GAME 1: Red Sox 4, Royals 3
The offense was pretty anemic this game, but once again the Red Sox won on the back of really exceptional starting pitching from Clay Buchholz.
This may have been Buchholz's worst start of the season, but it was still a gem. He worked 8 innings, gave up 8 hits, 2 earned runs, a walk and recorded 6 strikeouts on 104 pitches. His ERA more than doubled from 0.41 to 0.90. He currently leads the majors in Wins, innings pitched and ERA. He hit a little trouble in the 5th allowing a leadoff double and then a one out single to score the runner. He struck out the last two batters to get out of the inning. He allowed a leadoff double in the 6th as well, but managed to strand the runner at third. He allowed a leadoff double in the 7th as well and this time the runner would score on a two out triple. He got into a little trouble in the 8th inning when he was in a jam with runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, but he managed to get the double play to finish out his day. Buchholz collected his fourth win and the Red Sox have won all 4 of his starts this season. As good as Lester has been this year, Buchholz has been better. The continued success of this team is going to depend heavily on Buchholz's ability to stay healthy and effective.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: A
The Red Sox added 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to give Andrew Bailey a 4-2 lead going in to close out the 9th. It was a good thing they did as Bailey immediately surrendered a leadoff home run to Lorenzo Cain. Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain was on fire going 4 for 4 with a single, two doubles and a home run this game. Bailey made the home crowd nervous giving up a one out single and then a two out walk to put a runner in scoring position with a one run lead. Thankfully, he got the final out and collected another save. Hardly a strong showing for Bailey, but he got the job done.
BULLPEN GRADE: C-
The Red Sox bats were mostly quiet today. They didn't get on the board until a manufactured run in the 6th inning where Ellsbury hit a single and Victorino and Pedroia managed to advance Ellsbury on the out. David Ortiz made his triumphant return to Fenway by driving in Ellsbury from third on a two out single. Ortiz had a respectable 2 for 4 day at the plate with two singles, but he nearly killed the rally in the 8th by hitting into a double play. Jonny Gomes had a pinch hit leadoff double in the 8th and Dustin Pedroia worked a walk to make it 1st and 2nd with nobody out.with the Red Sox trailing 2 to 1. Ortiz's double play ball looked to be a very bad sign for the Red Sox. Fortunately Mike Napoli worked a walk and Daniel Nava brought them home with a 3-run homer. Nava is making a great case for himself to be an everyday player on the Red Sox roster. His RBI/AB ratio is among the best in baseball.
BATTING GRADE: C+
GAME 2: Red Sox 2, Royals 4
This game looked promising for the Red Sox as they put up two runs on Ervin Santana in the 1st inning, but as it turned out they wouldn't score another run for the rest of the game. 2 runs isn't going to be enough to win most ball games. Dempster and the bullpen had a solid game and kept it within reach.
Dempster had a lights out performance in the 3-2 win against the Rays on Marathon Monday, but unfortunately he couldn't replicate his performance against the Royals. He pitched 7 innings of work, gave up 6 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 walks and recorded 8 strikeouts on 107 pitches. A solid performance just shy of a quality start. He gave up a one out solo home run in the first inning. Dempster hit some serious trouble in the 4th when he allowed a single, a single and a double to score a runner to tie the game with runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. He struck out the next two batters, but gave up a two out single to score two runs. Dempster didn't give up another hit in his remaining 3 innings of work. He allowed back to back 1 out walks in the 6th but managed to work around them. Dempster has been pretty solid so far this year, but he is still looking for his first win in a Red Sox uniform and is currently 0-2. On the plus side he is currently 2nd in the AL in strikeouts and seems to be going deeper into games.
PITCHING GRADE: B-
Dempster handed off to Clayton Mortensen in the 8th who pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. Some more solid work from Mortensen. Alex Wilson came on in the 9th to keep the game within reach. He got into some trouble allowing two singles. It was nice to see some resiliency out of the rookie reliever in a jam as he got the double play and the final out to keep a run from scoring.
BULLPEN GRADE: A-
The stat that tells the story of this game for the Red Sox is the 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. The only runs that scored were in the first inning. After Jacoby Ellsbury fouled out Daniel Nava, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz all hit singles to score a run. Mike Napoli hit a ground out for the RBI and Salty lined out to end the inning. In the 2nd the Sox managed two singles, but no runs. They went hitless in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings before David Ortiz hit a one out double in the 6th. Napoli advanced Ortiz to third on the fly out and Salty struck out to end the inning. The Red Sox managed to load the bases with two outs in the 8th before Salty grounded out to end the inning. This was an awful game for Salty as he went 0 for 4, three of his at bats ended the inning with runners in scoring position. I feel like Salty either has a great game or a terrible game, unfortunately he picked a bad day to go 0 for 4. Salty isn't the only one to blame for the lack of offense in this game as Stephen Drew and Jonny Gomes also went 0 for 4 with no walks on the day. On the plus side, David Ortiz followed up on his 2 for 4 season debut with a 3 for 4 game with a single, an RBI single and a double. His bat has already had an impact on the lineup getting RBIs in both games. Daniel Nava also went 2 for 4 with two singles.
BATTING GRADE: D
GAME 3: Red Sox 4, Royals 5 in 10 innings
This was a frustrating game because of how winnable it was. Costly errors and missed opportunities piled up to create a loss for the Red Sox.
Allen Webster was one of the no-name minor league acquisitions from the Dodgers in the Adrian Gonzalez/Carl Crawford/Josh Beckett salary dump trade last season. He had been doing fairly well at Pawtucket this season. Some people wanted to see him come up and get a start rather than Alfredo Aceves. This was his major league debut. He got off to a rough start allowing a leadoff double off of the monster. The next batter hit an infield single. To make matters worse, a throwing error by Pedro Ciriaco put the runner to second with no outs and a run in. It's always informative to see how a rookie handles a pressure situation like this. I thought he responded quite well by striking out the next two batters and getting out of the inning with just the one run scoring. He cruised along well until the 5th inning where he allowed two solo home runs to tie the game 3-3. All in all he pitched 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned) a walk and 5 strikeouts on 84 pitches. Not bad for a kid making his major league debut.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: B
Webster handed over the slim 4-3 lead to Junichi Tazawa in the 7th. Tazawa had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. Following the script they've been following all year long Tazawa handed off the 8th to Koji Uehara. Uehara gave up the tying run on a 2 out solo home run to be charged with his first earned run of the season. Uehara would give up another single before ending the inning with the 4-4 tie still intact. Andrew Bailey came in for the 9th and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts. Going into extra innings Andrew Miller was called on for the 10th. After striking out the first batter Miller struggled mightily allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases with two outs. He walked Lorenzo Cain to put the winning run across before getting out of the inning. It's really frustrating to see the winning run walked in like that. When those situations come up you have to be able to throw strikes. All in all the bullpen combined for 4 innings of work and 2 earned runs, but those runs were very costly. It was disappointing to see Uehara blow that lead, he had been very solid all year.
RELIEF PITCHING GRADE: C+
The Red Sox had plenty of base runners this game between the 9 hits, 6 walks and an outfield error that put Mike Carp on 3rd base, but they could only produce 4 runs in 10 innings. The 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position and 9 men left on base tells the story of another frustrating day at the plate for the Red Sox. The only 1-2-3 innings for the Royals in this game were the 8th and 10th innings. Mike Napoli hit a leadoff home run to start the second inning. In the same inning Salty worked a walk and Mike Carp hit a double to score Salty from first base. Ellsbury hit a double to leadoff the third and scored off of the a single by Pedroia. Unfortunately Pedroia was caught stealing so there was nobody on base when Mike Napoli followed up with a double. Napoli would be out on a play at home after Salty hit an infield single to end the inning. These base running errors were costly here. In the 4th Mike Carp got to third base with one out after a miscommunication between the Royals outfielders on a pop fly. Again, the Red Sox couldn't get the runner home. In the 5th the Red Sox managed a run after a one out walk to Nava and back to back singles by Pedroia and Napoli, but with runners at second and third and one out they failed to put the game away and didn't score any more runs. Pedroia managed to get into scoring position with two outs in the 7th, but Salty grounded out to end the inning. Jacoby Ellsbury got into scoring position in the 9th on a single and a steal, but they intentionally walked Pedroia and Mike Napoli couldn't bring either of them home for the walkoff.
BATTING GRADE: C+
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