Last night the Sox had Felix Doubront on the mound, but not for long. Doubront struggled and didn’t last through the 3rd inning. The Sox got down early and while they battled back, it would be too little too late and they’d fall to the Rangers.
Doubront pitched two scoreless innings to start the game, but the 3rd inning would be his undoing. Dubi gave up a leadoff HR to Chirinos to start the inning. Dubi gave up an RBI double to Fielder, an RBI single to Beltre, an RBI double to Murphy and then walked in a run to put an end to his outing. Sox 0-5. Burke Badenhop come into the game and got the final out of the 3rd. Doubront’s pitching line for the night was 59 pitches, 2.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 BB and 2 Ks. Dubi seemed very frustrated with the umpire’s strike zone in his short outing. This was Doubront’s shortest career start and hopefully is just a blip in the radar and not a sign of more to come.
In the 4th, Badenhop allowed runs to score on his own. He gave up an RBI single to Fielder, an RBI double to Beltre and then an RBI sac fly to Murphy. Sox 0-8. In the bottom of the inning the Sox finally cracked the scoreboard when Mike Napoli hit an RBI single to score Pedey. Sox 1-8. Unfornately the pitching gave that run right back in the 5th inning when Badenhop gave up an RBI double to Choo. Sox 1-9.
Brandon Workman came into the game in what is probably his last outing before being sent down to Pawtucket when Craig Breslow comes off the DL. Workman hunkered down and pitched three scoreless innings before giving up a sac fly in the 9th. If Workman is sent down, I’ll sure be sad to see him go. In the 7th inning the Sox bats added a couple more runs to the scoreboard. AJ Pierzynski hit an RBI infield single and then Jackie Bradley Jr hit a 2 run RBI double. Sox 4-9. In the top of the 9th the Rangers got one of those runs back when Choice hit an RBI sac fly. Sox 4-10. The Sox had a rally in the bottom of the 9th, but with 6 runs to make up, they fell short. Jonny Gomes hit an RBI single to score Pierzynski and then Ortiz hit a 2 run RBI double to have the Sox within 3 runs. The game ended when Napoli struck out on the plate, but I did appreciate the continued battle in the 9th.
The result of this game is clearly not what the Sox would like to see, but I do think there are positives here. The start was poor and Badenhop wasn’t stellar either, but the relief pitching from Workman was a pretty positive aspect. I look forward to when he is called back up sometime this season. The offense also had some positives. The Sox bats had 14 hits on the night and scored 7 runs. Napoli was 3 for 5, Sizemore went 3 for 4, Pierzynski went 3 for 4 and then Jackie Bradley Jr went 2 for 4. The offense was clicking and if it wasn’t for the poor starting pitching performance, the Sox could have easily won this game. So, I’ll take those silver linings.
Red Sox 7 Rangers 10 BOXSCORE
WP: Perez (1-0) LP: Doubront (0-1)
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