Friday, May 16, 2014

20/20

Tough series in Minnesota. The Twins had been playing better ball as of late, and they won two of three games in their final turn at-bat.

Mixed in was a Red Sox romp, 9-4.

Plenty of encouraging signs in the series. Felix Doubront looked good in Wednesday's win. He went 6 1/3 innings, allowed just one earned run and struck out 5 while walking just one. He's been a concern as of late, as he loses concentration and falls into holes the team doesn't can't seem to crawl out of.

David Ortiz was otherwordly in the first two games, blasting four home runs total while driving in six. The Twins finally figured him out yesterday, as he only went 1-for-4.

The Red Sox as a team came from behind late in both of the eventual losses, from 5-1 on Tuesday and 3-1 yesterday. Both losses were tagged on Andrew Miller, who has been pitching very well this season. He gave up a two-run home run to Chris Parmalee on Tuesday, and an RBI single to Aaron Hicks in the 10th yesterday.

It's been a real slog for Clay Buchholz this year, but he pitched a similar game to the one he pitched in Toronto earlier this year. He gave up three runs early, but settled down and went six innings, striking out 6 and walking three.

The young trio of Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley and Will Middlebrooks had their moments in the series, and according to Gordon Edes, John Farrell is sticking by all three, despite some brutal numbers by all of them in May.

The Sox split the six-game road trip to Texas and Minnesota, and return home at .500: 20-20. The AL East continues to be a logjam. Sox remain in third, just 1 1/2 games behind division leader Baltimore.

Detroit, the team with the best record in the AL at 24-12, comes into Fenway tonight for a big three-game series.

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