Chris Sale is drawing comparisons from his manager to another dominant left-hander.
”He’s reminding me a lot of Randy – Randy Johnson http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/brian-urlacher-jersey ,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. ”The thing with Randy, it looked like he was always grinding. With (Sale) it looks effortless right now.”
Sale struck out nine in six scoreless innings, and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a three-run homer to lift the Red Sox to a 9-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. Sale allowed two hits, lowered his ERA to an American League-best 2.13 and won his sixth straight decision.
The Red Sox are 19-4 in their last 23 games, and the AL East leaders cruised through the finale of this series after scoring just one run in the previous twonights at Detroit.
Blaine Hardy (3-3) allowed four runs and five hits in three-plus innings. Jeimer Candelario homered for the Tigers in the seventh.
Sale (11-4) has won each of his last five starts, allowing one run in 33 innings in that span. He had gone five straight starts with at least 11 strikeouts – and only one walk in each – but that streak came to an end when he was lifted Sunday after 99 pitches.
”I feel good. I feel like a broken record sometimes, but we scored nine runs today?” Sale said. ”You get a padded lead like that, you can kind of dig in and just try to find a groove and keep going.”
Boston scored twice in the second on RBI groundouts by Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez, then the Red Sox broke the game open in the fourth.
With men on second and third and nobody out, Devers hit a grounder to first baseman John Hicks Josh Bellamy Jersey , who immediately threw home – only to have Steve Pearce, the Boston runner at third, stay put. Devers reached on that fielder’s choice, loading the bases.
”That’s an instinct play, and you know the situation. We’ve got our backup catcher playing first base,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. ”He needs to look around and figure out what’s happening before he makes that throw, but he feels like the runner is going to go on that ball.”
Drew VerHagen came on to relieve Hardy, and Nunez greeted him with an RBI single off the glove of Candelario, the third baseman. Xander Bogaerts, the runner on second http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/allen-hurns-jersey , held up when he made it to third, but Devers – who had started the play on first – nearly reached third himself before stopping because Bogaerts was still there. Devers was tagged out .
The Red Sox weren’t hurt much by that baserunning mishap. Bradley followed with his seventh homer of the year, giving Boston a 6-0 lead.
Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run triple in the seventh, and J.D. Martinez added a sacrifice fly.
The game was delayed 1 hour, 35 minutes at the start because of rain.
TOUGH OUT
Candelario was impressive even in the lopsided defeat. He battled Sale through 21 pitches in two plate appearances, finally grounding out to third both times.
His homer came off reliever Brandon Workman.
”He was a pain,” Sale said. ”Put good at-bats together, and obviously later in the game ran into one. I don’t know what I was doing or what he was doing, but I need to figure something out.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: 2B Brock Holt sat out a second straight game after exiting Friday night with a bruised knee.
UP NEXT
Boston heads to Baltimore for a three-game series. Rick Porcello (11-4) takes the mound for the Red Sox on Monday night against Kevin Gausman (4-7).
The Tigers travel for a three-game set at Kansas City. Detroit’s Francisco Liriano (3-5) starts the opener Monday night against Heath Fillmyer (0-1).
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Panthers quarterback Cam Newton posted a photo of himself earlier this week on Instagram sitting at a card table with a stack of poker chips in front of him that read: ”I’m BETTING EVERYTHING on ME!”
It’s just one of several recent posts by Newton, most of which include him working out or showing off his chiseled six-pack abs.
The league’s 2015 MVP enters his eighth NFL season anxious to push the Panthers deeper into the playoffs after an 11-5 regular season ended with a first-round playoff loss to New Orleans last season.
Newton was in a jovial mood Thursday night as the team held its first training camp practice at Wofford College as new owner David Tepper looked on from the sideline. The quarterback led ”the wave” with the crowd and laughed it up with teammates during breaks in practice.
”It’s just nice to see him be Cam and have a lot of life and have a lot of energy and enthusiasm Kenny Moore Jersey ,” Panthers tight end Greg Olsen said on check-in day on Wednesday. ”When he’s like that, he’s at his best.”
It helps that Newton doesn’t have to worry about rehabbing an injured shoulder as he did last summer.
Newton missed all of minicamp and OTAs in 2017 after rotator cuff surgery on his throwing shoulder following the 2016 season. He was back to throwing at training camp last year, but developed soreness after five practices.
Not wanting to chance any setbacks, the Panthers only allowed Newton to throw two passes in the preseason games.
Newton made it back for the start of the regular season and played in all 16 games. He struggled statistically, completing just 59.1 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, but it’s difficult to pin that on Newton or his shoulder.
Injuries to the offensive line and wide receiver position often left the former Heisman Trophy winner running from defenders after being flushed out of the pocket, desperately trying to find an open option.
Panthers general manager Marty Hurney addressed the need for playmakers at the wide receiver position this offseason by trading for Torrey Smith, signing free agent Jarius Wright and drafting rookie D.J. Moore in the first round.
”I thought you saw a lot of energy out of our offense in minicamp,” Hurney said. ”You just don’t know, but you want to see it come together.”
Newton is also adapting to a new offensive scheme after the Panthers fired Mike Shula and replaced him with Norv Turner. Running back Christian McCaffrey said Turner and Newton ”have really bonded” so far this offseason.
”Cam’s been throwing it really well. He has been making great reads and I think he’s just as excited as anybody for the season Ibraheim Campbell Jersey ,” McCaffrey said.
Coach Ron Rivera said what excites him the most about Newton is the simple fact that he’s healthy and, as Panthers wide receiver Devin Funchess said, ”is ready to rock.”
That has allowed him to work through some of the intricacies of Turner’s offense during OTAs and minicamp.
”Going into this camp, I think we’re already ahead with him,” Rivera said.
Newton didn’t talk to reporters following the completion of the team’s first practice at Gibbs Stadium, instead spending time signing autographs before heading in for team meetings. But he did post ”you know I’m ready” in a recent Instagram video.
”I think that’s the understatement of the year to say that him being out there makes a big difference, right?” said Olsen, who missed more than half of the 2017 season with a foot injury.
”Just his presence on the field. Having a full OTAs and minicamp with him and then getting some work done with him this summer and just seeing how good he’s feeling and moving around and training and throwing a lot, and now being able to do a full training camp – those are all stark contrasts with where we were at this point last year. One would hope that that’s a good sign for us.”
Newton is betting on it.
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