Writing about games you weren’t able to watch ain’t the easiest thing in the world, but I’ll give it a shot. In what was hopefully the last game I won’t have television for at my new apartment. Following by the box score and Twitter, it seemed like a very Gavin Floyd & Ricky Romero-like game. There were ups and there were downs, but in the end it seemed like an awfully positive one for the Sox, who took a two games to one lead in the 4-game series by winning 9-5.
Dunn connected for his 34th home run in 2012 on Wednesday night. Credit: Pantagraph.com
Positive Takeaways
We all know that the offense has been inconsistent and lackluster recently, so seeing a 9-spot put up on the board is rather nice. While Dewayne Wise being the leading run producer driving in 4 runs was good to see, what was even better to see was our two most polarizing hitters continued to build upon their newly-found hot streak.
After the Sox’ lead was squandered when Gavin Floyd let up a 3-run home run to Kelly Johnson in the 6th inning, all momentum could’ve been lost. But then in the top of the 7th Adam Dunn and Dayan Viciedo responded with a 3-run and 2-run homers respectively to give the Sox a 5-run cushion. The takeaway from this is simple: when these guys are going good, it’s hard to beat us. Viciedo and Dunn, when going good, can be two of the most dominant hitters in the league. If opposing pitchers have to pitch around them, it’ll make everything easier on the rest of the guys. And Viciedo especially is due for an offensive tear.
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The pitching for the south sider’s brought more positives, even though the stat line for starter Gavin Floyd didn’t look phenomenal in the end. For a while he was dominating, but then let up a run in the 5th and the 3-run home run in the 6th. Since only 3 of those runs were earned, though, I believe it still counts as a quality start. Like always, say what you want about him, but you really can’t complain about a stat line of 6 IP and 3 ER … it’s tough to really expect more.
Donnie Veal pitched two perfect innings, as he continues to do nothing but good. It seems he’ll be the lefty specialist down the stretch. Suring up little question marks like that are always a good thing.
The final game of the series will see Aaron Laffey take on Francisco Liriano in another game where it’s hard to predict the outcome. Liriano was very good in his first two starts with the Sox before getting rocked in his last one, not getting through the 4th inning. Laffey has a 3-3 record with a 4.72 ERA in 2012. He has struggled of late, posting an ERA north of 8.00 in his last four starts. Once again: buckle up.