April 27, 2013: Red Sox pitchers continue strikeout surge in win over Astros

During a homestand in late April 2013, Boston Red Sox pitchers started striking out a lot of the opposition. It began when the Red Sox lost both games of a doubleheader to the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park on April 21. Boston’s seven-game winning streak was snapped, but Red Sox pitchers had struck out 22 Royals—10 in the first game and 12 in the second.  

On Monday, April 22, Red Sox pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts of the visiting Oakland Athletics in a 9-6 win. Seven A’s struck out in the next evening’s rain-shortened seven-inning, 13-0 Boston loss, then 12 more in the Red Sox’ 6-5 win over the A’s on April 24.

The Houston Astros came to town for a four-game series, and in the opener Clay Buchholz ran his season record to 5-0, winning 7-2; the Astros struck out 11 times. On Friday, April 26, it was 7-3, Red Sox. Starter Ryan Dempster struck out 10—his second 10-strikeout game in three starts—and each of four relievers added one more K for a total of 14. That was 75 strikeouts in a stretch of seven games.1

The Red Sox, who were in first place in the American League East Division and tied with the Texas Rangers for the majors’ best record at 16-7, played the Astros again on Saturday evening, April 27. A left-hander from Venezuela, Felix Doubront, had been one of only two starters with a winning record (11-10, 4.86) on the last-place 2012 Red Sox.2 He took the mound at Fenway Park for new manager John Farrell. In his first three starts of 2013, Doubront was 2-0 with a 4.32 ERA.

The Astros had finished sixth—last place—in the National League Central Division in 2012, 42 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. In 2013, as part of a realignment of the two leagues, they became an AL team, and they were last in the five-team AL West at 7-16. Bo Porter was Houston’s first-year manager. He started righty Brad Peacock. It was Peacock’s first full year in the majors; he was 1-2 with a 7.50 ERA coming into the game.

The Astros struck first, with two runs in the first off Doubront in a mess of an inning. Second baseman Jose Altuve lined a single to left to kick things off. Two Brandons followed. Right fielder Brandon Barnes was hit by a pitch, and first baseman Brandon Laird stepped into the box. A wild pitch let both baserunners advance. Laird walked. on five pitches. The bases were loaded with nobody out.

Doubront then walked the next batter, left fielder Chris Carter, forcing in Altuve. Swinging at the first pitch, DH Ronny Cedeño hit a sacrifice fly to straightaway center. It was 2-0. The next batter walked, loading the bases again, but Doubront buckled down and got a soft popup to shortstop and struck out the Astros’ eighth-place hitter, shortstop Marwin Gonzalez.

Doubront had thrown 37 pitches in the first inning, but threw only 66 more over the next 5⅔. He admitted to frustration after the game, recovering after he “flipped the switch. … I don’t know what happened in the first inning. I was using more of my arm than my body … and thinking too much.”3  

Peacock gave up two singles in the bottom of the first, and there was an Astros error as well, but no runs scored.

Barnes walked in the Astros’ second but was the only batter to reach base. The Red Sox tipped the scales the other way in their half-inning, taking a 4-2 lead. After the first out, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked. Third baseman Will Middlebrooks doubled, hitting high off the left-field wall just about a foot below the top. Saltalamacchia held at third. Shortstop Stephen Drew walked.

The bases were loaded for center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who looped a single into left-center, driving in the first two Boston runs. After an out and a walk, the bases were loaded again and designated hitter David Ortiz sliced a double to the opposite field, down the left-field line, driving in two more. Another walk loaded the bases yet again, but a strikeout forestalled any further scoring.

On 12 pitches, Doubront struck out all three batters he faced in the top of the third.

The next run scored in the game was by Boston in the bottom of the fourth. After right fielder Daniel Nava hit an opposite-field double into the left-field corner and took third on second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s groundout, Travis Blackley relieved Peacock.

Ortiz greeted Blackley by hitting another ball to left, which went for a sacrifice fly as Nava tagged up and scored.4 It was 5-2, Red Sox. Ortiz had missed the first 15 games of the season, coming off the disabled list on April 20. This was his seventh game back, and he was 14-of-27 with six extra-base hits and nine RBIs.

Neither team scored again until the top of the seventh. Houston’s Gonzalez led off with a single. He took second on a passed ball, stole third an out later, and scored on Altuve’s groundout. After Barnes singled, Junichi Tazawa relieved Doubront. Tazawa balked Barnes to second and walked pinch-hitter Fernando Martínez, putting the tying run on base, but Carter fanned to prevent any further damage. The score was 5-3, Red Sox.

The Red Sox broke the game open with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Houston’s new pitcher was Hector Ambriz. After one out, Saltalamacchia doubled halfway up and off the left-field wall—yet another opposite-field base hit, this one striking the ladder on the wall. Middlebrooks walked. Drew singled over shortstop and into center and drove in  Saltalamacchia.

Ellsbury struck out, but Nava singled off the scoreboard in left, driving in Middlebrooks. Drew took third base. Pedroia shot a single to right field—another opposite-field hit—driving in Drew. Ortiz flied out, but Boston’s lead was 8-3.

Daniel Bard came on in relief in the eighth, but lasted only nine pitches, walking the first two batters in a continuation of the control problems that had plagued him in 2012. Alex Wilson took over from Bard. Third baseman Matt Dominguez singled, driving in what proved to be the final run of the game. Wilson got three outs, the last one a swinging strikeout of pinch-hitter Rick Ankiel.

After the Red Sox went down in order in the bottom of the eighth, pitcher Andrew Miller relieved and induced a groundout and then struck out the final two batters. When Carlos Peña fanned to end the game, it was Boston’s 12th strikeout, and the Red Sox had an 8-4 victory. It was the fourth consecutive game in which Boston pitchers had struck out 11 or more of the opposition.5 Astros manager Porter was not pleased with his staff’s pitching: “If it’s not corrected, adjustments, decisions will be made, and we’re going to have to find people that’s going to throw strikes.”6

The Red Sox struck out only four Astros in Sunday’s series finale, but Boston’s 6-1 win completed the four-game sweep and left the Red Sox in sole possession of the best record in baseball at 18-7. By season’s end, the Red Sox had gone from last place in 2012 to become World Series champions. The Astros finished at 51-111, last in the AL West, a full 45 games behind Oakland in the standings.7

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. Thanks to John Fredland for supplying Houston newspaper coverage. A video of the game is available on YouTube.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS201304270.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2013/B04270BOS2013.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwUVvHXLNfA

Notes

1 After the April 26 game, Dempster said, “Strikeouts are overrated. I’m just trying to get outs. But I’ll take them however I can get them.” The quotation can be seen during the opening to the NESN broadcast on YouTube.

2 The other was Clay Buchholz (11-8, 4.56). The team as a whole had finished 69-93.

3 Peter Abraham, “Doubront Finishes Off Astros,” Boston Globe, April 28, 2013: C1.

4 Nava was playing in right field because Shane Victorino was out for a few days with a lower-back strain.

5 At year’s end, the Red Sox leader in strikeouts was Jon Lester with 177. The other four with 100 or more were starters John Lackey (161), Ryan Dempster (157), and Felix Doubront (139), and reliever Koji Uehara (101).   

6 Brian T. Smith, “Problems Continue to Spin Out of Control,” Houston Chronicle, April 28, 2013: C6.

7 On Boston writer opined, “The Astros are not a major league team, and those teams that lose to them should be embarrassed. But the Astros don’t pretend to be [a] major league team. We know what they’re doing—building for a better day like the Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays have done.” Nick Cafardo, “Gift That Keeps On Giving,” Boston Globe, April 28, 2013: C8. The 2013 season was the Astros’ third in a row with 106 or more losses and the worst record in baseball. Four years later, in 2017, they won the first World Series in franchise history.