From Mark Buehrle's command of the inside half of the plate to Josh Fields' first high-quality game at the major-league level, tonight was the first fully enjoyable Sox game I've seen in weeks. Ryan Bukvich even retired the Pirates 1-2-3 in the ninth, the first time a sizable lead didn't descend into save situation territory in quite some time.
Of course, for a while it looked similar to yesterday's game -- the Sox scored two early runs on Rob Mackowiak's groundout (that could've been an inning-ending double play with a better throw from Adam LaRoche) and a Fields double, and were silenced for the next four innings by John Van Benschoten. It even looked like Buehrle wouldn't be holding onto the lead for long after allowing a run in the bottom of the second and had Ryan Doumit standing on third.
But Buehrle would strand Doumit in the second, Laroche on third two innings later, and Rajai Davis at third base in the fifth, and cruised after that. He threw 113 pitches, but it felt like a relatively light workload. After going a month and a half without a win, Buehrle has now won two in a row.
He received plenty of insurance runs off the Pirates bullpen, which is now the worst in the National League after tonight's output. Fields crushed a two-run homer off John Grabow into the seats behind the left field bleachers at PNC Park, A.J. Pierzynski hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, and Tadahito Iguchi's second double of the game drove in Andy Gonzalez.
Record: 28-36 |
Box score |
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