 |
| Carlos Rodon |
Rodon (10-5) went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, and picked up the victory as the Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 10-7, in the finale of a four-game series and a seven-game road trip.
Even though Rodon was not overpowering -- he struck out only three -- he was reasonably efficient. He tossed 67 pitches, 46 of them for strikes. When Rodon left the game, some fans on social media were upset that he wasn't allowed to continue.
Personally, I was fine with pulling Rodon. The score was 9-2 in favor of the Sox at that point, and I didn't see any point in wasting Rodon's arm on this particular game, especially coming off the shoulder soreness he experienced after his previous start.
You would like to think the bullpen would handle those 12 outs with a big lead fairly easily, but this is the Sox bullpen we're talking about, and somebody new fails every day.
This time, it was Michael Kopech's turn to fail, as he was pounded for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. That brought the Blue Jays within two runs at 9-7, but things stabilized for the Sox from there. Ryan Tepera, Garrett Crochet and Craig Kimbrel all worked scoreless innings to close it out, with Kimbrel getting his first save since joining the Sox.
But the bigger story was the Sox offense, which was productive for the first time in a long time. The Sox are 33-5 in games where they hit two home runs or more, and they hit four in this game -- Cesar Hernandez, Luis Robert, Jose Abreu and Eloy Jimenez went deep.
Tim Anderson went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, and Leury Garcia was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Garcia, who just returned from the concussion IL, gave the Sox a lift with a 6-for-11 series against the Blue Jays.
The Sox are 74-55. They finish this 14-game stretch against winning teams with a 7-7 record. Their AL Central lead is nine going into a weekend series with the crosstown Cubs.
No comments:
Post a Comment