RED SOX V BLUE JAYS
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017, 12:37 PM AT ROGERS CENTRE
TV: NESN, MLBN, SNET
BOSTON, 9-6.......................................................................TORONTO, 3-11
BOSTON:
CHRIS SALE, LHP, 1-1.25 ERA, 29K
Sale has been marvelous in his initiation to the Red Sox, giving up three earned
runs over 21 2/3 innings while striking out 29. Opponents are hitting .145 against
the left-hander, who is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA lifetime at Rogers Centre.
TORONTO:
MARCO ESTRADA, RHP, 0-1, 3.50 ERA, 17k
Estrada was excellent in his last start against Baltimore, pitching seven shutout
innings. He allowed four hits, struck out eight and consistently forced soft
contact. His change up produced an average exit velocity of just 74.3 MPH.
Sale, Estrada face off in series finale
Keegan Matheson
Toronto's climb from the American League East basement won't get any easier in Thursday afternoon's series finale as Boston sends ace Chris Sale to the mound to face Marco Estrada.
Sale is already exceeding his lofty expectations after the Red Sox dealt a package of highly-touted prospects to the White Sox for the left-hander in December. Through three starts, Sale owns a 1.25 ERA and has held opponents to a .149 batting average.
"He's got three power-type pitches for a lot of swing-and-miss," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "And let's face it, [the] three starts he's made for us, he's not had any margin of error. He's worth the price of admission just to see him."
Estrada is coming off his strongest start of the season, a seven-inning shutout performance against the Orioles on Saturday. By mixing his fastball and changeup, Estrada created weak contact throughout the game while striking out eight.
In that outing, Estrada forced eight swinging strikes on 41 changeups and the seven balls put in play off that pitch maxed out at an exit velocity of just 78.8 mph according to Statcast data.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME
• Sale's strikeout totals are no secret, but he's been even more dominant than usual this season. Entering play on Wednesday, Sale led the Major Leagues with 29 strikeouts, just ahead of Cleveland's Danny Salazar and the Yankees' Luis Severino (both with 27).
• Few pitchers have tamed Mookie Betts in his young career, but Estrada has managed to do it so far. The 2016 runner-up for American League MVP is just 2-for-16 (.125) against Estrada in his career with a pair of walks and four strikeouts. Entering Wednesday, however, Betts led the league by a wide margin by going 128 plate appearances without a strikeout. That streak extended to 129 plate appearances before Betts struck out in the fourth inning.
• In his last outing, Sale generated 21 swinging strikes, a total he matched or exceeded in only three starts last year. In fact, after dipping to 12.2 percent last year, Sale's swinging-strike rate is back to exactly his 2015 level (16.1 percent) in '17 -- putting him sixth among pitchers with 200 pitches.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170419225264772/sale-estrada-face-off-in-series-finale/?game_pk=490327
RED SOX LINEUP:
PEDROIA, 2B
BENINTENDI, CF
BETTS, RF
RAMIREZ, DH
MORELAND, 1B
BOGAERTS, SS
SANDOVAL, 3B
LEON, C
HLT, LF
PITCHER: SALE
For godsakes can we try and get Sale some runs today.
Go RED SOX !!!! Get Sale some runs, please !!!
It's been pretty discouraging since the start of the year.
Pitchers duel going to bottom 5 no score.Sale with 7 Ks after 4.
Please score some freaking runs for your ace.
When Mookie was on 3rd (half way down), why didn't Moreland just drop a bunt ????? Mookie would have scored before any play could be made to first ??????
Sale out and Kimbrel in to close it out as Sox score 1 in top 9.
On Kimbrel's 2nd pitch game is tied on a HR by Morales.
Can`t fault JF for bringing in Kimbrel who has pitched excellent last few times out.
Quote from: Rob from Mass on April 20, 2017, 02:10:25 PM
Sale out and Kimbrel in to close it out as Sox score 1 in top 9.
On Kimbrel's 1st pitch game is tied on a HR by Morales.
Can`t fault JF for bringing in Kimbrel who has pitched excellent last few times out.
I think it was the right move. A damn if you do and a damn if you don't time. Just a poor pitch down the middle. The 1st pitch was a strike but called a ball so Kimbrel didn't want to get down in the count 2-0 and threw to good a pitch. Crap happens. I'm more concerned about the total lack of offense the last 2 games. They need to pick up the pace.
Betts come's through. Drives in 3 runs with a double down the left field line in the 10th. Kimbrel in line for the win. It would of been great for Sale to get the win but as long as the Sox win I don't care who gets it.
Mookie strokes a 2 out double with bases full and drives in all 3. 4-1 to bottom 10
Kimbrel back out for bottom 10.
Kimbrel strikes out the side in the 10th.
Sox pitchers K 18 hitters today.
Feel bad that Sale was denied a W but bottom line is winning the game.
Sale`s era is a minuscule 0.91.
Xander getting sore left thumb examined after jamming it on a headfirst slide into 2nd after his rbi single in the 9th.
Sale continues to deliver, the wins will come. This should have been an easy win as most games should be when he takes the mound. But in the end it's a W.
BTW, I have that Betts struck out twice but I was pretty happy he did strike out last night just so O'Brien would stop talking about it every freaking time he came up. I was worried that we were going to hear "Mookie has struck out only once since..." so him striking out a few times will kill that. I really find O'Brien tough to listen too. There was something the other night. Jerry mentioned that when he was in the league guys lefties never through a changeup to lefties. O'Brien never asked the question I'm sure people wanted to know, "Why?" I find that he gets his talking points and picks up some baseball lingo for the day and he spits it out awkwardly and often.
Extra inning win on the road===excellent. One run for Sale===pathetic. I think maybe Farrell needs to find some hitters who don't shit the bedwhen their aces pitches for them. The lack of support for Chris has been disheartening. Well we won, though, and that's what counts.
Quote from: Rob from Mass on April 20, 2017, 02:53:16 PM
Feel bad that Sale was denied a W but bottom line is winning the game.
Yup. Sale is going to make MLB history this season. The only starter who'll log in 200+ innings, finish 1st in ERA, 1st in strikeouts, and have 0 wins to show for it. And he'll still win the Cy Young 8)
No run support at all....