On paper, the game was Chris Sale vs. Ricky Nolasco. Now, we all know that baseball is a funny game, and that anything can happen (trademarked by red floyd), so you can’t just give up before the first pitch is thrown. Ricky Nolasco was even better than halfway decent for the Florida Marlins in 2008. Incidentally, on a totally separate note, I made dinner plans for tonight and missed the first two hours of the game. Oops.
If there are ever clinics on the worst innings that can probably happen to a team, tonight’s 1st should be in that book. Mookie Betts ended up on second base after the first batter, and Andrew Benintendi cashed him in, singling to left. Somehow, even though it seemed Betts would be dead to rights at home, Shane Robinson made a subpar throw, and Martin Maldonado made a subpar tag. Ricky Nolasco kept throwing hanging breaking balls, Red Sox hitters kept banging them into the outfield, and before Chris Sale had even thrown a pitch, it was 5-0. Go figure.
And then Chris Sale actually started pitching. We had hope for all of four pitches.
Here's why. pic.twitter.com/A9HrwGNvO2
— Kaelen Jones (@kaelenjones) July 22, 2017
Then we knew all was lost.
Sale ended up going 6 innings, striking out 9. He was good (although Tom Hallion rung up Mike Trout on a non-strike).
Martin Maldonado hit a homer, so that was cool.
At some point, Shane Robinson left the game for Ben Revere, so that was intriguing.
Angel relievers pitched 5 scoreless, so that was half-satisfying.
Chris Sale reached 200 strikeouts, so that was remarkable.
Not much to say. Ricky Nolasco did not induce a swing-and-miss in the first, and no one was fooled. Chris Sale induced a lot of swing-and-misses, and hitters were frequently fooled. Chalk it up to fate.
Oh, man, the Red Sox fans still suck.