Another fantastic game from the Red Sox tonight! Securing their second series sweep in a row, the Boston team continued to pummel opposing pitching, hit big homers, play good defense, do well on the pitching mound, and ensure the Fenway faithful had a grand old time. Reminds me of a time when the Red Sox swept the Rockies on a much larger stage during a so-called month of Rocktober. I was but a wee tot back then. (Just kidding I was almost 8.) The Sox are now a season-best four games over .500 and will go into the All-Star break with, at minimum, a .500 record. Hooray hoorah!
Three Extra-Special Studs, Because Everyone Was A Stud Tonight:
Masataka Yoshida: Looked like he’d been playing for the Sox since the start of the season, going 3-4 with an RBI single and 2 other hits, including a ground-rule double. A good sign of things to come from him! Personally, I was thrilled to see him back on the roster today.
Lucas Giolito: Remember when you got either Shoving Giolito or Egg-Laying Giolito? I do! In his past few starts he’s become solely Shoving Giolito. He’s brought his formerly 6.42 ERA down to 3.36 over his last six starts. Tonight his stat-line was 6 IP, 0 Runs/ER, 4 hits, and 6 strikeouts. I’m actually willing to say he’s our Number 2 starter right now.
Jarren Duran/Wilyer Abreu: The Two Biggest Trade Rumor Players both had multi-run homers tonight, reminding everyone why they’d be a loss to the Red Sox team as we have it if the organization traded either of them—but also letting other teams know the return may have to be hefty if they go elsewhere.
Duds: Nobody!
Seriously! Everyone contributed to the game in a positive way. All our hitters got at least one hit and the pitching was more than solid. So no duds, except for, uh, maybe one:
Potential Maybe-Dud: Isaiah Campbell: Did anyone else forget the Sox still had him? He gave up a 2-run homer to Kyle Farmer and almost made it a close game with making the score 5-2 in the top of the 8th. Luckily it didn’t hurt anything in the long run, so since he didn’t doom the game, I’m gonna go easy on him today. It’s hard to have bad vibes after winning 6 in a row and 2 consecutive sweeps.
Play of the Game: Duran’s Ground-Ball-To-Short-Turned-Triple
Listen, a lot of fun happened today, and big homers were hit, but nothing was more fun than this. Jarren Duran capitalized on the Rockies being the Rockies, and that’s pretty much what the whole team did over the three-game span.
