Red Sox rise above .500, beat Tigers, 7-3
Throughout the season, the Red Sox have been a streaky team. They will go through a stretch during which they lose seven of 10, and then in the blink of an eye, they’ll go on a five-game win streak. Right now, the Red Sox are riding one of those win streaks. Their latest victims? The Detroit Tigers.
Thanks to a tie-breaking two-run home run off the bat of Dustin Pedroia and some late-game fireworks, the Sox topped Detroit, 7-3, at Fenway Park Monday night.
The Red Sox benefited from a strong start from Clay Buchholz, which has become common in the month of July. The Red Sox have won three of the four games Buchholz has pitched in July as he is running on a 2.45 ERA this month, significantly lower than his season-long 4.75 ERA.
Buchholz lasted eight innings on Monday, scattering just three runs over those eight innings. He allowed two runs over the first three innings, but thanks to a two-run first inning for the Sox, the game remained tied into the sixth inning. Pedroia broke the tie with his two-run shot in the sixth, and then Jacoby Ellsbury and Will Middlebrooks added three more runs over the next two innings to help the Sox to the 7-3 win.
Bright spots:
– Clay Buchholz’s starts in July have been huge this month. The Red Sox have really struggled to find any consistency in any area of the team. He has been the one player the Sox can count on in July to produce great results, and Monday was a great example of Buchholz finding a way (despite some early struggles) to really come through for the team.
– With the win, the Red Sox move back above .500 and are in fourth place in the American League East.
– Dustin Pedroia is finding a way to produce despite not being at his best at the plate. Although he is just 5-for-19 over his last five games, five of those hits have been home runs. It looks like he’s operating under the philosophy of, ‘if you’re going to hit, make it count.’
Downers:
– In the ‘act like a 5-year-old’ moment of the night, Ryan Sweeney, apparently frustrated with his ground out in the eighth inning, punched a door following the at-bat. He injured his left pinky and will have x-rays on Tuesday. Depending on the severity of the injury, Sweeney might have booked himself a ticket to the DL.
Looking ahead:
The Red Sox will send Josh Beckett to the mound Tuesday for the second game of a 10-game homestand. Beckett’s start will be especially interesting since he has been rumored trade bait and the MLB trade deadline will close three hours before the scheduled game time of 7:10 p.m. The Tigers will counter Beckett with ace Justin Verlander.
