The Red Sox came into Sunday’s game tied in the series with the Cubs. If the Sox were going to have any chance to take the series then they would need a stellar performance from Eduardo Rodriguez. ERod did his job and with a 2 run homer from Hanley, he left the mound in line for the win. The bullpen would end up letting ERod down and allowing the Cubs to tie the game, but the Sox came back and scored 4 runs in the 8th to put the game away for good.
The Sox went out to an early lead when Hanley Ramirez hit a 2 run homer to the Monster off of Kyle Hendricks. Sox 2-0. That would end up being the only action in the game until the top of the 5th inning when Rodriguez gave up a solo home run to Kris Bryant. Sox 2-1. Eduardo Rodriguez pitched well, but his pitch count was at 108 at the end of the 6th inning, so that would spell the end of his evening. His pitching line for the game was 108 pitches, 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB and 9 Ks. Joe Kelly came in for the 7th inning and the Cubs would end up capitalizing on some lack of focus. Kelly issued two walks and then on a wild pitch that Vazquez lost to the back stop, Jay was able to come in to score from 2nd base.
Matt Barnes who was fresh off his 4 game suspension came into the game for the 8th inning. Barnes had himself a nice 1-2-3 inning before the Sox offense got cooking again in the bottom of the inning. Old friend Koji Uehara took to the mound and ended up allowing three singles to load the bases with no outs. Koji was out of the game and the Sox returned the favor by scoring the go ahead run on a wild pitch from Strop. Sox 3-2. The Sox then added three more runs on a Moreland RBI groundout and then 2 runs scored on a throwing error from the Cubs shortstop. This game seemed like the exact opposite of the game from the day before as the Sox were capitalizing on errors from the Cubs. Craig Kimbrel came out for the 9th even though it was no longer a save situation. Kimbrel had a nice and easy 1-2-3 inning to get the win and take the series.
Red Sox Player of the Game: Hanley Ramirez. His bat seems to be heating up and the team couldn’t need it more. He hit 2 no doubt home runs in this series and I hope to see much more to come.
Red Sox 6 Cubs 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Barnes (3-0) LP: Uehara (0-2)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
