The Red Sox had rookie Rubby De La Rosa on the mound, but they also had the excitement and energy of the return of Shane Victorino from the DL. Victorino was activated earlier in the day and Mookie Betts was optioned back to Pawtucket as the corresponding move. De La Rosa pitching 7 strong innings and a towering moon shot of a HR put the Sox ahead by a measly run. The Sox had another game decided by a single run, but I will admit I find that statistic slightly less annoying and troubling when the Sox win those one run games.
The game started with Jackie Bradley Jr flashing both his glove and his smarts out in center field. De La Rosa walked the first batter of the game and then when Infante lined out to center, Bradley deked the runner at first to think he lost the ball in the sky, caught it for the out and then made a bullet of a throw to double off Dyson trying to get back to 1st base. Well played JBJ, well played! The Royals were able to scrap a solo run from De La Rosa in the 3rd inning when Dyson hit a leadoff triple and then Infante hit a sac fly to score him from 3rd. Sox 0-1.
The Sox were able to get that run back and tie the game in the bottom of the 4th. Victorino hit a ball to the shortstop that should have been handled, however it ended up in the outfield and Napoli was able to hustle home from 2nd base. Game tied 1-1. The game remained tied until the 6th inning when Mike Napoli stepped to the plate. Duffy threw Napoli a letters high fastball and he just crushed it. The ball went over the Monster and well across the street. It reminded me of the balls that Napoli would just crush against us at Fenway when he was with the Rangers. Sox 2-1. De La Rosa was done after 7 innings of work and now in line for the win. His pitching line was 104 pitches, 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 4 BB and 2 Ks. The walks were high and the strikeouts were low, but he still have a pretty stellar performance. The Sox bullpen took care of the rest. Andrew Miller pitched himself a nice 1-2-3 8th inning with a K to boot. If the Sox end up trading Andrew Miller, I am going to be an unhappy camper. Koji Uehara came out in hopes of getting back to back saves. Koji also had himself a quick 1-2-3 inning on way to the team win and his 20th save of the season.
Red Sox 2 Royals 1 BOXSCORE
WP: De La Rosa (3-2) LP: Duffy (5-10) SV: Uehara (20)
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