Not many were predicting that the Sox would do well in this 3 game series with the Rangers. The Sox have been slumping and the Rangers just had a 10 game winning streak earlier in the month. However that is why we play the games. The Sox won the first two games of the series and then looked to complete the sweep last night with Drew Pomeranz on the mound vs. Nick Martinez for the Rangers. The game started after a mini delay due to the rain, but then both teams played through rain throughout the night. Pomeranz pitched like a man possessed and ended up going 6 strong innings and striking out 11 batters. The Sox bats showed up as well en route to an easy win.
The Sox jumped out to an early lead when the Sox scored two runs in the bottom of the 1st. Benintendi and Moreland both hit RBI singles to have the Sox up 2-0. The Sox got another two runs in the 3rd inning when Xander Bogaerts hit a 2 run homer. This was his first home run of the season and he looked like he was floating around the bases. Sox 4-0. Pomeranz gave up his first run in the top of the 4th when he gave up a solo home run to Andrus. Sox 4-1. The Rangers added another run in the top of the 6th when Pomeranz gave up an RBI single to Mazara. Sox 4-2. Pomeranz was done after 6 innings and it was one of his best pitching performances in a Sox uni. His pitching line was 96 pitches, 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB and 11 Ks.
Heath Hembree came out for the 7th inning. He got two strikeouts before being lifted in favor of Robby Scott. Scott got a strikeout to end the inning, so collectively they struck out the side. Matt Barnes came out and pitched a scoreless 8th inning before the Sox offense tacked on some more runs in the bottom of the inning. Deven Marrero hit a 2 run homer to put the Sox up 6-2. Craig Kimbrel hadn’t pitched in a while, so he came into the game even though it was no longer a save situation. Kimbrel ended up striking out 4 batters during his one inning of work. Kimbrel struck out Mazara to start the inning, but Mazara ended up reaching first by way of a wild pitch. Kimbrel didn’t let that frazzle him as he proceeded to strike out the next three batters to win the game with ease.
Red Sox 6 Rangers 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Pomeranz (4-3) LP: Martinez (1-3)
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