MLB Rankings: Baseball’s Greatest Hits of Week-25
By Bill Felber
MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-25
7. Mitch Moreland, Boston Red Sox, 41 percent
This has been a disconcerting season for the defending World Series champions, especially by comparison with their two primary divisional rivals, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays.
The Red Sox are a combined 12-25 against the two teams ahead of them in the AL East, a synoptic explanation for their failure to reach the 2019 post-season. Saturday in St. Petersburg, the Rays handed the Red Sox one more bit of evidence delineating the difference in a 5-4, 11-inning defeat.
Although the contest ended badly for the champs, it was not without its moments. One of those occurred in the eighth inning when the visitors demonstrated that they haven’t given up on the season entirely.
Tampa led 3-1 entering the top of the eighth, with reliever Nick Anderson assigned the task of getting the game uneventfully to the ninth. Since his acquisition from Miami, Anderson has been good at the task, pitching 20 innings for Tampa and allowing just five runs, a 2.25 ERA.
Nobody, however, is infallible, including Anderson. After fanning Marco Hernandez to open the inning, Anderson surrendered base hit to Mookie Betts, bringing Rafael Devers to the plate representing the tying run. Devers homered, sending the game into extra innings.
The game moved uneventfully into the top of the 11th, with Rays reliever Diego Castillo retiring the first two batters he faced in that inning. Then like a bolt, Moreland delivered, his first-pitch home run thrusting Boston into its first lead.
Staring at only a 39 percent chance of victory when Moreland stepped in, the Red Sox had an 80 percent chance of winning as he touched home plate.
The home-standing Rays, however, still had three outs left. As will be elaborated upon shortly, they made good use of them.