October here we come! The Red Sox completed their 3-0 sweep of the Oakland Athletics this afternoon after their 7-4 comeback victory. The Sox now stand 4 games below .500 (27-31) and remain 5.5 games back behind 1st place New York. the team travels to Baltimore to take on the last place Orioles Monday through Wednesday before coming back to fenway for a 3-game series with Toronto. the Sox are 5-2 in their last 7 and are definitely beginning to heat up offensively. Let’s cover the weekend:
6/5: BOS 4-2 OAK
WP: W. Miley (5-5) LP: S. Kazmir (2-4) SV: K. Uehara (12)
The Sox got 11 hits, 3 of which coming from Pedroia, and capitalized on the 3 errors by the A’s to win 4-2.
6/6: BOS 4-2 OAK
WP: J. Kelly (2-4) LP: J. Chavez (2-6) SV: K. Uehara (13)
Hanley Ramirez catches fire going 3 for 5 with a 2-run HR to lift the Sox over Oakland in Game 2. The Red Sox oddly scored 4 runs off 11 hits two days in a row.
6/7: BOS 7-4 OAK
WP: S. Wright (3-2) LP: T. Clippard (0-3) SV: T. Layne (1)
Down by 4 in the bottom of the 8th, the Red Sox rallied behind a solo HR by Rusney Castillo to lead things off in the inning. Hanley drove in Pedroia with a single to left and moved Holt to 3rd. Holt would score on a sac fly by ortiz to bring the game to 4-3. Sandoval would hit a single to advance Hanley and Betts came in as a pinch runner for Sandoval. Xander Bogaerts would be the day’s hero as his 2-run double would be the game winning hit for the Sox. Newly acquired de Aza would drive in Xander and Castillo would drive in de Aza to complete the 7 run 8th inning for the Sox.
And so, the Red Sox complete their FIRST sweep of a team in 2015. Best said by Tommy Largey, “This is the type of game that turns a season around.” and boy is he right. This is the type of game we’ve been waiting to see all season. Prior to today the Sox hadn’t comeback from a deficit greater than 3 runs. It seemed like when the lead got too much that this team just packed it in. Now, I am not saying that this team has turned it around. The A’s suck and with our roster we absolutely should have won the series. What is going to convince me is sustaining this success in the next 6 games. I cannot stress how important these games will be this week. Although we are 3rd in the AL East and are playing the last place (BAL) and 4th place (TOR) teams, we don’t have any separation from them in the standings. This division is the tightest in baseball this year, the difference between 1st and 5th being 5.5 games as of this afternoon. With the Yankees climbing out of their slump, it is important that the Red Sox sustain this recent success of their and take advantage of the slumping Rays and gain some ground in the division before the All-Star break.
P.S. Xander Bogaerts leads all AL shortstops in BA (.297), OBP (.340), and is 3rd in OPS (.742). This kid has turned it around since last year, he’s completely figured out his place in the game. I believe he should be right up there in All-Star voting.
The Beantown Buzz 