Sunday, April 6, 2014

Game of the Day (4/5/14)

There was a full slate of 15 games yesterday, one of which went to extra innings. Guess which one grades out as the best!

Yes, shockingly, it's Brewers 7, Red Sox 6 (11), marking the second straight contest between these two squads to draw top billing.

Milwaukee opened the scoring against Clay Buchholz in the first inning when Jean Segura reached on an infield hit, went first-to-third on a groundout to short (which is pretty awesome), and scored on a hit by Aramis Ramirez. Brewer starter Willy Peralta worked a perfect first, and his teammates extended their lead in the second, as Mark Reynolds and Carlos Gomez both hit solo homers.

Boston responded in the bottom of the second. Xander Bogaerts started the rally with a one-out single, and Jonny Gomes doubled him to third. AJ Pierzynski grounded out to bring Bogaerts home, and Jonathan Herrera singled to score Gomes and close the margin to a run. But Milwaukee struck again in the third, starting with a Jonathan Lucroy double and singles by Ramirez and Khris Davis, the latter of which drove Lucroy in. A groundout moved the runners to second and third, and a strikeout kept them there until Scooter Gennett laced a two-out double that made it a 6-2 game. The Sox got the runs right back in the bottom of the inning, however, as Grady Sizemore worked a one-out walk, Dustin Pedroia reached on a Ramirez error, and Mike Napoli homered to bring in a trio of runs.

The scoring settled down after that, though not due to lack of opportunity. Gomez and Segura started the fourth with singles. One out later, Ramirez flied to deep center; both runners tagged, and Sizemore's throw back to the infield was slow enough that Gomez decided to try for two bases. Boston noticed, and Pedroia threw Gomez out at home to end the inning. In the fifth, a Logan Schafer double and a Reynolds single finally chased Buchholz from the mound, and Chris Capuano managed to strand the inherited runners at the corners. Peralta managed a spotless fourth and worked around a Pedroia single in the fifth.

After the Sox got a perfect sixth from Capuano, the Brewers turned to their own bullpen. Jim Henderson promptly yielded a Bogaerts double and walked Gomes, and was pulled for Zach Duke. Pierzynski greeted the new pitcher with a double play ball, and Herrera followed with a grounder to short - one which Segura misplayed, allowing the tying run to come across.

Ramirez and Davis started the seventh with singles, but Capuano and Brandon Workman then combined to strike out three consecutive Milwaukee hitters to leave them at the corners. Duke combined with Brandon Kinztler on a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh. In the eighth, Segura singled, stole second and took third on Pierzynski's throwing error, and was left on when Lucroy lined out. The bottom of the inning saw Napoli lead off with a single before being erased on a double play. The ninth passed without a baserunner being allowed by either Koji Uehara or Will Smith, and the game therefore progressed into extra innings.

Junichi Tazawa allowed a one-out Gennett double in the tenth, and Gomez then worked a two-out full-count walk. Segura struck out swinging, but the ball escaped from Pierzynski and Segura reached to load the bases ahead of Lucroy, who flied out. Tyler Thornburg was perfect in the bottom of the tenth. In the eleventh, facing Burke Badenhop, Ramirez hit a fly ball to right that hopped the fence for an automatic double, and Schafer followed with a more standard-issue two-bagger to score Ramirez with the go-ahead run. Francisco Rodriguez struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to secure the save.

The Brewers had 19 hits in this game, eight of them for extra bases (six doubles and two homers). Boston had 7 hits, three of them reaching beyond first (two doubles and a homer). Milwaukee managed only one walk, but the Red Sox drew only three. So how did Boston stay as close as they did despite accumulating fewer total hits than their opponents had extra-base ones?

Mostly, it was timing. Boston's homer came with two runners on, while both Milwaukee longballs occurred with the bases empty. The Brewers also had that weird play where Gomez tried to score from second on a fly ball, and Boston also converted on both Milwaukee errors, scoring a total of four unearned runs. For the game as a whole, the Brewers left 13 men on base, to three for the Sox. But that's mostly because the Brewers kept getting people on base to begin with, while Boston only had one runner reach in the last five innings, and a double play took care of him. With that kind of bullpen work, Milwaukee had plenty of chances to consummate one of their rallies. They were bound to score eventually, and they did.

So take heart, frustrated baseball fans! If your team is stranding runners by the bushel, at least it means they're creating opportunities. And someday, that hit with runners in scoring position will finally come.

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