Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Clay Buchholz (Boston) and righthander Josh Tomlin (Cleveland).
Buchholz was 8-10 this year with a 4.78 ERA and 93 strikeouts.
Buchholz made his sixth career postseason-appearance today.
This year, the righthander started two games against the Indians and was 0-1.
In his career, he is 2-2 against Cleveland.
Tomlin was 13-9 this season and finished with a 4.40 ERA.
This year, Tomlin pitched once against Boston and then was the losing pitcher.
In his career, he is 2-3 against the BoSox.
Tomlin, who had never pitched in Boston's Fenway Park, made his first career postseason-appearance today.
Cleveland threatened to open the score right away in the top of the first inning.
Carlos Santana led off with a single.
With one out, Francisco Lindor also singled, but they were left behind.
...Xander Bogaerts had two basehits for...
...Boston and scored once...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the second inning, Lonnie Chisenhall led off with a single, but he was forced out with two outs.
Boston was retired in order in the first inning by Josh Timlin, but then got into scoring position in the second at bat.
David Ortiz led off with a walk and he advanced on an one-out single by Xander Bogaerts.
However, a double play ended the inning.
In the top of the third, Francisco Lindor, who already has singled in the first inning, doubled with two outs, but he also stranded in scoring position.
The Indians again got into scoring position in the top of the fourth inning, this time with no outs.
And this time, the team of former Boston-Manager Terry Francona also opened the score.
José Ramirez led off with a single, then Lonnie Chisenhall walked.
The two advanced to second and third base on a sacrifice bunt by Coco Crisp, who in 2006-2008 played for the Red Sox.
Both runners then both scored when Tyle Naquin followed with a single to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, with one out, Xander Bogaerts singled again.
At that time, it was only the second basehit in the game for Boston, both hit by the Aruban player.
Moments later, Bogaerts scored all the way from first base when Andrew Benintendi followed with a double to cut the deficit in half.
The one-run difference was shortlived, as the Indians added two runs in the top of the sixth inning.
José Ramirez led off with a walk and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Lonnie Chisenhall.
Hereafter, Coco Crisp followed with a 2-run homerun to make it a 4-1 score.
...The career of David Ortiz ended tonight...
...In 2009 'Big Papi' played for the Dominican Republic against...
...the Netherlands during the World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Boston got one run back.
Dustin Pedroia led off with single, which led to a pitching change.
Josh Tomlin was replaced by prime reliever Andrew Miller, who then struckout pinch-hitter Aaron Hill.
Miller then gave up a double to Mookie Betts that brought Pedroia to third base.
The Boston-second baseman then scored on a sacrifice fly by David Ortiz.
With the score at 4-2 in favor of Cleveland, Koji Uehara became the new pitcher for Boston in the top of the eighth.
The Japanese righthander got some fine defensive support.
With one out, José Ramirez drove the ball into deep rightfield, but there Mookie Betts made a great 'over-the-shoulder' catch.
Hereafter, short stop Xander Bogaerts made a nice play on a grounder by Lonnie Chisenhall to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Bryan Shaw took over the Cleveland-pitching.
He struckout Dustin Pedroia, but then gave up a single to Aaron Hill.
The latter was then forced out on a grounder by Mookie Betts, which began with a nice defensive play by third baseman José Ramirez.
Cleveland went to the bullpen again hereafter, as Cody Allen was brought in to face David Ortiz.
In what might be the final at bat of his impressive career, 'Big Papi' walked, resulting in runners on first and second base.
With two outs, Hanley Ramirez became the next batter for Boston and he delivered a runscoring single that brought in Betts and made it a 4-3 score.
With Ortiz now on second base, he was replaced by pinch-runner Marco Hernandez.
Next batter Xander Bogaerts then followed with a line drive, but that was caught by second baseman Jason Kipnis to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Cody Allen retired the first two batters.
The righthander then gave up a single down the rightfield-line to Jackie Bradley, Jr., his first basehit in the Series.
Hereafter, Dustin Pedroia walked.
But next batter Travis Shaw then flied out to end the game.
And that also ended the impressive career of David Ortiz, making his walk in the eighth inning indeed his final plate appearance.
The 40-year old Dominican made his Major League-debut in 1997 playing for Minnesota Twins.
He was then released after the 2002 season and signed with Boston in January 2003.
That was to be the first of fourteen seasons with the Red Sox.
In his career, Ortiz played in 2408 games (1953 for Boston) and hit 2472 basehits, including 541 homeruns.
In his final season, Ortiz belted 37 homeruns, his highest total since he hit 54 in 2006.
He led the Major League with 48 doubles and the American League with 127 runs batted in.
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Cleveland sweeps Boston and now faces Toronto in ALCS
BOSTON, Massachusetts (USA) -
Cleveland Indians won 4-3 on Monday-evening (October 10) in Game 3 of the best-of-five American League Division Series to complete a 3-game sweep against the Boston Red Sox.
For Cleveland, this is only its second series sweep in a postseason in club-history.
The first time was in 1995 when the Indians also swept the Red Sox in the ALDS.