Red Sox 7, Angels 5

 

So, the good news is that the Red Sox won last night, 7-5, and completed a sweep of the Angels in L.A. It's Boston's fourth sweep of the season, following sweeps in Detroit and Kansas City and back home over the Yankees earlier this season. 

The bad news is that Ranger Suarez left the game with an apparent groin injury, adding him to the list of Boston pitchers on the IL that includes Connelly Early, Garrett Crochet, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, and Patrick Sandoval.

But about last night . . . Last night, Duran hit a two-run homer in the second and Contreras hit a three-run homer in the third. Yoshida hit a RBI single in the seventh after Abreu scored a run with a sacrifice fly that same inning. After Suarez left the game in the third inning with three runs, the bullpen locked down and held the Angels scoreless until Slaten gave up an RBI single in the eighth. Chapman gave up a solo homer in the ninth because of course he did - that's what he does now.

Not to gloat, but the Angels are in last place in the AL West and now have the distinction of the worst record (36-55) in MLB. So a sweep is nice, but anything else would be an embarrassment.  

The Rays lost last night, their second straight "L," so the Red Sox (40-48) are now 12½ games back. The Yankees lost as well; in fact, every team in the AL East lost last night except for the Sox, who are still in last place but now only a half game back from fourth-place Baltimore. Bonus points: the Rays and the Yankees start a four-game series in Tampa Bay tonight, so Boston has a chance to sneak up in the standings while the two leaders duke it out at the top.

The Red Sox are off today, and tomorrow start a three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox (47-42), the top team in the AL Central. Payton Tolle (4-6, 3.39), who, surprisingly for a Boston pitcher, isn't out injured, will start the first game. This will be Tolle's first time pitching in Chicago or facing the White Sox. The Pale Hose will start rookie Noah Schultz (2-5, 5.86), who hasn't yet faced the Red Sox in his career.