On a night when David Price was OK but not great, and needed his usually dependable offense to give him a lift, the Boston Red Sox went cold when it mattered most and lost to the Texas Rangers 7-2 at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox stranded fourteen runners, and were just two for sixteen with runners in scoring position when the game was still tight. David Price was hoping for a bounce back game after two consecutive rough outings and things didn't look good when he gave up a home run to Shin-Soo Choo on the first pitch of the game, but Price would settle down and give up just two more runs after that, falling behind 3-2, which is where the game stayed until the ninth when Sox closer Craig Kimbrel imploded, giving up four runs including a three-run homer to Robinson Chirinos. Of course, bringing your closer into a game with the team trailing makes sense to no one perhaps except manager John Farrell, who won't have Kimbrel available in the rubber game of the series tonight should he need him to actually close a game instead of maintaining a tie or a deficit. Steven Wright will take the hill tonight for Boston, hoping for a better outcome against the team that knocked him around for eight runs in a loss in Texas a couple of weeks ago.
Wright, by the way, is one of six Red Sox players named to the all-star team, and those six represent the largest contingent of all-stars from any one team this year. The others are Jackie Bradley, Jr., Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz, and the aforementioned Craig Kimbrel. The Sox can make it seven if Dustin Pedroia is voted in by the fans. Of course, none of that will matter to the team or the fans if the Red Sox don't make the playoffs.
The NY Yankees struck back against the Chicago White Sox, battering Chicago pitching with a season-high twenty hits in a 9-0 shut out in the Windy City. Chase Headley smacked a two-run homer for the second consecutive night, Austin Romine also went deep, and Masahiro Tanaka was velvet smooth, pitching into the eighth inning to improve to 6-2 on the year. Carlos Beltran had three hits on a night when he was named an all-star for the ninth time in his career. He'll join teammates Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances for the game, but there will be a lot of speculation depending where the Yankees are in the standings at the break as to whether the 39-year old Beltran will be dealt to a contending team for prospects as the Yankees, currently seven games out of first, could be sellers rather than buyers.
At Citi Field, no comeback this time for the NY Mets. Giancarlo Stanton homered twice as the Miami Marlins beat the Mets 5-2 one night after they blew a six-run lead against New York in an 8-6 loss. Jose Reyes returned to the Mets, his original team for the first time and was playing in his first major league game since serving a 59-day suspension for domestic violence. He went 0-4 with a stikeout. The Mets will be sending all-star slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the all star game along with closer Juerys Familia and starter Noah Syndegaard.
In the NY Penn League, the Vermont Lake Monsters rode a strong start from Xavier Altamirano, who gave up just three hits in a 7-0 win over the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in Ohio.
In the NECBL the Vermont Mountaineers are loving life at Recreational Field, winning their fifth straight game in Montpelier in a 9-5 win over the Sanford Mainers last night. The Mountaineers trailed heading into the eighth inning when they exploded for seven runs to take the lead for good.
The Upper Valley Nighthawks are in a tailspin right now, losing their fifth straight game in a 7-5 loss to the Newport Gulls last night. They did rally for three runs in the ninth, but trailing 7-2 at the time it wasn't enough to snap the losing skid.
At Wimbledon, could the Williams sisters be headed for a sibling rivalry match? Both Serena and elder sister Venus have moved into the semi-finals after respective victories yesterday. On the mens' side, Tomas Berdych advanced to the semis and there are some big names going at it later this morning with Andy Murray facing Jo Wilfried-Tsonga. American and Djokovic slayer Sam Querrey faces Milos Raonic of Canada and Roger Federer takes on Marin Cilic.
Big game today in the Euro '16 Championships with the only real underdog left in the tournament, Wales, taking on Portugal in the semi-finals today. That game starts at 3 o'clock eastern time. Portugal boasts one of the greatest players on the planet in Christiano Rinaldo, but Wales has a pretty good player as well in his Real Madrid teammate Gareth Bale. The winner makes it to the final to face the winner of Germany and France.
After the first round of play at the Vermont Amateur Golf tournament, three players share the lead including defending champ Alex Rainville, at one over par 71 with Stephen Richards and Bryan Smith.
