Red Sox 17, Orioles 1

 

WT the literal F? The lowly Boston Red Sox scored 17 runs, 10 in the ninth inning alone when they were already leading 7-1, and nine of those 10 ninth-inning runs were on homers, including an Andruw Monasterio grand slam?  I said "more home runs," but I didn't mean all in one inning when you've already pretty much clinched the win.

The scoring started in the second inning, when Caleb Durbin hit a double to deep right center, scoring Monasterio. Isiah Kiner-Falefa then singled to left, scoring Durbin, and then Ceddanne Rafaela hit another single into left field, scoring Connor Wong.

Kiner-Falefa scored again in the fourth, when Willson Contreras brought him home on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0, Boston.

Wong hit a three-run RBI double in the fifth that was very nearly a grand slam, but still scored Durbin, Monasterio, and Trevor Story.

And then, finally, let's talk about that ninth inning, arguably the best inning of Red Sox baseball so far this season. The inning opened with a Rafaela triple to deep right, and then Contreras brought him home with a single. Contreras advanced to second on a Wilyer Abreu single, and then Story advanced Contreras and Abreu on another single. With the bases thus loaded, Manasterio then hit his grand slam 412 feet into deep left center. 12-1, Boston. No outs.

After Jarren Duran followed Monasterio's grand slam with a single, the Orioles finally replaced their battered reliever with a new pitcher, who promptly gave up a home run to Durbin, a two-run blast that also brought Duran home. 14-1, Boston. No outs. 

Wong flied out for the first out of the inning, but Kiner-Faleda and Rafaela, in his second plate appearance of the inning, hit two consecutive singles, and then Contreras brought them both home with a three-run homer, 17-1, Boston. One out. 

The Orioles finally ended the inning with two fly balls, but not before a throwing error put Story back on the bases. Ten runs on ten hits, fourteen batters.       

   

Meanwhile, Garrett Crochet (it was Crochet Day, remember?) picked up his third win of the season, going six shutout innings, striking out seven, and giving up only three hits.  

Of course, all this doesn't mean shit. Boston is still in dead last place and 15 of the Red Sox' 17 runs were unnecessary for the win. But goddamn, were they ever fun to watch on this sorry-ass season and at least we no longer have the fewest homers in MLB (thank you, San Francisco!). Boston's now only one homer back from the Marlins, the Brewers, and the Mets, so maybe our next goal for this season should be to be the team with only the fifth fewest home runs in the majors.