DUSTIN, RED SOX ARE ROYAL PAIN
Historic streak for Pedroia
It’s not often that an entire ballpark has its eyes glued to the plate during a six-run game in August, but when Dustin Pedroia stepped into the batter’s box in the eighth inning last night, everyone in the Red Sox dugout was perched on the top step.
“It was one of those, you know when the pitcher has a perfect game type of thing?” right fielder Mookie Betts said. “Everybody knows it, but you don’t say anything. So everybody knew, and didn’t say anything. We definitely enjoyed it.”
Pedroia began yesterday’s 8-3 drubbing of the Royals 4-for-4. Dating to Thursday’s game in Tampa Bay, he was 11-for-11, one hit shy of tying the major league record of 12 consecutive hits.
That eighth-inning at-bat didn’t end as the Red Sox had hoped, and Pedroia bounced into a double play, but it was quite a run for the second baseman.
“That’s probably one of the coolest things you can experience,” shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. “Just to be able to watch and be happy for a teammate. … It was awesome for him to go through that.”
Predictably, Pedroia downplayed his accomplishment after the game.
“It’s baseball. It’s a crazy game,” Pedroia said. “We’ve faced some pretty good pitchers. It’s just one of those things. You’re locked in. The guys I’ve faced, those guys are really tough, so you just have hot streaks.”
The second baseman’s fingerprints were all over the win, as he and the Red Sox offense flexed their muscles against one of the game’s best pitchers. Royals starter Danny Duffy arrived at Fenway with an AL-leading ERA. He didn’t leave with it. Duffy entered the game with an 11-1 mark to complement a 2.66 ERA. He’d been even better in August (5-0, 1.18 in five starts).
But the Sox bats tagged Duffy for three homers, a pair of doubles and seven runs in his five innings, inflating his ERA to 3.01.
Pedroia set the tone in his first at-bat, rifling a single to center. Bogaerts followed with a two-run homer for an early 2-0 lead.
After the Royals answered with two runs in the second, the Sox quickly retook the lead in their half. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Pedroia each ripped RBI doubles to make it 4-2.
David Price rebounded with a scoreless third and cruised the rest of the way, ending up with seven strikeouts in six innings. With the solid outing, Price’s ERA dropped below 4.00 for the first time since Opening Day.
The Sox added an insurance run in the fourth on Pedroia’s third hit of the game, another rope to center that made it 5-2.
Betts cleared the Monster for his 29th homer of the season in the fifth, and Hanley Ramirez followed with a jack to almost the same spot to make it 7-2.
Hit No. 4 for Pedroia was a single in the sixth, and it was followed by a Bogaerts double to put the Sox up 8-2.
Had Pedroia been able to muster a 12th hit, he would have become the fourth to accomplish the feat, including Pinky Higgins for the Sox in 1938.
“That’s special,” Price said. “Whenever your name is up there with guys in black and white photos, that’s pretty special. He’s a gamer.”