The Boston Red Sox once were a team that many believed would have trouble winning a wild card game, if they even held on long enough to make it to the postseason. But now they might be the favorites to win the American League pennant.
The Red Sox won their 11th consecutive game Sunday with a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, which ended in baffling fashion in the 10th inning. And the score doesn’t show just how dominant Boston was.
Starter Eduardo Rodriguez struck out a career-high 13 batters, and he, Heath Hembree (five), Matt Barnes (one) and Joe Kelly (four) combined to fan a team-record 23 batters over 10 frames. Rodriguez and Hembree also combined for 11 straight K’s, which is a Major League Baseball record. In short, the Rays didn’t really stand a chance.
You can point out that the Rays are terrible offensively and that the Red Sox’s offense squandered some big opportunities themselves, but what Boston’s pitching staff did is no simple feat regardless of who’s sitting in the other dugout. And pitching was what was supposed to hold the Red Sox back come October.
Save for games like Sunday’s, Boston’s offense hasn’t stopped producing all season, and if the Red Sox’s arms can keep performing at the same high level they have been in September, then winning the pennant isn’t some crazy idea. They’re tied with the Rangers for the best record in the AL after Texas lost to the Oakland Athletics 7-1 on Sunday, and they still have six games left to better that.
It remains to be seen whether any of the AL clubs can hold their own against the dominant front-runners in the National League, but as of now, it seems as though the Red Sox could be the ones to find that out.
Here are some more notes from Sunday’s win.
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— The Red Sox pulled ahead in the 10th on a David Ortiz double that scored Dustin Pedroia from first base. However, the second baseman ended up having to dance around Luke Maile to avoid the tag before in inadvertently kicking the ball out of the Rays catcher’s glove. It was a bad send by third base coach Brian Butterfield.
But, hey, Pedroia got the run in the end, so maybe Butterfield just had faith in Pedroia’s apparent ninja skills.
— Boston’s battle for first place in the AL could come down to the wire if they stay neck-in-neck with the Rangers. The two teams split their regular season series, which would make their respective intra-division winning percentage the tiebreaker. Boston’s record is 42-28 with six division games left, while Texas’ is 47-29 with no division games left.
— Per Ortiz’s request, the Rays canceled their tribute to him before his final game at Tropicana Field and gave the designated hitter his gifts in private instead.
— It was sad day for MLB, as people around the league mourned the death of Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, who died Sunday in a boating accident at the age of 24. But there was some solace in the way the day ended, as legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully’s final game at Dodger Stadium ended in a walk-off, division-clinching win for the Boys in Blue.
Thumbnail photo via Jeff Griffith/USA TODAY Sports Images
