Home runs from Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, and Jackie Bradley Jr. made up for a lot of stranded runners and a pitching performance by starter Henry Owens that lasted just three innings, but in the end the Red Sox were happy to get out of Chicago with a 7-3 win against the White Sox last night.
The game was not exactly crisp, lasting nearly four hours, due mostly to a combined sixteen walks from both pitching staffs, six of them issued by Red Sox starter Henry Owens, who got a lift when Matt Barnes relieved him and went one and two thirds innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win. But despite the tepid pitching, the Red Sox bats were hot. Pedroia's solo homer in the first was one of his three hits on the night, and JBJ's homer in the sixth kept his hitting streak rolling along, now at eleven games. So the Red Sox end up taking two out of three from a very good White Sox squad, and this game was historic because while the two first place Sox teams were playing each other on the south side of Chicago, on the north side the first place Chicago Cubs were taking on the first place Washington Nationals, marking the first time in Major League Baseball history that four first-place teams were all playing in the same city on the same night. That's literally a first.
The Red Sox continue their six-game road trip in the Bronx tonight against the NY Yankees, who went extra innings against the Baltimore Orioles last night in a much-better pitched game than the one between Chicago and Boston. In fact, only one run was yielded on the night, and unfortunately for the Yankees it came in the bottom of the tenth inning on a sacrifice fly by Pedro Alvarez that gave the O's a 1-0 victory. Starters Kevin Gausman for Baltimore and Masahiro Tanaka for New York were both excellent, matching zeroes on the scoreboard for eight innings before matters were turned over to the bullpens. Hyun Soon Kim reached on an infield single in the tenth off Johnny Barbato, and moved to third on a single by Jonthan Schoop. Andrew Miller relieved Barbato but Alvarez' sac fly ended the game with another Yankees loss as their struggles continue, now two and eight in their last ten games and currently in the A.L. basement, seven games out of first place.
In San Diego last night, Padres starter Colin Rea took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the NY Mets, but going the other way against an infield shift, Yoenis Cespedes ended the shot at history with a single to break it up. The Padres had built up a 5-0 lead by that point and when they turned things over to the pen San Diego almost gave the game away as the Mets scored three in the ninth but that was all they would get and the Padres hung on to win 5-3.
To the NHL playoffs, and I would love to meet the one east coast based hockey fanatic, perhaps a fan of the San Jose Sharks or Nashville Predators, who just had to stay up to see who would win game four between those two clubs last night, because it was not decided until the third period of overtime when Mike Fisher of the Predators scored his first sudden death goal in twelve years to give Nashville a 3-2 win. It's the first overtime winner for the Nashville franchise on home ice in team history and if not for video review it wouldn't have happened. San Jose's Joe Pavelski scored in the first overtime but the goal was waived off for goaltender interference. The series moves back to San Jose for Game five knotted at two games apiece.
The Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues are also tied up at two after yet another overtime thriller, although by comparison with the marathon all-nighter Nashville and San Jose played, this was a fairly brisk affair. Cody Eakin played hero for the Stars, putting home the game winner to send the sea of Blues fans home unhappy. Game five will be played back in Dallas.
The NBA playoffs can do overtime too, of course, although it lacks the nail-biting intensity of hockey's sudden death format. Still, with Torontonians unable to watch their rebuilding Maple Leafs in the NHL playoffs, the city is thrilled to have the Raptors in the thick of the post-season and last night they went to overtime to pull out a 96-92 win over the Miami Heat that ties that second round series at two games apiece. Jonas Valanciunas came up huge for Toronto, pulling down twelve rebounds to go with his fifteen points, eleven of those points in the fourth quarter and overtime to give Toronto the much-needed victory.
Locally, a huge victory for the UVM mens' lacrosse team has them going to the America East title game after a 10-9 win over Stony Brook yesterday. Cam Milligan had the eventual game winning goal for the Catamounts late in regulation and for the first time in seventeen tries, UVM has bested Stony Brook in lacrosse. UVM can win the title if they beat Hartford Saturday in Albany for the championship. That game will be televised on ESPNU at 10am.
