Game 12: Red Sox 5, Milwaukee 0

 Age Before Beauty 

Our Veteran Outlasts Their Rookie, and the Breaks go the Sox Way for a Change

Disclosure: this is the second game I had to watch on delay this season, because it’s a weekday afternoon. At least this time I was able to keep the result a secret from myself, through…magic. (OK, I inadvertently saw the final again, but that was only halfway through the replay when I wanted to check the lineup.) 

Sonny Gray toeing the slab today. I kind of wonder if the woes of the pitching staff — of varying levels of seriousness and grotesquery — are in part the fault of this accelerated start to the season we now have. Yes, yes, they moved up spring training, but it has to have affected the natural flow of the season, particularly with colder weather for the start overall. I know cold air generally favors pitchers, but it also favors muscle pools and stiffening up between innings, and at this point in the season when nobody really went past six innings, that can mean trouble.

I say all that not to excuse Sonny Gray’s first start, but he’s an old man of 36, so it might…explain it.

The Brewers have a rookie starting today, Shane Drohan, and the contrast couldn’t be more stark. Of course the Brewers’ dude is a former Red Sox draft pick. You know that will hurt us. OK I am spreading panic here. On paper this heavily favors us.

A new lineup today: Roman leading off in left, but Andrew Monasterio with his second start, and his first at short, batting second. Then Contreras, Abreu, and Story DHing; Durbin back at third base, Narvaez, Rafaela in center, and IKF at second.  This is what you might call a getaway day lineup, not necessarily one optimized by analytics, but what do I know.

Gray gives up a leadoff double to start the game, and the sense of dread is palpable. But he comes back 1-2-3 and looks pretty comfortable. Frelick did kind of poke that ball down the right field line for the double, Still, it’s nice to not even create more trouble this early.

Durbin not looking too good out there again in the second and he provides the kid Drohan with his first major league whiff. Getaway day baseball, indeed.

Uh oh the third has some bumps. Yelich gets a hit with two outs, first and third, then steals second for two guys in scoring position. But Gray looks good: he bears down and gets the strikeout. That was pretty high quality pitching and the side to side on the sweeper really fooled the batter in the afternoon sun. 

IKF sac bunt for a HIT! Small ball scientific baseball. And then a GTJD from the leadoff man, Anthony, to get the runners over, hitting to the right side. Walk walk and the kid has his first ML earned run. Keep it coming!!

And it’s our turn today to benefit from weird infield hops! Wilyer is given an RBI single on a bizarre bouncer to second that I call an error all the way, but it was an olé, and the hometown scorer does his part to help Wilyer when arbitration comes up. Remember that speech in Bull Durham? “One hit a week is the difference between a punch and judy hitter and a batting champion.” Sox up 2-0, though, so I’ll take it, and we are still stuffing the base paths. Next batter is Trevor Story, who seems like he comes up with runners in scoring position every other at-bat, and while not doubling in two like he did yesterday, he sac flies, and it’s 3-0 with two out. The 8th man batting in the inning draws a walk and that’s it  for the major league debut for Shane Drohan. I’ll take it.

David Hamilton hits a no-man’s land shot to center and Cedanne makes a A GREAT CATCH over his shoulder fighting the sun and wind. Serious Defensive Gem award. And a run saving one at that. We’ll give him a TWOFER with a Run Saving Defensive Play.

Gray continues to work the lineup, retiring 1-2-3 for three innings in a row before giving up a leadoff hitter in the 7th. That’s enough for Alex and he pulls in… WEISSERT. SCARY. WTAF. I guess you gotta go with your guys. He's blown I think forty-two leads this year already. Plus or minus. Weissert bears down and gets the next guy, but then walks the next guy on a 3-2 count.

Did I say walked him? It’s an ABS challenge on ball four by Carlos, who has the second-worst challenge rate in the majors coming into the game, and…it’s a STRIKE! FOR A WHIFF! Our first really good ABS challenge of the year. Ends the inning! I can’t tell you how much joy this weirdo play brings me. 

Trevor Story gets an RBI hit stretched into a second base in the bottom of the inning, and then again there’s a weird play in the infield that’s called an inning-ending double play. Sox challenge, and win! And that results in another run, Sox up 5-0! Wow, the breaks are all going our way today!!!

Coming in to pitch is….Tyler Samaniego? who somehow got onto the roster without my noticing, comes in to make his major league debut in the 8th…and gets them in order! Nice debut! Weird how the Sox are running rookies out there in game situations though. Alex brings on Rule 5 guy Ryan Watson in the 9th and he also gets the Brewers in order.  

WE WIN! It's a winning streak! Two whole games!! Woot! And we take a series, 2-1, after starting out the series as horribly as one can, blowing two leads.

I looked it up: something wrong with Justin Slaten, who was put on the IL. That is bad news. It’s listed as a minor right oblique strain, which can be major bad news, but the Sox characterize it as minor and expect him to return in the minimum amount of time. He had tightness after his last outing and then started cramping during a workout, so let’s hope this is just an abundance of caution. We had a really good 6th-9th inning lineup in the pen on paper going into the season, but Weissert, Whitlock, and Chapman have all given up blown saves and losses. Only Slaten has been perfecto thus far.

Takeways: Nice win, nice start, nice relief pitching, nice defense, and luck on our side for a change. Sonny Gray looking like the guy we hired, although the afternoon sun and cold weather likely helped the cause. It’s always better to face a rookie pitcher, so we got a favorable matchup. That’s what we needed. I’m sorry we didn’t get any offensive blasts or ten run innings, but the Sox pushed across some station to station runs and then kept on it, and the nice relief pitching from rookies -- and two very timely challenges -- kept us in the lead, and the bottom line is a two-game winning streak is very nice.