GAME #113, BOSTON RED SOX AT TAMPA BAY RAYS

[Bear]

RED SOX V RAYS

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017, 7 PM AT TROPICANA FIELD

NESN, FOX SPORTS SUN

BOSTON, (63-49)...........................................................................................TAMPA, (58-56)

BOSTON:

CHRIS SALE, LHP, 13-4, 2.70 ERA, 215K

The Red Sox ace showed signs of being human in his last start, giving up
seven runs and two home runs in five innings against the Indians on Tuesday.
Before his last outing, Sale had thrown 21 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

TAMPA:

AUSTIN PRUITT, RHP, 6-2, 5.65 ERA, 37K

On Wednesday at Houston, Pruitt got his second start getting recalled from
Triple-A Durham on July 28.  The rookie responded with a quality start, allowing
no runs on five hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings to claim his sixth win of the
year.

Surging Sox send Sale vs. Rays rookie Pruitt

Connor Mount

Winners of six straight, the Red Sox make their first appearance at Tropicana Field of the second half Tuesday, a few weeks after the Rays took three out of four there to head into the All-Star break.

Boston led the American league East at the start of that series and lead it by three games now, though they had to retake that spot after the Yankees pulled ahead for a few days at the end of July.

Ac Chris Sale starts for the Red Sox after the Indians tagged him for seven runs in five innings in a no-decision. He had thrown three straight scoreless starts before that, striking out 33 in 20 2/3 innings, with just 10 hits allowed.

Sale struck out 12 when he last faced the Rays on July 6, but they homered twice and pushed four runs across against the lefty in a 4-1 win. Sale has whiffed 12 in each of his three starts against Tampa Bay this season.

Rookie righty Austin Pruitt will oppose Sale, coming off an outing in which he blanked the Astros for 6 1/3 innings. Pruitt has faced the Red Sox twice this season in relief, which included a difficult appearance in Fenway in which Boston picked up eight hits and four runs against Pruitt in 2 1/3 innings.

"That was the first time I had faced them, and they kind of tore me up a little bit," Pruitt said. "I think that since then I've kind of learned a little bit more about the big leagues, and I think it's going to help me out."

Pruitt said he has discussed with teammate Chris Archer about how to approach the Boston lineup.
"We were in the tubs and I asked, 'Hey, how do you get this guy out, how you do beat this guy?'" Pruitt said. "Because I've faced these guys before … It didn't go all that well."

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME

• Sale is the Majors' all-time leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio, fanning 5.07 batters for every free pass. He's ahead of Tommy Bond (5.04), who last pitched in 1884.

• In his career, Sale has struck out 13.4 Rays per nine innings. Aside from the White Sox (his former team whom he's faced only once), that's the highest rate he has against any American League opponent. Even so, his ERA of 3.67 vs. Tampa Bay is his third-highest against AL teams.

• Trevor Plouffe has been a thorn in Sale's side, batting .304 lifetime (14-for-46) with a .360 on-base percentage. Evan Longoria, on the other hand, has amassed just three hits in 30 at-bats (.100), his second-worst average versus a pitcher he's faced 15 or more times.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170806246810634/surging-sox-send-sale-vs-rays-rookie-pruitt/?game_pk=491777

[Bear]

RED SOX LINEUP:

NUNEZ, 2B
PEDROIA, DH
BENINTENDI, LF
BETTS, RF
DEVERS, 3B
BOGAERTS, SS
MORELAND, 1B
LEON, C
BRADLEY, CF

SALES, LHP

NUNEZ, LEADOFF, PEDEY, DH, BETTS CLEANUP......

[longgame]

Beating up on the White Sox for the past 4 days coming off of the surprising wins over the Indians, the Sox now have to rise to a real challenge.  So many times we find ourselves in this spot at this time of year - a chance to play the teams that are trailing us and actually do some damage.  This is a chance to really put some distance between us and the Yanks and Rays.  Let's hope they don't suddenly disappear at the plate again.

[Bear]

Ted, don't forget the Sox have a day off; just enough time to throw them off their successful ways.
Happens every time. iono

[longgame]

Ted, don't forget the Sox have a day off; just enough time to throw them off their successful ways.
Happens every time. iono

Plus we have to worry about whether something's up with Sale since the last outing.

[SeaBeachFred]

Enough with these shitty rationalizations that we all use and the Red Sox seem to moan about themselves as excuses for their inconsistently inconsistent play.  Time to barf or get away from the sink.  We're going to play our two closest pursuers and it is now high time we show who we hare, plant our feet in the ground and make a stand.  We either are the team we've seen on two occasions during those two winning streaks or that sad and sorry bunch we've seen too many times this year.  Keep the ball moving, take it to our opposition, take care of these people and take control of the AL East once and for all.  Now are we capable to doing just that?

[Bill-806]

  On a POSITIVE note, SOX going for  # 7  tonight !!!  GO SOX, keep it going, make us proud !!   thumb_u rofl

[Rob from Mass]

Ted, don't forget the Sox have a day off; just enough time to throw them off their successful ways.
Happens every time. iono

Plus we have to worry about whether something's up with Sale since the last outing.

I think every pitcher is entitled to show he is human.Should he bomb out tonight would be cause for concern.

[Bill-806]

Ted, don't forget the Sox have a day off; just enough time to throw them off their successful ways.
Happens every time. iono

Plus we have to worry about whether something's up with Sale since the last outing.

I think every pitcher is entitled to show he is human.Should he bomb out tonight would be cause for concern.

  As DAD would say,  "SON, in SALE we trust" !!! thumb_u rofl

[MongoLikeSox]

When the Sox are on their game, the games against the Rays make for some great baseball. What they lack in marquee they make up for in good, hard-nosed fundamental baseball. Very well coached.

They have 7 guys in their regular starting lineup in their 27-29 prime years. Our team is thought of as the veteran team. We trot out 5-7 guys 27 years of age or under every night. We are the team making foolish mistakes left and right. Not them. Kevin Cash got them through that phase and was rewarded with a decent team. Eck was ragging on them pretty badly early last year because it was Longoria with no support. They were still nose to nose with us and kept getting better and better. Imagine if they had more than 3 arms down in their pen?

Of course I am life long Sox fan and could care less that Tampa's AAA team is 25 minutes from the house. I did get to see Lou Merloni charge the mound once, though.  ;D    (at least I think it was him - been a while)

[Rob from Mass]

In the next 23 days, Sox play the Yanks 10 times 3 at Fenway 7 at the stadium. Strange schedule as they are done playing each other.

[Bill-806]

In the next 23 days, Sox play the Yanks 10 times 3 at Fenway 7 at the stadium. Strange schedule as they are done playing each other.

  & this young man is why the games in APRIL, MAY & JUNE  ALWAYS have a way of coming back to BITE in the ARRRRS !!! iono rofl

[longgame]

In the next 23 days, Sox play the Yanks 10 times 3 at Fenway 7 at the stadium. Strange schedule as they are done playing each other.

We also get Toronto for 9 and Tampa Bay 8 times before the end of the season, and we get Baltimore, who it seems like we haven't played since April, for two more series. 

This week is very important to the Sox.  They are 5-6 versus the Rays and need to flip that.  More critically they are 3-6 vs. the Yanks.  So they need wins to start evening up tie breakers.  Right now the Sox have played two more games than the Yankees.  That means over the remainder of the season the Yankees need to win 4 more games than the Sox to tie them in the standings. 

[Bill-806]

In the next 23 days, Sox play the Yanks 10 times 3 at Fenway 7 at the stadium. Strange schedule as they are done playing each other.

We also get Toronto for 9 and Tampa Bay 8 times before the end of the season, and we get Baltimore, who it seems like we haven't played since April, for two more series. 

This week is very important to the Sox.  They are 5-6 versus the Rays and need to flip that.  More critically they are 3-6 vs. the Yanks.  So they need wins to start evening up tie breakers.  Right now the Sox have played two more games than the Yankees.  That means over the remainder of the season the Yankees need to win 4 more games than the Sox to tie them in the standings.

Leaving the BALL in our court !!

[Rob from Mass]

RED SOX LINEUP:

NUNEZ, 2B
PEDROIA, DH
BENINTENDI, LF
BETTS, RF
DEVERS, 3B
BOGAERTS, SS
MORELAND, 1B
LEON, C
BRADLEY, CF

SALES, LHP

NUNEZ, LEADOFF, PEDEY, DH, BETTS CLEANUP......

Good looking lineup.