The Numbers All Go to Eleven
When Brock Holt strikes out he still scores because he’s Brock Holt.
Holt scored on Dustin Pedroia’s first-inning home run. Pedroia’s moonshot was impressive as it reached the second deck but it wasn’t quite far enough to be the longest four-bagger of the evening.
The umpires got to test their interpretation of rule 7.13 early in the game. Will Middlebrooks arced the ball over Kevin Pillar’s head to the center field wall. Mike Napoli scored easily from second base. Allen Craig tried to follow him but was out at home. The officiating crew took a look at the play to ensure that Josh Thole didn’t block the plate before he had the ball and ruled that he didn’t. I think it’s because whenever Craig gets near any defender he seems to crumple. He must have watched a lot of Arjen Robben during the World Cup.
Napoli got hit in the helmet by R.A. Dickey in the fifth inning. Dickey’s knuckler is considerably slower than the Felix Hernandez change-up that found Xander Bogaerts’s earflap. Like Bogaerts, Napoli stayed in the game.
It was good that he could because he was a pivotal part of the Red Sox’s offensive onslaught in the eleventh inning. His three-run home run made the score 9-4.
Napoli’s home run found Manny Ramirez territory in left field. It bounced off chairs above Carlos Delgado’s name in the Level of Excellence.
Craig enjoyed his first circuit clout as a Red Sox player, but his didn’t reach the seats. It slipped behind the wall in left field to plate Daniel Nava and push the score to 11-4
At the time the home runs seemed like gilding the lily but Dioner Navarro and Danny Valencia’s doubles in the bottom of the 11th plated three runs. Without Napoli’s homer the local nine would have celebrated a walk-off win and secured a winning record.
Nothing like delivering a debilitating loss to a divisional foe.
| Game 132: August 26, 2014 ∙ 11 innings | ||
 Boston Red Sox58-74 |
11 | W: Junichi Tazawa (3-3) |
| 2B: Will Middlebrooks (8), Daniel Nava (15) HR: Dustin Pedroia (7), Mike Napoli (16), Allen Craig (8) | ||
| Toronto Blue Jays 66-66 |
7 | L: Casey Janssen (3-2) |
| 2B: Jose Reyes (29), Adam Lind – 2 (19), Munenori Kawasaki (6), Kevin Pillar (4), Dioner Navarro (16), Danny Valencia (11) HR: Jose Bautista (25) | ||
