Could a lucky bounce raise the fortunes of the defending World Series champs?
Well, the Boston Red Sox needed something to snap their four games losing skid, and last night in Oakland it was a Mookie Betts grounder to third base that hit the bag, popped in the air, and came down in shallow left field that allowed the winning runs to score in Boston's 6-3 win over the A's, just Boston's second victory of the season.
Blake Swihart and Jackie Bradley Jr. singled to start the inning in a 3-3 game and advanced on a wild pitch, but A's third baseman Mark Chapman had Mookie's grounder to third all lined up on his backhand, and Chapman is one of the best defensive cornermen in the game, but he never got a chance to field the ball, both runners scoring when the ball hit the bag.
Andrew Benintendi then brought Mookie around from second with a triple, and Ryan Brasier picked up his first save of the season keeping the A's off the board in the bottom of the 9th. The Red Sox also got a home run from Blake Swihart, on his birthday no less, Mitch Moreland had an RBI double, and JD Martinez extended his hitting streak to seven games, one of the few good streaks the Red Sox have had to this point. Nathan Eovaldi started for the Sox going five innings while giving up 3 runs on 4 hits.
The Red Sox have yet to play their home opener at Fenway Park, so being 2-5 in this fledgling season could eventually be just a footnote in a successful campaign, but the team can't rely on lucky bounces to deliver it. The Baseball Gods are notoriously stingy in handing out such gifts.
The NY Yankees could use some good fortune. Bitten by the injury bug in the early going the Yankees have limped out to a 2-4 start, their latest loss a 2-1 setback to the Detroit Tigers in the Bronx.
Soft throwing Matthew Boyd had the vaunted Yankee sluggers swinging and missing all afternoon, recording a career high 13 strike-outs and even when Boyd was lifted from the game, the Yankee bats kept finding nothing but air. By the end of the game they'd struck out a total of 18 times, which sets an unwanted franchise record for most strikeouts in a 9-inning game.
Gordon Beckham's a solo home run in the 8th off Chad Green was the winning hit, and more bad injury news for the Yankees as Troy Tulowitzki had to exit the game with a strained calf.
But hey, maybe this is the year the other New York team, the one that plays in Queens, steals all the headlines for winning. The NY Mets are now 5-1 after beating the Miami Marlins 6-4 behind 14 strike-outs from ace Jacob deGrom, who wasn't satisfied dominating the Marlins from the mound and added a towering home run to help his own cause in the win.
deGrom's 14 K's marked a career high and he left after 7 innings without allowing a run. The Mets bullpen, though, almost ruined deGrom's outstanding day. The Marlins scored all four of their runs in the 9th, an inning that began with the Mets up 6-0, and Miami brought the tying run to the plate before Edwin Diaz finally got Curtis Granderson to fly out to end it.
And let's check in on Canada's only big league club, the Toronto Blue Jays, off to a 3-4 start after beating the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 in Toronto last night behind two home runs off the bat of Randal Grichuk.
The Boston Celtics would love to secure home court advantage for round one of the playoffs and they took a step toward that goal with a 112-102 win over Heat in Miami last night. Gordon Hayward is playing his best ball since joining the Celtics two years back and missing an entire season after breaking his ankle. He scored a team high 25 points last night in the win.
