With the AL East heating up, this series win is huge momentum for the Red Sox.
After David Price got shelled on Thursday giving the Red Sox their 4th loss in their last 7 games, the next 3 games would be more reassuring. On Friday night, Rick Porcello would take the hill as he would be facing the 60 year old Bartolo Colon on the opposition. Porcello would continue to roll as he went 6 innings, struck out 8 men while only giving up one earned run; a solo shot to Nomar Mazara. JD would keep on rolling as he hit another homer, along with Devers who hit 2. They would go on to win the game 5-1.
The 3rd game of the series was an impressive comeback win by the Sox. They were down 4-1 in the 5th after Erod gave up a 2 out, 3 run shot to Delino Desheilds. But they were not done yet. Mitch Moreland would hit yet another one of his homers(his 5th on the year) a 2 run shot to make it a 1 run game. Rodriguez would finish one more inning, but not before Joey Gallo would take him deep for the second time in the game, his 3rd homer given up overall. The Red Sox would once again rally in the 7th. With Mookie on first base with 1 out, Benintendi would hit a little blooper that would fall. As the fielder got to the ball, he didn’t look at Mookie, which was a bad decision. Mookie would literally steal a run as he started to run home since he wasn’t being paid attention to and would successfully score. JD Martinez would later get an RBI single up the middle to bring home Benintendi to tie the game at 5, but in the bottom of the 8th inning the Red Sox would get into trouble. With men on second and third and nobody out, Hembree would get 1 man out before Joe Kelly aka Jim Buchanan would make his appearance. With an intentionally walked batter to load the bases with 1 out, Kelly would blow away Joey Gallo, who had homered in 2 of his previous At bat’s, and get Jurickson Profar looking on 98 mph on the paint. Nasty. After a Benintendi triple in the 9th, Hanley would drive him in with a sac fly. Kimbrel would lock it down in the 9th getting the save to secure a 6-5 Red Sox win. But this was not just any save, his 300th of his career. Unbelievable.
Sunday was a combination of great pitching and great hitting, once again. Mitch Moreland and Xander Bogearts would each drive in a run of their own. Sandy Leon, aka the only active Hall of Famer in the game would go deep for a 3 run shot that would break it open in the 6th. JD would hit yet another home run as the Sox would win finishing out a huge series win taking 3 out of 4 in Arlington.
The story of this game however was Chris Sale. Sale has clearly been not the same guy this year so far, the numbers were there but his velocity was down. It was clear he was holding it off because on Sunday, he was bringing the heat. He was throwing 97-99 with his usual nasty slider. He went 7 strong innings striking out 12 men, and only giving up 1 earned run. Be scared, MLB. Chris Sale looks like he’s back.
The Yankees did not cool off one bit this weekend, as they swept the Cleveland Indians and capped the series off with an epic comeback. Winning this series was huge for Boston. With New York not slowing down, the Red Sox were able to keep the pace and stay in first place going into the Yankees series, which starts Tuesday. Drew Pomeranz will take the ball in game 1 to take on Luis Severino. It will be the first Sox-Yankees series since the epic brawl that broke out back in April. This time its going to be in the Bronx. With the way things are going right now, these 3 upcoming games won’t be the only intriguing games between these 2 teams in 2018. Get your popcorn ready. Its going to be a fun summer.