In the rubber match of a three game series, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night, by a final score of 5-2. Red Sox starter Brandon Workman put his team behind early in the game, as he allowed 3 first inning runs to cross the plate. However, Boston battled back in the 3rd inning, as Christian Vazquez and Mike Napoli collected RBI base hits against St. Louis’ ace, Adam Wainwright. Clinging to a slim one-run advantage, the Cardinals received a jolt of power from an unlikely place. Perhaps most notably known to Red Sox fans as the guy who Koji Uehara picked off to end game 4 of the 2013 World Series, Kolton Wong drilled 2 solo home runs in the 5th and 7th innings, to push the Cardinals lead to 5-2. After suffering their sixth straight series loss, the Red Sox will now head out to Anaheim to begin a 3 game set with the Angels.
- While Xander Bogaerts isn’t out of the woods yet, the 21 year old appears to be making the necessary adjustments to defunct his 2 month long struggle at the plate. While some are crediting Bogaerts return to shortstop for relaxing the rookie, it seems like the Aruba native is adapting to major league pitching with more regularity. (Burden of proof: Bogaerts looks to offer some answers)
- Prior to struggling for most of the 2014 campaign, Allen Craig was nothing short of a terrific hitter throughout his fist 4 season in the majors. Breaking in with St. Louis in 2010, the outfielder posted a .306/.358/.492 slash in his combined time with the Cardinals. Now a member of the Red Sox after being deal in the John Lackey deadline deal, Craig’s left ankle injury has hampered most of his 2014 season, but both Craig and Ben Cherington believe that he’ll return to the offensive force. (Why the Red Sox and Allen Craig are confident he’ll bounce back)
- Perhaps lost in the excitement of Yoenis Cespedes, Allen Craig, and Joe Kelly, the Red Sox added their fourth major league caliber deadline acquisition to the roster on Thursday. Boston activated utility man Kelly Johnson from the disabled list, and optioned outfielder Mookie Betts. Johnson, who was acquired from the Yankees in exchange for Stephen Drew, isn’t anything special, but his ability to play all over the field will give the Red Sox bench some flexibility. (Red Sox activate Johnson, option Betts)
- Since assuming the closers role last season, Koji Uehara has been nothing but dominant throughout his time manning the 9th inning. While Uehara’s production is usually something that teams pay top dollar for in the free agent market, the 40 year old can’t expect receive a lucrative offer this offseaon. Instead, Uehara (and the Red Sox) should follow the path of fellow Japanese pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, and continue his career on a year-to-year basis. (Deal Koji Uehara in for 1 more?)
- To Carl Crawford, the biggest mistake of his career was signing with the Red Sox during the winter of 2010. Now a member of the LA Dodgers, Crawford recently described his time with the Red Sox like a prisoner would describe a life sentence. After signing a 7 year, $142M contract and almost immediately dealing with injuries and under performance, the outfielder said he was happy to leave Boston in the 2012 blockbuster trade with the Dodgers. (Carl Crawford does not share Jon Lester’s sentiments regarding playing baseball in Boston)
- Tweet of the day: Jon Lester was pretty dominant last night, per usual.
Lester was dominant in his complete game, 3-0 shutout of the Twins. Had a no-no into the 6th. Classy, too, acknowledging Cespedes post game.
— Al Saracevic (@AlSaracevic) August 8, 2014