Red Sox 7, Oakland 3: Taking Care of Business

I’m writing this at about 6:45 PM to have it on the record. The Red Sox just played two great games and took two of three from the Rangers. That means that they’ll likely lose tonight and tomorrow to Oakland because that’s who these Red Sox are. I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m right, the entire recap will be about how right I was. See you in a few hours.

Welcome back. It’s now 9:30 PM and the Red Sox won. I was wrong.

That game kind of felt like a dream. It ended in about two and a half hours. The Red Sox had an early lead with a five running inning and then sorta just coasted to the end. Most of the game felt like a foregone conclusion. The Red Sox were up five, it was a sure win. Nick Pivetta was mowing hitters down, there was nothing to worry about.

Then, Jarren Duran botched a fly ball, and Seth Brown hit a home run. All of a sudden, it was a two run game. A month ago, the Red Sox might melt down, score no runs, and wind up losing to the 25-win Oakland A’s. A month from now, they might revert back to that form. At least for this week, the Red Sox are playing good baseball and answered with a couple runs in bottom half of the inning to keep at a comfortable margin. Not much else to say. Kind of a boring Friday night game that would have been more enjoyable after some hallucinogens or several domestics.

Three Studs

Nick Pivetta (5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 8 K, 1 BB)

Pivetta continues to be a stud out of the bullpen and I can’t quite figure out why. He’s using his pitches the same way, but they’re more effective for some reason. His velocity isn’t even that much higher out of the pen. Maybe he’s just pissed off that he isn’t starting.

Adam Duvall (1-4, 3 Ks, RBI)

Duvall was trending towards dud with three strikeouts in his first three at-bats, but legged out an infield single in the seventh to get a run home and extend the inning. Duvall hasn’t been great since returning from injuries, but his work on the basepaths the last few night has been key in the wins.

Jarren Duran (2-4, 3B, RBI)

That was the easiest triple I’ve ever seen. It was awesome.

Three Duds

Anthony Rizzo (0-3)

No hits against his former team? Oof.

Josh Donaldson (0-3)

Really hard to see Donaldson struggle, he’s such an easy guy to root for.

Aaron Judge (DNP, stubbed his toe)

His foot may take years to heal. YEARS.

Play of the Game

By WPA, Yu Chang’s second inning single was the most effective play. That wasn’t very exciting though, so here’s another Ceddane Rafaela home run.