The Game 6 win was not as close as the final score suggests. The Sox took the lead in the 1st on 3 runs, as Nats starter Gio Gonzalez struggled out of the gate by giving up a single and 3 straight walks to start the game. He briefly righted the ship with 2 strikeouts, but a bases loaded double from David Ross made it 3-0. The Sox got 2 more singles and a Dustin Pedroia sac fly in the 2nd to make it 4-0. Jake Peavy was putting up donuts through 6 innings, and the death blow came in the 7th when the Sox plated 3 more runs with an RBI single from Stephen Drew, another double from Ross, and a fielder's choice ground out from Will Middlebrooks.
Peavy gave way to Ryan Dempster with a 7-0 lead, and Dempster gave up 2 runs in the 7th on a Bryce Harper double following two walks and a hit batsman. The Nats rallied more against Dempster in the 8th, with Anthony Rendon and Steve Lombardozzi singling in advance of a Denard Span 3-run homer. With the tying run on deck, that brought in Junichi Tazawa to get the last 2 outs of the 8th with strikeouts of Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth, and Koji Uehara put 'em down 1-2-3 in the 9th, including strikeouts of Harper and lefty slugger Adam Laroche.
The Nats had a big missed opportunity in the 3rd when Laroche struck out to end the inning with the bases loaded. The close final score implies that a big hit there could have made the difference, although if the game were closer Dempster either wouldn't have come in or certainly wouldn't have been left in long enough to cough up 5 runs.
In the end, the Red Sox offense was too much for the Nats to handle in this year's edition of the Fall Classic. The Sox hit .290 for the series and scored 3 runs in the 1st inning in 3 of their wins (Games 3, 5 and 6).
The World Series MVP is Uehara, who was perfect in all 3 of his appearances in the series. Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava also deserve recognition, as both hit .421. Napoli, Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino all scored 5 runs in the series, while Pedroia led with 5 RBI. It's clear that the offense was balanced and consistently potent!
BOXSCORE: 2013 Boston Red Sox At 2013 Washington Nationals 10/30/2013
Red Sox AB R H RBI AVG Nationals AB R H RBI AVG
J.Ellsbury CF 4 2 3 0 .250 D.Span CF 4 2 1 3 .167
S.Victorino RF 4 1 1 0 .284 R.Zimmerman 3B 3 1 1 0 .297
D.Pedroia 2B 3 1 0 1 .264 J.Werth RF 4 0 1 0 .259
M.Napoli 1B 4 1 2 1 .355 B.Harper LF 5 0 1 2 .291
J.Gomes LF 3 1 0 0 .333 I.Desmond SS 4 0 1 0 .333
D-J.Saltalamacchia C 0 0 0 0 .295 A.Laroche 1B 5 0 1 0 .235
S.Drew SS 5 1 1 1 .308 W.Ramos C 4 0 0 0 .220
D.Ross C 4 0 2 3 .375 A.Rendon 2B 3 1 2 0 .233
B-Q.Berry PR 0 0 0 0 .500 R.Soriano P 0 0 0 0 ----
R.Dempster P 0 0 0 0 ---- G.Gonzalez P 2 0 0 0 .300
J.Tazawa P 0 0 0 0 ---- T.Clippard P 0 0 0 0 ----
F-D.Ortiz PH 1 0 0 0 .250 A-C.Tracy PH 1 0 0 0 .250
K.Uehara P 0 0 0 0 ---- D.Storen P 0 0 0 0 ----
W.Middlebrooks 3B 5 0 1 1 .180 C.Stammen P 0 0 0 0 ----
J.Peavy P 3 0 0 0 .000 E-S.Lombardozzi PH,2B 1 1 1 0 .118
C-D.Nava PH,LF 1 0 0 0 .333
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 37 7 10 7 Totals 36 5 9 5
A-Pinch Hit For Clippard In 6th Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Ross In 7th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Peavy In 7th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Gomes In 7th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Stammen In 8th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For Tazawa In 9th Inning
Red Sox......... 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 - 7 10 0
Nationals....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 - 5 9 2
Red Sox (11-7) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
J.Peavy WIN(2-1) 6 5 0 0 2 6 0 96 3.52
R.Dempster 1 1/3 4 5 5 2 2 1 32 16.20
J.Tazawa HOLD(3rd) 0 2/3 0 0 0 0 2 0 8 4.05
K.Uehara SAVE(5th) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 12 0.00
Totals 9 9 5 5 4 12 1
Nationals (9-7) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
G.Gonzalez LOSS(2-3) 5 1/3 6 4 4 3 8 0 105 3.56
T.Clippard 0 2/3 0 0 0 0 2 0 7 2.08
D.Storen 0 2 3 3 1 0 0 15 15.75
C.Stammen 2 2 0 0 2 1 0 42 1.13
R.Soriano 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 1.50
Totals 9 10 7 7 6 12 0
ATTENDANCE- 39,117 DATE- Wednesday, October 30th 2013 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad
UMPIRES- Vic Carapazza, Gary Cederstrom, Kerwin Danley, Lance Barksdale
T- 3:11
LEFT ON BASE- Red Sox:11 Nationals:10
DOUBLE PLAYS- Red Sox: 0 Nationals: 1
ERRORS- R.Zimmerman, B.Harper
DOUBLES- D.Ross-2(2nd), B.Harper(3rd), A.Laroche(1st)
HOME RUNS- D.Span(2nd)
RBIs- D.Pedroia(9th), M.Napoli(5th), S.Drew(16th), D.Ross-3(3rd),
W.Middlebrooks(9th), D.Span-3(5th), B.Harper-2(16th)
SACRIFICE FLIES- D.Pedroia
WALKS- S.Victorino, D.Pedroia, M.Napoli, J.Gomes, J.Saltalamacchia, D.Nava,
D.Span, R.Zimmerman-2, I.Desmond
HIT BY PITCH- J.Ellsbury, J.Werth, A.Rendon
STRIKE OUTS- S.Victorino, D.Pedroia-3, M.Napoli, J.Gomes-2, S.Drew, D.Ross-2,
W.Middlebrooks-2, D.Span, R.Zimmerman-2, J.Werth-2, B.Harper-2,
A.Laroche-4, G.Gonzalez
WILD PITCHES- R.Dempster
2-out RBI- D.Ross-2
RLISP 2-out- W.Middlebrooks-2, B.Harper, G.Gonzalez, A.Laroche-3, D.Ross,
D.Pedroia, C.Tracy, S.Drew
TEAM RISP- Red Sox: 4 for 14 Nationals: 3 for 12
David Ross hit 2 doubles and had 3 RBI as the Boston Red Sox topped the
Washington Nationals by a score of 7 to 5 at Nationals Park.
Boston started with a bang, jumping out to an early lead in their half of the
first plating 3 runs utilizing 2 base hits. Jacoby Ellsbury kicked off the
action when he stroked a single. Shane Victorino came next and he drew a
walk. Dustin Pedroia then drew a walk to load the bases. Mike Napoli
followed and he drew a walk. Jonny Gomes was next to bat, but he was a
strikeout victim. Stephen Drew struck out, unable to help the rally. Ross
next to the plate and he doubled. Will Middlebrooks was a strikeout victim,
unable to help out. Washington was retired without difficulty in the bottom
of the 9th.
The victory was credited to Jake Peavy(2-1) who went 6 innings, allowing no
runs. Koji Uehara gained credit for his 5th save. Gio Gonzalez(2-3) absorbed
the loss. Although losing the contest, he whiffed 8 batters in 5 and 1/3
innings.
