The Red Sox Strike Back

Two crazy ways to end the game! Suddenly, the past two games have shifted this World Series from a mediocre one to one of the best.

 

Many questions entered tonight, like how Clay Buchholz would perform, and if the Red Sox could bounce back after a wild night before. Just before the game, the Red Sox announced that OF Shane Victorino could not play because of back spasms. How would Allen Craig do after getting injured? Would Lance Lynn struggle like he has been?

All of these questions were answered in Game 4, and man was it wild. There were easy reasons why the Red Sox won this game, but they made some interesting moves that also helped them out. It all started with Clay Buchholz.

Buchholz was a gem in the regular season, but a neck injury sidelined him for 82 games. He finished going 12-1 with a 1.74 ERA nonetheless. In the postseason, he would continue to deal with injury, and, in three games, could go 16 innings. In last night’s game, Buchholz only went four innings, but gave up only three hits and an unearned run.

His stuff was not the same as the regular season, but he was able to keep the ball down. He forced a lot of ground balls that was able to get him out of innings. He never throws the same pitch twice, and was able to get the ball over. That’s all he needed in four innings.

Felix Dubront would replace Buchholz, and he changed the game completely. Dubront was a starter in the regular season, and would retire the first eight batters that he faced. He would give up the second run, but by that time, the Red Sox were up anyways. 

Then here was the best part for the Sox pitching. In the 8^th inning, instead of main set-up man Junichi Tazawa coming in, who pitched the last of the 7^th, or have Koji Uehara pitch a 2-inning save, John Lackey comes in. Yes, the starter John Lackey, who started Game 2 for the Red Sox. Good move? Well, at first it looked like the wrong decision. But hey, he was able to pitch a scoreless 8^th. Now the question is whether he will be able to pitch Game 6 still. I think he will be able to, but more on that later.

Like I mentioned before, Victorino was a late scratch of the lineup for Boston. Who would replace him? Their only option was Jonny Gomes, who was hitless in the World Series before this game.

His first at-bat was not a good start either. He grounds into a double play, and starter Lance Lynn would roll. But I noticed his 2^nd plate appearance more than anything. It was an 11 pitch at-bat against Lynn, who had him down 0-2 after two called strikes. Gomes was able to walk. That was the key to this game; the Red Sox have some of the best eyes in the game, and they were able to wait patiently, even on really good pitches. Gomes and rookie Xander Bogaerts are the ones to watch when it comes to that.

 

When the 6^th inning came, it was tied 1-1. It seemed like David Ortiz was the only one who had the will to win. He got the team together in the dugout, saying that it was their time now to strike. Ortiz, who is batting .727 in the World Series, went 3-for-3 last night.

They listened to him, that’s for sure. Lynn would give up a hit to Dustin Pedroia and a walk to Ortiz, then was replaced by Seth Maness. With two outs, in steps Jonny Gomes. He was the one to listen to Ortiz’s words, and came in when Red Sox nation needed him. On a 2-2 count (once again, he worked up the pitch count), he drives a hanging cutter into left field.

The Red Sox now had a commanding 4-1 lead.

From there on out, it was Boston strong. Yes, the Cardinals were able to add another run, but each time they tried to threat, it was quickly wiped away. The best example came in the 9^th inning.

A big question was how Allen Craig would do after the wild finish the night before. Though his running abilities were clearly depleted, his hitting capabilities would not. He comes on the pinch hit in the 9^th, and, like the night before, would prevail off closer Koji Uehara.

The fact that Koji gave up a hit to anyone is pretty rare, but compiling TWO hits off him? That’s unheard of! Good work by Craig.

He hit a ball to the wall that should have been a double, but he would have been struck down if he tried. His running impairments surely showed, and he limped to first base with a single. So yes, despite injury, Craig can still hit. He’s now batting .444 in the World Series.

Kolten Wong would come on to pinch run for Craig, and that’s when things suddenly just stopped for the Cards. Koji was facing Carlos Beltran, who already had an RBI single earlier in the game. One crack of the bat could have tied the game.

 

Instead, Uehara catches Wong off guard at first, and picks him off. All of a sudden, the game was over, and the series is tied. The whole place was shocked. The camera didn’t even get to the whole play at first. It was such an amazing play by Uehara, a perfect read and a perfect throw to get Wong.

It’s the first postseason game ever where the game ended on a pickoff.

And that’s it. The Red Sox win, 4-2. This series is tied 2-2. No matter what, the series will finish in Boston. Game 5 will be a rematch of Game 1,  between Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright. The Cardinals hope that Wainwright can bounce back from a disastrous Game 1 outing. I think he can; there’s a lot of difference between Busch Stadium and Fenway, as well as having home field advantage.

It might be just another 1-0 game, but I think the Cardinals can take the lead in the series tonight. Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd