Since it’s only 10:30 PM here on the West Coast, I still have a little gas left in the tank. The days of staying up until past 3 AM to watch the Sox-Mariners series are in my rearview mirror, as I get to watch games at a semi-normal hour here in California. It’s maybe the only good thing about being about a million miles away from the team and city I love so much.
In now-typical fashion for this year’s Red Sox, they decided to give up an early lead, tie it up late in the game, and then keep us on the edge of our seats for a ton of extra innings. I thought I’d seen it all when I went to the 19-inning game last week against Toronto… is anyone else sick of not sleeping properly and not breathing for innings on end or is it just me? In tonight’s 15-inning, 6-hour and 13-minute game, the Red Sox toyed with our collective blood pressure yet again before ultimately deciding to put us and Tampa Bay out of our misery at 1:30 AM EST. The game went on so long that the clock in the NESN booth actually stopped working.
Even though it took the Sox offense until the 15th inning to really catch fire, boy, oh boy did they explode in the final inning, hitting and scoring a collective 7 runs to win 13-6. Nearly every player contributed to the effort, proving once again that this team does have the talent. Now Farrell & Co. just need to figure out how to channel and ignite it during the regular innings and at normal hours…
Highlights
- After slumping for a majority of this season, Xander Bogaerts went 4-for-7 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs.
- Mookie “MLB” Betts seems to have finally turned a corner, going 3-for-8 with a run.
- Mitch Moreland continues to be one of my favorites for his consistency. Even though he doesn’t always put up big numbers, you can almost always count on 2-Bags to live up to his nickname. Tonight, he went 3-for-7 with a homer, two RBIs, and 3 runs.
- This is the Red Sox’s 13th extra-inning victory of the season, the most in the MLB. Their EI record is 13-3.
- They have played four 15+ inning games this season. No other team has played more than two.
- With the Sox and Yankees both winning tonight, the Sox 3-game lead stays the same.
Lowlights
- Dustin Pedroia went 0-9 for the first time in his career. His previous record was going 0-7 in a 2013 game, when he played the entire season with a damaged UCL. Until tonight, Trot Nixon was the only Red Sox player to go 0-9 back in July 2006.
- Apparently, Hanley Ramirez‘s left bicep is so bad that he required an MRI. He wasn’t exactly missed tonight though, considering he’s only batting .150 with a .171 OPS this month.
- Chris Sale lasted only 5 2/3 innings and had 9 K’s, but gave up 4 runs, all earned, 6 hits and 3 walks. He actively tried to stay in the game, but Farrell wasn’t having it.
- The Red Sox continue to leave multiple players on base, and did so in the 11th, 12th, and 13th inning.
Sox Game By the Numbers
- 15 Innings
- 6 hours, 5 minutes
- 9 pitchers
- 16 position players
- 24 K’s (a team record!)
- 21 hits
- 13 runs
* Photo courtesy of Boston Red Sox
I know the feeling. The Long Island Ducks played two long games within a month of each other about two years ago. One game was sixteen innings and the other 14.