The Sox’ woes against the Royals continued on Friday night, as they dropped a back-and-forth game that ultimately saw Lorenzo Cain’s 2nd home run of the night leave the yard in the 9th inning off of closer Addison Reed.
Reed continued to struggle on half-way to St. Patty’s Day Credit: newstimes.com
Say what you may about this ball game, but if the Sox were able to cash in on another couple runs when they definitely should have, it probably would’ve gotten ’em in the win column. However, the leagues best offense with runners in scoring position was unable to be just that, the best, in the 1st of 3 against Kansas City.
Both starters, Luis Mendoza and Francisco Liriano were rather mediocre, leaving the game knotted up at 5 in the 6th inning. The likes of Nate Jones, Donnie Veal, Jesse Crain, and Matt Thornton all did well out of the ‘pen before Reed came in and gave up the lead. Also Alejandro De Aza, Dewayne Wise, Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, and Alexei Ramirez all had multi-hit games … so the base runners definitely were there.
The Tigers lost to the Angels in a close one, so the Sox remain 1.0 game ahead of them in the AL Central division race. Like I’ve said a lot of late, sometimes this late in the year you just need to accept losses when you don’t lose ground. No harm, no foul.