That game went differently than we all anticipated! The game had started with a bang, thanks to our Young Gun Roman Anthony hitting another leadoff home run. But then the Orioles were able to tie the game on a bloop hit that the outfield couldn’t quite get to, and then they took the lead on an RBI single that should’ve been an easy out, but Duran and Rafaela failed to communicate. The offense had only put up 5 hits all game and had failed to bring runners home in the top of the eighth, when Wong and Hamilton were on the corners with no outs. But the Red Sox really like the top of the ninth on the road right now, and Ceddanne Rafaela, in a moment of redemption and glory, smacked a two-run home run to left field and put the Sox back on top.
Brayan Bello: Today’s start wasn’t quite as great as his outing against the Yankees, but it was a good game for him all the same: 6.2 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts. I started this article before the ninth and assumed we were gonna lose and I wrote, “Pitching is not why we lost today”. Well, if we had lost, like we easily could’ve, that would’ve been the truth.
Roman Anthony: Gave us our only run by hitting his second leadoff home run in three days.
Ceddanne Rafela: The obvious hero of the night. When the team needed him to come through offensively, he did.
The Bullpen: Justin Wilson and Greg Weissert prevented the Orioles from scoring any more runs after Bello was pulled, and Chapman slammed the door, striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth, including the last at-bat which was a 12-pitch battle.
Jarren Duran: Credit to him for that leadoff single against Akin, because that allowed the go-ahead run in Ceddanne’s homer.
Alex Bregman: Went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts. He’s unfortunately been cold as of late, but I have zero concern about that. He’ll get hot again.
Masataka Yoshida: Went 0-3 as well, without striking out. Yoshida can be really good at getting hits and driving people in. In the past few days, we haven’t been seeing that. He’s had a good month of August overall, but not a great week.
The Camden Yards grass: I’m blaming that on Ceddanne’s failed catch, because he would manage to catch that fly-out virtually every other time. It was a stupid run that tied the game. Not as stupid as the second run, but stupid.
Play of the Game: Ceddanne Rafaela’s 9th-Inning Go-Ahead Home Run
Ceddanne’s last home run was on July 13th vs. the Rays (which was two days after his Big Walk-off Day), so it had been a long time coming. (I saw it at Fenway!) It was especially poetic that he drove Duran in, given that he and Duran had messed up that outfield play. He loves hitting in high-leverage situations, and tonight he may have had a banged-up wrist to boot. All the more ironic considering Roman Anthony, Alex Bregman, and Trevor Story, who you’d more likely count on to drive in runs, couldn’t do anything against Akin. Rafaela, to our relief and likely also his, could.
