There’s not much more you can say about what the Red Sox are doing right now, so I’ll leave this here for you to digest: 50 runs scored in four games.
Top Play (WPA)
As it was on Tuesday, a first inning home run earned the highest WPA mark in the game. This time, it was Xander Bogaerts’ turn to take the crown, as his two-run shot off Dallas Keuchel racked up a .164 WPA.
Bogaerts took a slider and golfed it into the back row of the Monster. Keuchel hasn’t been his best lately, but it says a lot about how far the young shortstop has come to be able to take a pitch at his shins and nearly hit it out of the park. With an ISO of .131 coming into the game, it’s probably safe to say that we shouldn’t have to worry about his power numbers anymore.
Bottom Play (WPA)
The Astros had the seven worst plays in the game, but none was more worthless than when Carlos Gomez came up to bat with two runners on and one out in the third inning. Gomez hit a sharp grounder to Bogaerts, who flipped it to Pedroia to start up a double play. Not only was that double play worth -.097 WPA, that was the last time the Astros would threaten in the game, as David Price and the bullpen shut them down for the rest of the game. Houston was already struggling coming into this series, and going up against Price and the historically hot Red Sox was the exact opposite of what they needed.
Key Moment
Mookie Betts’ dagger in the sixth inning. Despite having given up five runs, Keuchel was still pitching efficiently, and kept the Astros in the game. Betts saw to that with a three-run homer. Mookie’s been in a bit of a slump over the last couple weeks, especially in the power department, as his .088 ISO over that span left a lot to be desired. Now that he’s cranked out two homers in the last three games, maybe we’re about to see the outfielder catch fire again.
Also, it’s hard to pin down one key moment, but how about David Price? A 6.2-inning, 12-strikeout performance should go a long way toward assuaging some fears.
Trend To Watch
A RBI single in the second inning pushed Jackie Bradley’s hitting streak to 18 games, making it the longest active streak in the majors, and with another hit on Friday, he’ll notch the longest in the majors, active or not. When Bradley gets hot, there are very few players that can match what he does. He’s hitting an insane .469 over the last 15 games, and his OPS for the season is pushing 1.000. Superlatives don’t describe what he’s doing, but at the very least, he’s cemented his spot in the outfield for the near future.
Coming Next
The Red Sox will try to make it five games in a row with at least 10 runs scored, as the Astros will throw Lance McCullers – who’s making his first start of the season – into the fire on Friday night. Opposing him will be Steven Wright, fresh off a complete game victory in the Bronx.