The Red Sox brought out the brooms in one of the most devastatingly dominant sweeps I’ve ever seen.
Top Play (WPA)
You might have trouble believing this, but Jackie Bradley was involved in the biggest play of a Red Sox win. We’ll have more on the streaking outfielder in just a second, but let’s quickly take a look at this play in particular. Wednesday’s series finale didn’t get off to the dominant start of the previous games, with the Red Sox actually falling behind 1-0 in the second inning. That didn’t last long, however, as Bradley blasted a two-out, two-run home run (+.280) off an Erik Surkamp fastball that was left right down the heart of the plate. Big hits like this are basically inevitable with the way Bradley is hitting right now.
Bottom Play (WPA)
This game was closer than the score indicated for the first half of the game, and it looked like Rick Porcello would struggle to keep the lead that Bradley handed to him with that home run. In the following frame, he allowed two runners to reach base in front of Josh Reddick. Porcello then proceeded to completely lose control of a pitch to allow the runners to move to second and third, giving Reddick a chance to at least tie the game with one swing. Instead, he induced a pop up (-.083).
Key Moment
It’s sort of weird that was the bottom play, though, as Khris Davis followed that up with a two-run single to tie the game. The next worst play felt bigger. This one came in the top half of the fifth right after Porcello loaded the bases on a single, a walk and a hit batsmen. With a three-run lead, the Red Sox were in danger of finding themselves in a tie game, at least. Instead, Porcello was able to bear down and get a huge ground ball from Stephen Vogt and escape the inning unscathed. The Red Sox would score four runs in the bottom half of the inning and cruise from there.
Jackie Bradley Jr. Is On Fire
There really aren’t words for the streak that Bradley is one right now. With a double and two more home runs last night, he’s now up to a .977 OPS with a .288 ISO on the season. Obviously, he’s going to cool off at some point (if he doesn’t he’s a legitimate MVP candidate, which seems unlikely), but the fact that he’s able to put together streaks like this is incredible given where he was at this time last year. This is now the second time we’ve seen him go on this kind of run, and if nothing else he’s proven he’s capable of being a big-league fixture for a while.
Dustin Pedroia is On Fire
Lost in all of the talk about Jackie Bradley has been the roll that Pedroia finds himself on. After losing his power for a couple years in 2013 and 2014, it sure looks like it’s come back in the last two seasons. After hitting his sixth home run last night, he’s up to a 194 ISO, which would be the second-highest of his career. All of a sudden we’re getting flashbacks to early-career Pedroia, and that is a Very Good Thing.
The Red Sox Lineup is On Fire
Honestly, I could do this kind of write-up for everyone in the lineup so let’s just do it this way. It’s incredibly fun watching this offense right now, which is one of, if not the, best offenses in the league by multiple measures. This past series was almost to the point of being mean, as they scored 40 runs in three games. FORTY. That’s bananas. Even Christian Vazquez had three hits last night! They’re not going to score double-digits every night, but barring injury there’s no reason this lineup shouldn’t remain among the best in baseball for the entire season.
A Weirdly Encouraging Night for Rick Porcello
This was not Porcello’s finest night. In fact, it was likely his worst outing of the season. He just couldn’t find consistent command for most of the night, which led to a couple of walks, a hit batsman and a bunch of pitches left up in the zone. Last year, that kind of outing would have resulted in a three-inning, seven-run affair on most nights. Last night, he was able to bear down, get big outs when he needed them and give the offense enough time to take control of the game. The fact that he was able to make it through 6.2 innings is a good sign for him to avoid the really rough stretches that plagued him last year.
Coming Next
The Red Sox will look to continue their red-hot streak with a four-game set against the visiting Astros. Boston took two out of three in Houston just a couple weeks ago, though they didn’t have to see their ace, Dallas Keuchel. He’ll be taking the hill tonight against David Price in a matchup of struggling aces. First pitch is at 7:10 ET.
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