Post by Employee8 on Aug 19, 2016 22:32:48 GMT -5
AP Photo
Red Sox bats come alive, hammer Tigers
Jason Mastrodonato Friday, August 19, 2016
DETROIT — Lost in the clouds with enough hang time for David Ortiz to reach first base before it landed, his 28th homer of the season marked the beginning of another slaughter by the Red Sox offense Friday night.
Ortiz’ two-run bomb was followed by another two-run shot by Jackie Bradley Jr. later in the first inning as the Red Sox made Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer look like anything but the American League Rookie of the Year, an award he might end up winning.
Fulmer, who entered the game with a 2.25 ERA, was handed his worst career start by a Red Sox offense that has once again come to life, as they so clearly displayed during a 10-2 win over the Tigers.
With two more homers, the Sox have now clubbed 18 long balls in their last eight games.
This was a team that had been scoring just 3.7 runs per game over their first 13 games in August. With the offense dried up, it didn’t matter that the starting rotation had begun submitting reliable outings night after night, like Rick Porcello did again Friday night in Detroit. The Sox won just six of those 13 games.
But the offense now is as potent as its been since a record-setting homestand in May. With 10 runs last night, the Red Sox have touched home plate 60 times in their last eight games (7.5 runs per game) while going 7-1 in that span.
Their recent surge has put them just a half-game behind the Blue Jays in the East and a half-game up on the Orioles in the Wild Card standings.
They have knocked around talented starting pitchers like Patrick Corbin, Zack Greinke, Josh Tomlin, Dylan Bundy and Fulmer, who allowed six runs on 10 hits in 52⁄3 innings Friday night.
With a man on first base, Fulmer pitched around Ortiz with five pitches and held a 2-2 count when he challenged the 40-year-old with a 95-mph heater up and in. Ortiz clobbered the pitch with a sky-high bomb over the right field wall.
Two batters later, with Hanley Ramirez on first base, Bradley cranked another one to right field. Bradley has been as integral as anybody in the Sox’ recent hot streak, having homered four times in the five games. He has 21 dingers on the year.
Handed a 4-0 lead to start the game, Porcello responded with a nine-pitch first inning against his former club.
Porcello hadn’t pitched at Comerica Park since the last time he was a member of the Tigers during the 2014 season, and aside from one bad pitch to J.D. Martinez — a sinker left over the plate that Martinez crushed for a two-run shot in the second inning — Porcello was nearly flawless.
He needed 105 pitches to work through seven innings, allowing just the two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out eight.
Porcello improved to 17-3 with a 3.22 ERA as he continues to build a Cy Young worthy resume.
The Sox added two runs each in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
Hanley Ramirez finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI.