The Red Sox came off being swept by the Os and using their whole bullpen in a back breaking 17 inning loss. Felix Doubront was taking the mound for the Sox and they need a win and for him to go long into the game. Doubront has been pretty impressive this year, however his main achilles heel has been not going long into games.
This outing, Doubront did just what the team needed of him. Doubront didn’t have the best defense behind him so he had to work harder and throw more pitches than he should have. He gutted through and got outs. Moustakas hit a double in the 2nd on a ball that was very catchable by Byrd. Will Middlebrooks also had a throwing error in the 3rd that ended up turning into runs. Finally, in the 7th it seemed like Doubront was a little bit gassed, but trying to get through the inning. Doubront ended up walking in a run when he walked Gordon. However, the pitch tracker clearly shows that Doubront struck Gordon out before the ump walked him. Given all of that, Doubront didn’t let it get to him and just kept pitching. His pitching line was 6.1 IP, 111 pitches, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. While it may not qualify as a quality start in the stats book, it had a lot of quality to it.
When Doubront left the game we were clinging to a 2 run lead and the bases were loaded. Vicente Padilla took the mound. Padilla had thrown quite a few pitches the night before and well, I was worried. Padilla got Butler to ground into a double play and the inning was over. Padilla went on to pitch the 8th and 9th as well. That was one heck of an outing for Padilla and the Sox since the bullpen was taxed and tired. Padilla got the save and that is just what he did.
The Red Sox offense also had something going on. They got on the board early and often. Gonzalez who went 0 for 8 the night before got an RBI in the first inning. Sox lead 1-0. That was followed by a 3 run HR from Will Middlebrooks. The ball looked like it was going to go foul, but it stayed fair. Nice. Sox 4-0. In the 3rd, David Ortiz hit a solo HR. Sox 5-2. In the 4th, Kelly Shoppach hits his first triple OF HIS CAREER. He trucked himself all the way over to third on a ball that Alex Gordon probably should have caught. That was followed by a 2 run HR from Dustin Pedroia. Sox 7-4. In the 8th, the Sox put the game on ice. David Ortiz had been IBB twice in the game so that Royals pitching could face Cody Ross instead. This time, Ross made them pay with a 2 run RBI double. Sox 9-5. Will Middlebrooks followed that with his SECOND HOME RUN OF THE NIGHT. Sox 11-5.
Will Middlebrooks y’all. He seems to be quite the real deal. He hit 2 HRs and a double last night. Since being called up, Middlebrooks is batting .381, has hit 3 HRs and has 9 RBIs on the season. It’s a smal sample size, however it is an incredibly encouraging small sample size. In comparison on the season, Dustin Pedroia has 11 RBIs in 28 games played. All I know is that I am loving watching Middlebrooks play.
Photo Credit: Ed Zurga/Getty Images
Red Sox 11 Royals 5 BOXSCORE
WP: Doubront (2-1) LP: Sanchez (1-2) SV: Padilla (1)
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