It's still unclear how much longer Jacoby Ellsbury will don the Red Sox jersey, but he's playing in his third MLB game today. I forgot to talk about the former OSU center fielder in my news and notes this morning, but he went 0-for-4 yesterday, bringing his MLB total to 1-for-8. He'll look to better his batting average today against the Rangers. I'll live blog all Jacoby's at bats here:
Third Inning:
Boston first baseman Eric Hinske led off the second, and he singled on a soft fly ball to right field, bringing Jacoby to the plate. He took the first pitch from Brandon McCarthy for a called strike. The second pitch was in the dirt, and the third pitch was a ball high and inside. Jacoby fouled off the fourth pitch he saw, bringing the count to 2-2. The fifth pitch he saw would be belt high and a little outside, but he put it in play, and reached on a single hit towards the second baseman.
Julio Lugo bunted Hinske and Ellsbury over a base, before Dustin Pedroia hit a ball to right field. It was ruled a ground rule double on fan interference, but Eric and Jacoby would score. Woo hoo! Second MLB hit, and first MLB run for Jacoby.
Fourth Inning:
Boston would end up scoring three runs in that third inning, so the score is now Boston 3, Texas 0. Jason Veritek grounded out to start off the bottom of the 4th for Boston, and then Eric Hinske popped out to shortstop. Here comes Jacoby with two down, and he'll just be trying to get something started.
The first pitch from McCarthy was called a ball low and outside. The second pitch was called a strike down the middle, and Jacoby hit it sharply into right field for another base hit! 2-for-2! The Red Sox have gone through the line up twice now, and he's the only player with two hits.
With Jacoby on first, Julio Lugo is now the batter with two outs. Lets see if Jacoby gets the steal sign.
He does! On a 2-0 count, Jacoby swipes second. His first MLB steal! Julio Lugo would walk, putting runners on first and second for Pedroia. The Rangers are going to change pitchers here, and the Red Sox will now see Willie Eyre.
With Jacoby on second, Willie Eyre throws a wild pitch. Jacoby scores from second on the wild pitch, and it's now 4-2 Red Sox. I'll have to watch SportsCenter tonight to see how that happened, because I'm interested in seeing if Jacoby used his speed to motor two bases on the wild pitch, or if the Rangers had no play. I don't know, we'll see. Pedroia would line out to first baseman Brad Wilkerson, but not before Boston added another run to their lead. Jacoby now has half of the Boston runs in this game.
Fifth Inning:
Jacoby walked as part of the three run Boston fifth inning. The Rangers also got three runs in their half, bringing the score to Boston 7, Texas 3.
Seventh Inning:
With two down and runners on second and third, here comes Jacoby.
The first pitch from Willie Eyre was low, Ball 1. Jacoby fouled the second pitch off the hands, 1 and 1. The third pitch was inside, Ball 2. The 2-1 pitch was a fastball, and caught the outside corner for a strike. The 2-2 pitch was called a ball, and the count goes full. Jacoby fouled off the next two pitches. The eighth pitch of the at-bat was low and inside, Ball 4. Jacoby's walk loads the bases for Julio Lugo.
That's Jacoby's second walk of the game, and he's been on base four times tonight. Looks like he's starting to get in a grove in the Majors.
Ninth Inning:
Since Boston is the home team, and they have a four run lead, Jacoby shouldn't get up again. If he doesn't, his numbers on the night are 2-for-2, with two walks, and two runs scored. He stole a base, and scored from second on a past ball. His MLB batting average is now .300.
Final:
Aaand, that's the game. Jacoby gets his first win in the Major Leagues. I'm still hoping they show the play where Jacoby scored from second on SportsCenter.
I'm going to try to get a Boston fan in here soon to talk about Jacoby and his future in the bigs.
GO BEAVERS!
--JB--