Dateline: Hook Road 2
It was a crisp spring evening as the Red Sox continued their road trip to the home of the Blue Jays at Hook Road. The Red Sox jumped on the Blue Jays starter with a leadoff single by Jared, a groundout by Chris that moved Jared to third and an RBI single by Mike F. to score the run. The Red Sox would not relinquish this lead. In the bottom of the first, the first batter hit a shot to TJ at first who fielded it nicely and stepped on the bag. Garrett continued his excellent streak of pitching with two quick strikeouts to end the inning. After one it was 1-0 Sox.
In the second the Sox started to pull away with a leadoff single by Corey, walks to Kyle and TJ to load the bases. Jared hit a sharp smash to third to score Corey and after the third baseman threw to first Kyle scored as well. Garrett hit a shot to first to score TJ and Jared. Garrett came on and quickly struck out the side and after two it was 5-0 Sox.
The Red Sox were held to a lone run in the third on a walk to Chris and Jack. Chris advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a subsequent wild pitch with a perfect slide into home. Michael F. came to the mound and had some initial control problems and gave up a few walks. He settled down and struck out the last three batters to keep the Blue Jays to only three. After three it was 6-3 Sox.
In the fourth, Corey, Justin, Kyle walked. Jared walked to score Corey. Garrett hit a shot to third to score a run and Chris singled to score two more. Matt came on in the fourth and struck out three. After four the Red Sox had a commanding lead at 10-3.
To obtain some additional insurance runs in the fifth, Matt, Michael F. and Will walked to load the bases. Corey walked to score Matt, Justin singled to score Michael F and walks to Kyle and TJ scored Jack and Corey. Matt walked to the mound with a 14-3 lead. After a few walks he settled down to strike out the last two batters to end the game at 14-6.
A few tickets remain for the classic Red Sox – Yankees battle on Saturday. This week will be even more exciting as the Red Sox currently at 4-0 in the American League are only a game in front of the second place Yankees who are 3-1. It has all the makings of a traditional Red Sox vs. Yankees classic ballgame.
Coach Grossman immediately began preparations for the Yankees so he was only available for a rather terse interview. He said “We again had good pitching and our hitters are looking better each week. We still need to work on our fielding, but that will come with time.” Coach Goldstein said “Another great game, we are continuing to look better each game. We will certainly have a tough game on Saturday, but I think we’ll be ready for it.”