The Red Sox came into the 2nd game of the season and this time they had their shiny new toy on the mound, Chris Sale. Sale got a standing ovation before he even threw a single pitch. Sale pitched 7 strong innings, but he left the mound with a no decision since the Sox bats were as cold as the chilly April weather.
Sale looked like the guy we hoped he would be in his 7 innings of work. Sale never allowed a Pirates runner to get beyond 2nd base. Sale’s pitching line for the night was 104 pitches, 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB and 7 Ks. Not too shabby. Sale left the mound the same way he took to it, with a standing ovation. Matt Barnes came out and pitched a scoreless 8th before handing the ball over to Craig Kimbrel in the 9th. Kimbrel finished off the 9th and when the Sox offense couldn’t score in the bottom of the 9th, the Sox were off to extra innings.
Heath Hembree came out for the first two outs of the 10th before Robby Scott came out to get the 3rd out of the inning. Joe Kelly came out and pitched two scoreless innings as the Sox and Pirates both seemed unwilling to score a run and get this game in the books. The Sox offense finally woke up in the bottom of the 12th when Jackie Bradley Jr walked, he stole 2nd, Pablo Sandoval walked as well and then Sandy Leon came to the plate. Sandy finally put the game to bed when he hit a no doubt home run to the seats in the Monster for a 3 run homer. Sandy rounded the bases and the team celebrated a walk off win in Game 2 of the season.
Sox Player of the Game: Sandy Leon. For obvious reasons. He didn’t have a great night at the plate and ran through a stop sign at 3rd base earlier in the game, but all is forgiven when you knock in a walk off homer.
Red Sox 3 Pirates 0 F/12 BOXSCORE
WP: Kelly (1-0) LP: Bastardo (0-1)
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