This team is unbearable. Yeah, the Sox were able to salvage the final game of the series, 6-4, but they did go into the 9th with a 6-1 lead. Vicente Padilla gave up a pair of homers and a walk in the 9th without recording an out. The most important thing is, they got the win.
The Sox got a pair of runs in the bottom of the 3rd by way of a Carl Crawford ground-out to short that scored Aviles and a Gonzalez single to center to score Ellsbury. Adrian's next at-bat resulted in a 2-run homer to the monster seats, giving him his 3rd RBI of the game. Ross singled in Crawford in the 7th and Ellsbury hit a sac-fly scoring Kalish in the 8th to cap off the Sox scoring.
Everyone in the lineup recorded a hit with the exception of Saltalamachhia, who is back to his slump phase. Crawford, Gonzalez, Ross, Middlebrooks, and Aviles all had multiple hits.
On to pitching. Franklin Morales pitched fairly well, but had to use a lot of pitches in his outing, limiting him to 6 innings. He only have up 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks, throwing 106 pitches (63 strikes). Morales struck out 4, but his command was the issue. Luckily it was against the Twins, so the damage was minimal. Morales did have a great pick-off in the second at first base, which was the highlight of his outing. Melancon and Breslow combined for 2 scoreless innings before Padilla's previously noted meltdown. Alfredo Aceves surprisingly made quick work of the Twins in relief of Padilla for his 23rd save. I thought he was going to blow it, as did everyone else, but he came through.
A win is a win, but it doesn't change the aura surrounding this team.
