One night after the Boston Red Sox exploded for four runs in the ninth inning in what ultimately was a failed comeback attempt, the Sox couldn’t muster a similar stretch Friday against the Baltimore Orioles.
Boston only recorded four hits in Friday’s 3-2 loss at Camden Yards, and it only had one baserunner through five innings. Luckily for the Sox, that baserunner was Pablo Sandoval on a solo home run.
But other than that, O’s starter Alec Asher and the Baltimore bullpen mostly stymied the Red Sox’s bats.
“Give credit to Asher,” Boston manager John Farrell said, as aired on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… He pitched all four quadrants of the strike zone. He elevated his fastball on guys in our lineup who the scouting report is there. He pitched to his scouting report. And when we did hit something hard, it was right at somebody. So, Mookie squares off a couple of balls once again to lead things off, but we could not get anything going.”
That, coupled with a slow start from reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello, ultimately doomed the Sox in Game 2 of the four-game series.
Let’s take a look at a few more notes from Red Sox-Orioles.
— Sandoval returned to the Red Sox’s lineup Friday, and that was good news for Boston.
The third baseman had the home run before he was lifted for defensive substitute Deven Marrero in the bottom of the eighth.
Before the game, Farrell discussed how Sandoval performed on his recent rehab assignment before returning to the big leagues following his knee sprain, and the manager’s answer hinted at exactly what happened Friday night.
“By all accounts when he was on rehab, while it was not flawless, it was good range to his glove side and we’re certainly not closed off on a late-inning defensive replacement,” Farrell said, via MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith. “And Panda’s well aware of that. That’s part of our discussion. So if the game situation calls for that, we’ll certainly do that. By all accounts, he was moving well in Pawtucket.”
— The play of the game went to Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts on an incredible diving catch in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Betts finished the night 0-for-4 at the plate, but even on nights when he doesn’t record a hit, he still finds ways to produce with plays like that.
“He’s done that here a couple of times,” Farrell said, as aired on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “He covers such ground out there. … He contributes on all sides of the baseball for us. Even on a couple of nights where he’s squaring something up but it’s not showing up in the box scores as a plus offensively, there’s a great contribution on the defensive side.”
— An update on Matt Barnes:
Thumbnail photo via Patrick McDermott/USA TODAY Sports Images