Sox Face Off With Cardinals and Take First Game of Mini Series

The Sox are in St. Louis for a mini 2 game series with the Cardinals before heading out west for a series with the As.  The Sox had Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound vs. Lance Lynn for the Cards.   ERod pitched a decent game and the Sox offense picked him up when he faltered.   The Sox were able to go into the 9th with a 3 run lead and with Kimbrel on the mound, that is basically a done deal.

The Sox got on the board with their first at bat.  Mookie Betts is enjoying life in lead off and hit a solo home run to start the game.   The Sox added another run in the 2nd when Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a solo home run of his own.  Sox 2-0.  Rodriguez was cruising along until he hit the opposing pitcher Lynn  in the 3rd inning.  I don’t know if it frazzled him or not, but he found a good deal of trouble after that.  Rodriguez allowed the Cardinals to score 3 runs in the inning and take the lead.  He gave up an RBI double to Fowler, an RBI sac fly to Pham and then another RBI sac fly to Carpenter.  Sox 2-3.  It didn’t take long for the Sox bats to get the lead back for ERod though.  The Sox scored two times in the top of the 5th to get the lead for good.  Betts hit an RBI groundout to tie the game and then Pedroia hit an RBI single to take the lead.  Sox 4-3.

Rodriguez pitched through 6 innings and left the game in line for the win.  His pitching line was 110 pitches, 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB and 5Ks.  Robby Scott came out and pitched a scoreless 7th inning and then the Sox offense got going again in the top of the 8th.  Vazquez hit an RBI sac fly and then Bradley was safe at first by way of a fielding error in left field which allowed Benintendi to score.   Moreland tried to make it home as well, but he was tagged out at the plate.   Sox 6-3.  Heath Hembree pitched a scoreless 8th inning before handing the ball over to Kimbrel in the 9th.  Kimbrel pitched an easy 1-2-3 inning and the Sox cruised to victory.

Red Sox 6  Cardinals 3  BOXSCORE

WP: Rodriguez (2-1)  LP: Lynn (4-2)  SV: Kimbrel (12)

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