The Sox lost the first two games of the series and hoped to avoid a sweep in the Sunday afternoon game. The Sox had Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound vs. Kevin Gausman for the O’s. Not only did ERod pitch well, but the Sox offense broke out and gave him an early lead to work with. The Sox were cruising to an easy victory, but they wouldn’t leave Camden Yards without some drama. In the bottom of the 8th, Barnes threw a pitch up by Machado’s head and the bad blood got started up all over again. Thankfully it didn’t rile the O’s up much and the Sox still easily won. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the O’s come to down in a week or so.
The Sox bats got going as soon as this game got started. The Sox scored 4 runs in the top of the inning when Mookie Betts hit a 3 run homer and then Hanley Ramirez followed it up with a solo home run of his own. Sox 4-0. That is all ERod would end up needing as he looked in control on the mound from the start. While ERod was keeping the O’s off the board, the Sox added another run in the top of the 5th with a solo home run of his own. The Sox were having a dry spell of homers in 2017, but they helped put a dent in those stats by hitting 3 on the afternoon. The Sox scored their 6th and final run of the game in the bottom of the 6th when Benintendi hit an RBI single to score Bogaerts. Sox 6-0. Benintendi had 5 hits in today’s game and looked locked in. Let’s hope that continues as the team heads home.
Rodriguez was done after 6 innings and sitting on a pretty decent lead. His pitching line for the day was 108 pitches, 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 BB and 7 Ks. Other than a few more walks than I would like, it was a pretty gosh darn good outing from ERod. Matt Barnes took the mound in the 7th and pitched a scoreless inning. It was the 8th inning where things got mighty interesting. Barnes was still on the mound and then Machado came to the plate. Barnes threw up and inside and the ball almost hit Machado in the helmet. The ball hit his bat and then came back and hit Machado in the back. Barnes was immediately ejected and Machado was awarded 1st base as a hit batsman. Upon review, the umpires agreed that the ball didn’t hit Machado and he was sent back to the plate. Barnes was still ejected though as it was still considered a pitch with intent.
Joe Kelly came into the game and Machado got his revenge when he hit an RBI double to score Jones. Sox 6-1. Abad came out in the bottom of the 9th and had one of his usual shaky outings. Abad gave up a leadoff double and then an RBI single to Kim. Sox 6-2. When Abad gave up another single, Farrell had to go out and get him. Craig Kimbrel came into the game since it was now unfortunately a save situation. Kimbrel got the final out of the inning to secure the save and the much needed win.
The Orioles come to Fenway for a 4 game series starting on May 1st. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, holds over from this series. I think that Pedroia and Machado want to put it behind them, but I am not sure it’ll just get blown over.
Red Sox Player of the Game: The game had a lot of drama, so the offense of Andrew Benintendi seemed to get lost in the craziness. Benintendi went 5 for 5 in the game with an RBI. He didn’t make an out all afternoon and looked great at the plate.
Red Sox 6 Orioles 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Rodriguez (1-1) LP: Guasman (1-2) SV: Kimbrel (7)
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