Boston Red Sox: 3 moments that mattered in Game 86 win over Nats
The Boston Red Sox bounced back from a tough series against the New York Yankees to beat the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Monday night.
Following a disastrous David Price start in New York, the Boston Red Sox needed to bounce back strong and got a solid starting pitching performance out of Rick Porcello in a 4-3 win over Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Monday night.
On paper, this was supposed to be a tough matchup for the squad from Boston, but the Sox managed to get a few early runs off one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues. Better yet, they got a good, much needed outing on the mound out of Porcello who increased his record to 10-3 on the season.
Scattering just seven hits and two runs over six innings, Porcello didn’t only get it done on the mound, he got it done on the plate.
Talk about improbable.
Not only did the Red Sox hurler outpitch Scherzer, he hit a three-run double in the top of the second inning to break a scoreless tie. The gap shot not only surprised Scherzer on the mound, the team was shocked as well.
"“I think everybody was just shocked,” Mookie Betts said following the game, via MLB.com. “Excited for sure, but I think when he first hit it, everybody didn’t really know what went on, but it was just pure excitement at that point.”"
It certainly set the tone for the night. The Red Sox bats got a couple more runs and the bullpen was able to hold on to get the Sox back in the win column.
Once again, Alex Cora’s team proved they are the real deal this season as they stepped up to the challenge of facing a pitcher like Max Scherzer.
"“That’s what we do,” Cora said prior to the start of series. “We turn the page and move on. We’ve got a series right in front of us and we put ourselves in a position to win the series and hopefully we can do it tomorrow.”"