The Sox moved above .500 yesterday with their 8-1 win over the Twins. Eight to one, sounds impressive and it is. The only caveat to this doubleu is the fact most of the damage was done in the eighth inning.
Michael Wacha has impressed early in his #RedSox career: 2 Starts – 9.1 IP 0.96 ERA 3 Hits Allowed 9 K 5 BB 1.03 BAA Considering Wacha’s velocity is still building up, it’s hard not to be excited.#DirtyWater| #MLB pic.twitter.com/H9WK0HKYdh — Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) April 17, 2022
After a five inning pitching duel between Sox surprise Michael Wacha and Twins starter Bailey Ober. Rafale Devers and company got things going in the sixth. Devers lined a shot to first that couldn’t be handed by Miguel Sano. Bogaerts promptly doubled the loveable menace to third and back to back sacrifice flies by Martinez and Verdugo plated them both. Until the eight the Sox scoring was done.
The eighth inning blowup,
The Sox added some insurance in the eighth. Singles by Kiké Hernández and Devers placed runners at the corners with no outs. Bogaerts drove Hernández in with a soft ground ball Sano couldn’t handle. Martinez scored Devers with a hard hit double (his 300th) off the wall deep in left-center. Trevor Story knocked both Bogaerts and Martinez in and Say Hey JBJ hit a single, scoring Story. Kevin Plawecki added the final run of the day, with a sac fly scoring Bobby Dalbec . BOOM 8-1 good guys.
We're gonna let you finish, but first, we're just going to score a quick 6 runs. pic.twitter.com/XilMdGB0T0 — Red Sox (@RedSox) April 17, 2022
Man can Not Live by big Inning Alone
Sunday’s six run eighth inning matched the six-run fourth inning against the Tigers back on Wednesday for the most this season, that is the rub. While final scores are what matters most, how you get there is paramount for a team’s continued success. According to Team Rankings Dot com: Boston is leaving 5.67 runners on base a game. They left five on again yesterday. These numbers on the surface aren’t bad. In Fact they are bottom five in the league. The Guardians leave the most men on with more than NINE per. But when you consider the Red Sox are averaging 7.6 hits per game and walking 2.56 times a game. It’s compounding. The Sox need to get on more, they need to hit w RISP. If the bats don’t heat up quickly this .500 record could be the norm. For Now
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