The natural fanboy/honk reaction to Jake Peavy's excellent start tonight is to think "see, that's why the Red Sox traded for him!" Clearly I'm excited that he looked really good but let's pump the brakes before we start anointing him as the starter for Game 1 of the World Series this October.
Boston (67-45 overall, 38-21 home) beat Arizona (56-54 overall, 26-30 away) 5-2 at Fenway Park as Peavy (9-4) was able to outduel young Diamondbacks ace Patrick Corbin (12-3). It was 1-1 in the seventh until Jacoby Ellsbury (40th stolen base) drove in Stephen Drew (2 hits) with an RBI single and Shane Victorino (2 hits) scored Brock Holt with a sacrifice fly.
Aaron Hill (2 hits) cut it to 3-2 in the eighth with an RBI single but Junichi Tazawa was able to get out of an inherited bases loaded and no outs jam by only allowing one run. Jonny Gomes-who is making a late run at a Gold Glove (haha)-threw out Cliff Pennington at home to keep the Red Sox ahead by a run. That was Tazawa's 18th hold of the season.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia added two important insurance runs with a two-run homer to center, his 10th of the season, in the home half of the eighth. From there, Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless ninth for his 10th save of the season. Uehara walked a batter (his ninth of the season) but I guess he's excused since he has 70 strikeouts and a 1.43 ERA.
Let's be real, Peavy is not an ace anymore but maybe he can catch lightning in a bottle (cliché alert) for a few months and get the Red Sox deep into the playoffs. Who is Clay Buchholz? The native of Alabama (Roll Tide!) went seven plus strong innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Corbin matched him most of the way, he went six innings and allowed three earned runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and two walks. As a lefty, his stuff is nasty so there is a reason he looks destined to win many awards this season and in his entire MLB career.
Paul Goldschmidt has enjoyed his weekend at Fenway, he cranked his second homer in as many nights. This time it was to straightaway center, for a 1-0 Arizona lead in the fourth. Victorino answered with a rocket that just found its way into the first row of the Monster seats, his seventh homer of the season, in the fifth inning to tie it at one.
Diamondbacks catcher Wil Nieves was 2 for 3 with a run in the loss.
Both teams go for the series victory tomorrow afternoon (1:35) as Felix Doubront (7-5) takes on Brandon McCarthy (2-4), who is coming off the DL.
UPDATE 8/4: Daniel Nava will go on the paternity list for the Astros series and Brandon Workman will replace him on the active roster.
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