Astros 8, Red Sox 1

 

Okay, I'm trying real hard not to freak out here. It's still March - christ, it's not even April yet - but after an Opening Day win, the Red Sox have fallen to a rocky 1-3 start on the season. Even that I could handle, but getting blown out, 8-1, by Houston? 

Starting pitcher Ranger Suarez, acquired from Philly in the off-season, went 4⅓ innings and gave up four runs, including two homers. Reliever Johan Oviedo, who we picked up from Pittsburgh, gave up four more runs with another two homers. 

Wilyer Abreu, about the only offense the Sox have shown this season, brought in the only Boston run of the game with an RBI double to deep right in 7th inning.

Brayan Bello makes his season debut tonight. Bello is 39-36 over four seasons with the Red Sox and has a career ERA of 4.09. He'll be up against the Astros' Hunter Brown, who issued nine strikeouts and no runs in his first game this season against the Angels, and is 36-31 with a career 3.46 EPA over four seasons.

C'mon, Boston, we need some offence! Trevor Story is batting only .150 so far this season, and Roman Anthony a mere .235. Let's win these next two games in Houston, and return from this opening road trip at .500!

Hawks 112, Celtics 102

 

Okay, Brown's back, so they sit out Tatum for the night. Brown responded with a 29-point, 10-rebound double double, and was one assist short of a triple double, but the Celtics lost to the Atlanta Hawks. Tied at the half, the Celtics got outscored 36-22 in the third quarter and never really recovered from that deficit.

Boston (50-25) has already clinched a playoff berth and lead the Atlantic Division by two games with seven left to the season, including one against the second-place Knicks. They trail Detroit by four games in the conference and are probably not catching up to the Pistons, barring a miracle. So long story short, this late-season road loss probably doesn't make much difference, but it still kinda sucks.

Shake it off and move on: from Atlanta, the Celtics fly down to Miami to play the Heat (40-36) on Wednesday night. ESPN will be carrying that game.  

Reds 3, Red Sox 2

Wilyer Abreu homers in the fourth in a losing effort, and the Cincinnati Reds win the rubber game, 3-2, and take the Red Sox' first series of the season, two games to one. 

Greg Weissert takes the loss for giving up a three-run homer in the 6th.

The Red Sox (1-2) move on to Houston (2-2) for a three-game road series. Ranger Suarez starts tonight for Boston.  

Bruins 4, Blue Jackets 3 (SO)

 

Charlie McAvoy (BU, Class of 2016) scores in the third and Pavel Zacha chips in two third-period power-play goals to force OT. Then Viktor Arvidsson gets the winning goal in the shootout to give the Bruins a win over Columbus.

With the win, Boston (42-24-8) keeps the first Wild Card berth and gets a six-point lead over the first non-qualifying contender, Ottawa.

Tuesday, the Bruins host the Dallas Stars (44-18-12).

Celtics 104, Hornets 99

 

Tatum scores 32 points, becoming the youngest Celtic to reach 14,000 career points, and the Celtics clinch a playoff spot as Boston beats Charlotte, 104-99.

The Celtics (50-24) travel from Charlotte to Atlanta tonight to play the Hawks (42-33) 

Reds 6, Red Sox 5

 

Well, at least we forced extra innings.

Trevor Story homered in the third inning and Wilyer Abreu hit an RBI single in the 8th and homered in the 9th to tie the game up. Unfortunately, the Reds squeaked in a run in the 11th and that was that. Justin Slaten took the loss in relief.

Connelly Early pitches today in the rubber game.

Bruins 6, Wild 3

 

The Bruins' mission as of late seems to be denying other teams the chance to clinch a playoff spot. The other night, they beat first-place Buffalo, and last night they beat the number three team in the West, the Minnesota Wild.

Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha both scored twice against the Wild. Zacha scored late in the first period, following an early-period score by Andrew Peeke, and then scored again late in the third. Lindstrom scored early in the third, and then hit an open net in the last 0 seconds of play. Arvidsson scored a goal too, mid-way through the second. Swayman made 31 saves in the net.

The Bruins improve to 41-24-8 and at 90 points qualify for a Wild Card berth. Columbus has returned to the Wild Card ranks for now, but Boston's going to see what they can do about that. They play in Columbus today in a 5:00 p.m. game, and a Bruins' win could knock the Blue Jackets out of eligibility. 

Which seems to be Boston's mission right now.

 

Celtics 109, Hawks 102

 

No Brown, but Pritchard stepped up and dropped 36, including 6-of-11 three-point shooting, and Tatum hit a 26-point, 12-rebound double double. The Celtics beat the Hawks, 109-102.

The Celtics head to Charlotte Sunday for a 6:00 pm game against the Hornets (39-34). 

Red Sox 3, Reds 0

 

Opening Day. Crochet Day. RBI singles by Rafaela, Story, and Duran. Chapman gets a save. Red Sox win, 3-0.

Baseball's back. Any questions?

Bruins 4, Sabres 3 (OT)

 

Apparently, this was Boston's night to beat first-place teams. The Celtics took care of business with Oklahoma City, and in Buffalo, the Bruins knocked the Sabres out of first with an OT win.

Pastrnak scored first, hitting in the opening period with assists from Minten and Khusnutdinov. Arvidsson scored in the second, assisted by Pasta and Zadorov. In the third, it was Mittelstadt with the assistance of Aspirot and Zacha. 

But the Sabres also scored three times, and it was in that beautiful OT period that Zacha got the puck past the Sabres' Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, possibly the most Finnish person on the planet, scoring the winning goal a mere 38 seconds past regulation, assisted by Pasta and McAvoy (BU, Class of '16). 

The Bruins (40-24-8) are tied with the Canadiens at 88 points, but Montreal stays ahead in third place with the automatic playoff berth because of the games-played tie-breaker. Boston, though, still qualifies for the Wild Card, up by three points ahead of the Islanders.

The Bruins return home from this one-day road trip to play the Minnesota Wild (40-20-12) Saturday night for a one-game homestand.        

Celtics 119, Thunder 109

 

Giant killers! Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder swagger into the TG Garden tonight with their NBA-leading 57 wins, and the Celtics add a number to their loss column. 

The Thunder came out strong, outscoring the Celtics by 11 points in the first quarter, but Boston adjusted and outscored Oklahoma in each of the next three quarters. Jaylen scored 31 points total and Jayson scored 19, with 12 rebounds to boot. Pritchard had the hot hand on three-point shooting, going four of six and scoring 12 of his 14 points from outside the circle. 

If this was a playoff preview, I like what I'm seeing. These Celtics can play with - and beat - the best. 

The Celtics fly down here to Atlanta to play the Hawks (41-32) on Friday night.    

Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 2

 

Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016) tried to make it interesting. After Elias Lindholm scored a goal in the first period and then Toronto ran off three unanswered goals in the second period and early in the third,  McAvoy scored a power-play goal assisted by Pastrnak and Zacha. Comeback time, baby! 

But no comeback beyond McAvoy's goal materialized and to add insult to injury, the Leafs scored on an empty net in the last minute of play to make it 4-2, Toronto.

The Bruins (39-24-8) are still in the running for a Wild Card berth at 86 points. Ottawa has been on a hot streak, winning their last four games, and now have 85 points and the second wild-card berth. The Islanders are tied with the Senators in points, but the games-played tie-breaker goes to Ottawa. Detroit, who've lost their last two, trail Ottawa by one point.

The Bruins are off to Buffalo tonight to play the Sabres (44-20-7), who are in first place in the Atlantic with 95 points. It's a one-game road trip, to be followed by a one-game homestand, to be followed by another one-game road trip, to be followed by another one-game homestand to end the month. Then five of the seven games left after that in April are on the road, where the Bruins are 13-21-7. What a way to go!