Things were going so well! But then they weren’t. 2015, man.
Top Play (WPA): Oddly enough, this honor goes to Mike Moustakas’ two-run double in the top of the ninth (.378), which put a cap on what was a horrific inning for Junichi Tazawa. Eric Hosmer’s two-RBI single earlier in the inning (.360) is good for second place. If you’re a Red Sox fan, you really should’ve just stopped watching this game after the bottom of the eighth.
For Boston, the top play honors go to Jackie Bradley Jr.’s RBI double in the seventh, which was just part of an eventful day for the resurgent outfielder.
Bottom Play (WPA): Rusney Castillo has been great as of late, but he’s the owner of this game’s bottom play. Castillo grounded into a double play with Travis Shaw on base in the bottom of the fourth (-.100), which is a pretty mild offense as far as bottom plays go. The real bottom plays in this one were Josh Rutledge’s error
Key Moment: There are a few plays that stick out here. The first is Rutledge’s error, as he let a tailor-made GIDP ball go through his legs, allowing Hosmer to score.
Then there was this bizarre play, truly one of the strangest I’ve seen as a baseball fan.
Here are the weird things that happened on this one fly ball:
1) Jackie Bradley Jr. misread a ball
2) Jackie Bradley Jr. mishandled a ball
3) The Royals tried to run on Jackie Bradley Jr.
Bradley’s rocket of a throw home temporarily kept the Royals off the board, but, yeah … temporarily. The last key moment would be Moustakas’ double, and there’s a very strong argument to be made that Torey Luvollo shouldn’t have kept Tazawa in the game for that at-bat. Sigh.
Trend to Watch: A good trend: JBJ is hitting .344/.431/.754 in August. A bad trend: Tazawa has allowed nine earned runs in eight innings in August. He’s cooked.
Coming Next: The Red Sox head to the South Side of Chicago where they’ll face the White Sox for three games. They’re up against Jeff Samardzija, Jose Quintana and Chris Sale, so this won’t be an easy stint.
Photo by David Butler II/USA Today Sports Images