In Your Face
Two players had balls smash into their faces under unusual circumstances. One of Rubby De La Rosa’s pitches ricocheted off A.J. Pierzynski’s leg protector right into Roman Ali Solis’s nose. Solis was pulled from the game and Jose Molina struck out for him. That whiff lives on Solis’s ledger, not Molina’s.
In the eighth inning Jackie Bradley, Jr. pursued Kevin Kiermaier’s fly ball to the Green Monster but misjudged the trajectory. The ball hit Bradley in the face and he crumpled to the ground in pain. Kiermaier scrambled for an inside-the-park home run. Bradley displayed his toughness and stayed in the game.
It was a game of firsts. De La Rosa enjoyed his first win in a Red Sox uniform. Brock Holt jolted his first major league home run. Bradley hammered his first circuit clout of the season. A Fox broadcast of a Red Sox game was enjoyable for the first time in a long time thanks to Tim McCarver’s departure. Tom Verducci has a somewhat florid vocal style that didn’t allow for the action on the field to speak for itself.
Not that I closely follow umpire crew rotations but for the first time I can recall a crew chief was replaced in the middle of a series. Jeff Kellogg, who presided over Friday evening’s eventful game, was replaced by Ted Barrett because of Kellogg’s “pre-existing personal matter.” I didn’t find any other details other than Ryan Hannable’s tweet.
Mike Carp was hit by a pitch for the second straight game. Jake Odorizzi’s curveball was obviously errant and without intent so the hot tempers from Friday’s game were not reignited. Instead the Red Sox took care of business on the field for a comfortable 7-1 victory to extend their winning streak to six games.
| Game 55: May 31, 2014 | ||
| Tampa Bay Rays 23-33 |
1 | L: Jake Odorizzi (2-5) |
| 2B: Ben Zobrist (8), David DeJesus (12) HR: Kevin Kiermaier (2) | ||
 Boston Red Sox26-29 |
7 | W: Rubby De La Rosa (1-0) |
| 2B: Xander Bogaerts (15) HR: Brock Holt (1), Jackie Bradley Jr. (1) | ||
