The Sox welcomed the World Champion Chicago Cubs into Fenway Park on Friday night. The Sox have been scuffling to score runs, but they would give Drew Pomeranz all the runs the team would need when they scored 5 runs in the first inning. The Cubs would try to battle back and sure made the game close, but in the end the Sox would still come away with the win.
The Sox bats couldn’t get anything going against the Yankees, but they exploded in the first inning against the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta. The Cubs got on the board first when Kris Bryant hit a solo home run against Pomeranz. The Sox tied that up in the bottom of the 1st when Andrew Benintendi hit a solo home run of his own. They didn’t stop there though and scored 4 more times in the inning. Hanley Ramirez hit an RBI single to score Betts, Mitch Moreland hit an RBI double to score Ramirez and then Bradley Jr and Vazquez both hit RBI singles to have the Sox up 5-1.
The Cubs got one of those runs back in the top of the 3rd when Almora Jr. hit a solo home run to lead off the inning. Sox 5-2. Pomeranz pitched through 6 innings and the Sox looked like they were cruising to victory. However when the bullpen took over things started to get complicated. Robby Scott came out for the 7th and with one out he was pulled in favor of Joe Kelly. Kelly had some troubles on the mound and it would end up meaning that two runs scored. Kelly threw a wild pitch and Almora Jr scored from third and then he gave up an RBI single to Zobrist to have the Cubs within a run. Sox 5-4. Heath Hembree came out for the 8th inning, but when he gave up back to back singles he was pulled in favor of Fernando Abad. Abad has struggled since putting on a Sox uniform, but he did his job last night. Abad got 2 strikeouts to end the inning and not let the Cubs rally to tie or take the lead. The 9th inning would belong to Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel got two quick strikeouts, but then he gave up a double to Zobrist to keep the game alive for the Cubs. Thankfully for the Sox, Kimbrel finished off the game with a 3rd strikeout for the save and the win.
Red Sox 5 Cubs 4 BOXSCORE
WP: Pomeranz (2-1) LP: Arrieta (3-1) SV: Kimbrel (8)
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