In a showdown of All-Star sluggers
Youth Josh Allen Jersey , Nelson Cruz had more RBIs, but J.D. Martinez had more help.
Martinez homered and drove in five, and the Boston Red Sox rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Seattle Mariners 14-10 on Friday despite a monster
night from Cruz.
Cruz had a pair of three-run homers and drove in seven, but the Mariners still lost their season-worst fifth straight game, including three earlier this
week at Yankee Stadium. Seattle led 4-0 and 10-5 before a wild Red Sox rally
fueled by RBIs from eight different players.
”That’s some fight. We’ve got a great group in here and that was a good one for us,” said Mitch Moreland, who had three hits including a triple as the Red
Sox set a season-high with 20 hits.
Martinez went 4 for 5, including a two-run homer in the sixth and two doubles as he and his teammates avenged a 1-0 loss at Seattle against Wade LeBlanc six
days earlier. LeBlanc started again Friday but did not fare so well in
Boston.
”He pitched a great game against us last time. We all had a little chip on our shoulder coming into today,” said Martinez, who has 23 homers.
Reliever Matt Barnes (1-2) got the win with one scoreless inning, and Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth.
Juan Nicasio (1-4) took the loss, allowing five runs on four hits in one-third of a lousy seventh inning.
”We were in control after a crazy first inning. We banged it around and they banged it around some, but our guys kept tacking on there. Just couldn’t hold
them off at the end
http://www.falconsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-isaiah-oliver-jersey ,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
The only flaw to the second half of the game for Boston: shortstop Xander Bogaerts left in the seventh with a sprained index finger on his left hand.
After Cruz put Seattle up 3-0 in the first with his 19th home run, Ryon Healy added a solo shot during Seattle’s four-run first inning as the Mariners got to
knuckleballer Steven Wright. Seattle added two more off Wright in the second
after Boston’s five-run bottom of the first.
Despite allowing 10 runs on 10 hits, Wright got a no-decision.
”I might go buy a lottery ticket now because that never happens,” Wright said.
Seattle scored four in the fourth, including Cruz’s second shot of the game, but Boston’s bullpen shut down Seattle the rest of the way while the Mariners’
imploded.
”Tough one,” Cruz said. ”It’s a shame because the pitchers have been doing a really good job. They’ve been throwing the ball with consistence, but it
happens.”
Rafael Devers singled in a run in the fifth, and then Martinez homered off Nick Vincent to center in the sixth to pull Boston within 10-8. Mitch Moreland
followed with a triple just beyond the reach of diving right fielder Mitch
Haniger, and Bogaerts drove in Moreland with an infield single
Barnes struck out the side in the seventh, and then Boston got to Nicasio. Devers singled to lead off, Blake Swihart singled with one out and Nicasio
walked Mookie Betts to load the bases. Andrew Benintendi blooped a single into
shallow center to bring in Devers and tie it at 10.
Swihart was nearly picked off third as Benintendi scored, but he slid under the tag after a strong throw by center fielder Guillermo Heredia. Seattle did
not challenge the close play
http://www.bengalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-malik-jefferson-jersey , and Martinez followed with a two-run single.
Nick Rumbelow later allowed Benintendi to score on a wild pitch, and Eduardo Nunez added a pinch-hit RBI single.
BIG BATS
The Red Sox have come from behind in 22 of their 51 wins. The 14 runs tied their season scoring high and the 20 hits were four more than they had in a game
this season.
”It was a weird game,” Benintendi said. ”It’d be easy to give up in that situation and just kind of coast through the game, but we kept fighting and
putting good at-bats together all throughout the lineup.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Activated RHP Vincent (strained right groin) from the 10-day DL and optioned RHP Ryan Cook to Triple-A Tacoma.
Red Sox: Benintendi needed a minute to collect himself after running hard into the Green Monster on a double by Denard Span.
UP NEXT
Mariners: RHP Mike Leake (7-4, 4.47 ERA) gets his second straight start against the Red Sox after taking the loss Sunday in Seattle, allowing five runs
on eighth hits in six innings.
Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (9-1, 3.59) has won a career-high six straight starts, including Boston’s 9-3 victory over the Mariners in Seattle on
Sunday.
—
Nikola Jokic and Will Barton grew up worlds apart.
Their paths, though, followed a similar route to a big payday with the Denver Nuggets. Jokic signed a max contract worth around $147 million for five seasons,
and Barton returned on a four-year deal that could earn him more than $50
million.
As bench players a few years ago, Barton made a comment that stuck with his center.
”He called us Kobe and Shaq,” Jokic recounted Monday at a news conference for the pair. ”We kind of grew together.”
Bonded by similar roads.
From Serbia
Anthony Averett Color Rush Jersey , Jokic was a second-round pick by Denver in 2014 (41st overall) – a 6-foot-10 project who needed to lose about 30 pounds.
He did and has blossomed into one of the top big men in the league.
From Baltimore, Barton was a second-round pick by Portland in 2012 (40th overall) – a sharp-shooter buried on the Blazers’ bench and just needing a
chance. He got one when Denver traded for him and became a versatile reserve
player/occasional starter.
”I don’t think we are a team that can follow other archetypes in how teams are built,” Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly explained.
”We have to find and develop guys. We have to find and develop guys who want to
be here long term.”
Jokic is an unassuming star in the making. His 10 triple-doubles last season were the most in a single season for a Nuggets player since Fat Lever in
1987-88. In addition, Jokic is the fifth player in NBA history with 3,000 or
more points, 2,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in their first three seasons,
joining names such as Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, Maurice Stokes and Sidney
Wicks.
”To see how quickly he’s made the jump and how comfortable he is producing against the elite of the league, it’s something I’ve never seen,” Connelly said.
”He’s one of the best players in the NBA.”
The spotlight really isn’t his thing. He’d much rather be back home in Serbia this time of year
http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-michael-gallup-jersey , where his routine goes something like this: Work out, lunch, go to the stables
to check on his two horses and then work out some more. He doesn’t like the
attention.
”He’s got this huge contract and life-changing money and everything, but he’s going to still be with his horses, still wear sweat pants, even though we tell
him to wear a button-up shirt,” cracked his brother, Nemanja. ”He feels
comfortable. I don’t think anything is going to change about it.”
It won’t. Connelly and Barton were recently talking about that very subject.
”I’ve never seen a guy less enthused about a contract this big – and I say that in a positive sense,” Connelly said.
Jokic even said as much with Josh Kroenke, the vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, flanked to his right.
”When I was younger, my dream was not to sign a big contract. My dream was to have fun and win big games, some championships
http://www.redskinsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-da_ron-payne-jersey ,” Jokic said. ”Winning is the most important thing.”
The Nuggets are coming off a season in which they won 46 games, but the season came down to a winner-take-all scenario in Minnesota, where the Nuggets
came up short in overtime to miss out on the playoffs. Jokic is trying to help
the Nuggets reach the postseason for the first time since 2012-13 – an even more
difficult task with LeBron James joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
”We’re not too worried about what anybody else is doing,” Kroenke said. ”We’re worried about what we’re doing and our process of winning. We started to
hit on a few of those things last couple of years. A very underrated aspect of
sports is continuity. These guys having played for several years now, that’s
only going to benefit us.”
Especially the bond between Jokic and Barton, who was acquired in a trade with Portland on Feb. 19, 2015. Barton averaged 15.7 points, five rebounds and
4.1 assists as he alternated between coming off the bench and being a
starter.
A big reason he elected to stay in Denver was coach Michael Malone not trying to rein him in.
”Coach Malone lets me be me as a player,” Barton said. ”The style of play I have, a lot of coaches are scared of that, and they won’t let me be me. Coach
Malone never boxed me in.
”I knew this is where I wanted to be.”
—
.
