Jacoby Ellsbury shines as Boston Red Sox defeat St. Louis Cardinals 8-7 – MLB Update
Jacoby Ellsbury put in a tremendous effort as he went 3-for-4 with a double hit as Boston Red Sox beat St. Louis Cardinals 8-7 at Roger Dean Stadium in Florida on March 8.
Jacoby also scored a run before moving towards the clubhouse following a sixth inning hit-out. Two of Ellsbury's strikes came off Cardinal’s starter Jaime Garcia, who seemed sloppy in his second start of the spring training game.
Ellsbury was exciting after the game and said, "You want it to all come together, so it's nice to put the overall game together. I felt pretty good from Day 1, but you want to see as many pitches as you can and you want to get that timing down."
Jacoby was ready for a big first inning, taking charge with an infield single and then pinching towards second base. David Ortiz and Oscar Tejada completed the bases with two outs, but Garcia persuaded a returner from Lars Anderson, which he quickly turned
over to catcher Yadier Molina to finish the danger.
Sprawling 7-4 victory came in the eighth inning as Alex Hassan carried the Red Sox back with a two-run double to right centre-field. Ryan Lavarnway made a home-run to left field position to give the Red Sox their edge of success.
After permitting two runs in the first inning, the Red Sox starter Stolmy Pimentel didn't craft it out of the second inning. He left the first two batters before yielding back-to-back singles to Matt Carpenter and Ryan Theriot. Tommy Hottovy pleased Pimentel
and hit out Colby Rasmus to end his streak.
The Cardinals scored only five runs in the fifth inning against Jason Rice, a reliever for the Red Sox. They took off the inning with four strikes, captivating a 4-3 success on Gerald Laird's RBI single through the right field.
St. Louis added three extra runs before Rice got Shane Robinson to strike into a double play. Carpenter sustained a well-built spring season by going 3-for-3 with a single RBI.
Garcia permitted three runs, seven strikes and three walks in three innings, as he felt that he was hastening his delivery.
He stated an overview on his performance and said, "Every time I go out here and pitch, I'm thinking about trying to minimize pitches and get them to swing the bat. I wasn't able to do that today. The only thing I can say is that I feel good healthy."
Garcia is lined up for the second spot in the rotation. He went 13-8 wins with an ERA of 2.70 during his last season of Major League.
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