and just one run. He worked around trouble when he needed to and limited damage. He’s not the Sale of 2018, but he’s still good for a few at-bats a night where he absolutely dominates and man is that fun to watch.

Triston Casas (3-5, 2 2B, 1 RBI)

He’s starting to find it, y’all. Over the Monster is actually just a Triston Casas fan page, so this is very exciting for us. Ignore the sub-200 average, he’s being more aggressive at the plate and hitting the ball on the screws over the past few weeks. He also narrowly missed a home run tonight.

Connor Wong (2-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI)

Hard to pick just two guys from the lineup, but I’ll give a nod to Connor Wong. His second-inning double drove in a run to give the Sox a little cushion and keep the rally going. What really caught my eye though was his eighth-inning, two-out hustle double with a five-run lead. It turned into an extra run and really represents what’s so fun about this Red Sox team.

Three Duds

Masataka Yoshida (0-5, 3 K)

Yoshida has just looked a bit out of sync on the road trip with a lot of uncharacteristic strikeouts. Maybe being on the West Coast has something to do with it? Too much In-N-Out? I’ll give him a pass for now.

Enmanuel Valdez (0-5)

No hits for Valdez tonight, but he did smoke a ball directly at the centerfielder. That’s baseball, Susyn.

Over the Monster Management

How dare the Over the Monster management demand I choose three duds? Everyone else in the lineup had a hit, nobody made an error, and the pitching was nearly flawless. I’m standing up to the oppression and rampant negativity by putting the OTM brass in the dud section. Plus, by the time they read this, I’ll have stowed away to the Caiman Islands with the Over the Monster fortune. Kinda like Ben Affleck in The Town, but way more successful and much better looking.

Play of the Game

Nothing incredibly incredible happened tonight, so we’ll give it to Kiké for his fourth-inning home run. Always nice to see Kiké swing it well.