The Red Sox are rolling, the bats are hot, and even Sean O’Sullivan got a win out of this one. That last part is not something I was expecting to write.
Top Play (WPA)
Nothing was bigger – or more game-changing – than Hanley Ramirez’s monster blast to left-center field in the first inning.
That ball came off the bat at 114 mph, went 468 feet, and became the second-longest homer in the majors, just behind a 474-foot colossus that Giancarlo Stanton hit. Hanley’s .144 WPA moonshot set the tone for what was to happen for the first few innings. The Red Sox went to town on Oakland’s Sean Manaea, and the poor rookie didn’t even make it out of the third inning before getting yanked.
Bottom Play (WPA)
The A’s unsurprisingly take the cake here. Trouble was brewing in the top of the third inning, when Chris Coghlan came up to bat. Coghlan hit a single to center, where Jackie Bradley Jr. was waiting, and Oakland’s third base coach, Ron Washington, decided to send Billy Butler. Yes, you read that right.
There’s been better sends, I reckon. That play was worth a -.038 WPA, and killed any hope of the A’s catching up to the Red Sox early. I’m not sure what the rationale was there, but Billy Butler is – as the scouts say it – not fast.
when the catcher forgets how gosh darn slow Billy Butler is pic.twitter.com/pHx1CldlEO
— Matthew Kory (@mattymatty2000) May 10, 2016
Key Moment
The entire bottom of the third inning. The Red Sox, fresh off nailing Butler by a parsec at the plate, poured it on. Sean Manaea didn’t know what hit him. The first five batters all reached base, and the Red Sox had scored three runs before the first out of that half of the inning. The sequence of that inning went as follows: 1B, 2B, 1B, 1B, 1B, F8, 2B, pitching change, K. Generally speaking, five-run innings tend to clinch games for you.
Trend to Watch
Here comes Hanley Ramirez. We’ve been waiting for the power to appear, and it’s arrived in a big way. Over the last two weeks, Ramirez is slashing a robust .364/.451/.591 with three dingers. He’s gotten a hit in 11 out of the 12 games in that same span of time. Everything he makes contact on seems to be an absolute rocket. His shoulder isn’t a crumpled mess. Who knew Hanley could be this much fun when he’s on?
Coming Next
The Red Sox go for the sweep on Wednesday, as they’ll send out newly anointed staff ace Rick Porcello to face Eric Surkamp. No Rich Hill in this series, sadly.
Photo by Bob DeChiara/USA Today Sports Images