COV drew first blood with two outs in the 1st on a Davis walk followed by a Ruf home run. Infante would line out to end in the inning and in the process injure himself for the next 4 games. COV added another run in the 2nd on a Ramirez single and Gattis double. A Bourn single and Butler double in the 3rd would put HAR on the board and would end the day for Milone, 3-1 COV. COV answered in the top of the next inning with a Ramirez single, followed by a stolen base and error to put Ramirez on 3rd. Aviles would single to bring in Ramirez and after a sac bunt from Gattis, Darvish was done for the day. Paco Rodriguez came in and immediately gave up a run scoring triple to Choo. Paco settled down and struck out Blanco and Davis, 5-1 COV. HAR would strike back in the 6th, Ramirez led of with a double followed by a Votto walk, Beltre popped out, and Hamilton was hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded Farquhar uncorked a wild pitch scoring a run, an error by the back up 2nd baseman would bring home another run. After a D. Robinson strike out Ramos was brought in to relieve and was greeted by a Butler single scoring another run, Pedroia grounded out to end in the inning but HAR was back to within one run, 5-4 COV. Game rolled along with no score until the bottom of the 9th, Perkins struck out Pedroia to start the inning, then was relieved by Nate Jones. Jones struck out Sanchez and faced Hanley to end the game, but Hanley took the pitch over the Green Monster and tied the game at 5. On to extra innings. No one scored until the 11th inning, with Marquis on the mound Butler led off with a walk, followed by a Pedroia single. With Sanchez at bat, he hit a shallow ball to left that Cruz could not handle resulting in the HAR win. 6-5.
Game 2: Dedundo vs Strasburg
HAR would start the scoring first in this game, singles by Butler, Votto, and Ramirez would load the bases with no outs in the 1st. A walk to Beltre would score a run followed by a Castillo strike out. Shane Robinson would come through for the Toppers with a bases clearing grand slam, 5-0 HAR. Dedundo finished the inning and gave way to Morris in the bottom of the 2nd, where he was greeted with a Butler walk and Votto and double. Escobar, brought in defensively for Hanley, popped out before Beltre was intentionally walked. A Martinez sac fly would add on another run and extend the HAR lead. COV broke through in the 6th with lead off walks to Choo and Blanco, followed by a Davis single. Lough followed with a run scoring single and Strasburg was done for the day, Nathan would come in with the bases loaded and no outs. After a Cruz flyout Tuiasosopo hit a double scoring 2 runs and Aviles followed with a run scoring ground out, 5-4 HAR. A solo shot by Cruz off Machi in the 8th would bring COV to within 1. Ramirez led off the top of the 9th with a double, ending Machi's day and bringing on Papelbon. Gattis was brought in to ph and struck out. Loup was brought in to face Choo, in a gutsy call by the COV manager Yovani Gallardo was brought in to ph and grounded out to move the tying run to 3rd. Peralta was brought in to face Ruggiano, who was ph for by Solano. Peralta would get the job done, getting Solano to line out. HAR wins 6-5.
Game 3: Darvish vs Bedard
In a strangely different game no runs were scored until the 4th inning. Navarro led off the inning with a home run. After a Hanley fly out, Votto reached base on an error by Davis (who had 2 the entire year), after a Beltre line out Hamilton sent one over the fence for a 3-0 HAR lead. COV answered in the bottom of the inning on a Davis single, Ruf walk, Cruz single, and eventual Ramirez sac fly. HAR answered in the top of the next inning when Butler reached base on a Davis error (remember he had 2 the entire season). Bourn would single followed by a ground out by Pedroia and pop up by Martinez. A Nate Jone balk would move the runners up and Hanley would single to plate a run. COV scratched out a run in the 6th on a Davis walk, Cruz single, Tuiasosopo walk, and Solano 2 out single. Singles by Victorino and Butler, followed by walk to Pedroia and Shane Robinson would give HAR an insurance run. Machi finished the 9th. HAR wins 5-2.
Game 4: Kuroda vs Gallardo
HAR got things going in the 2nd on a Beltre walk and Hamilton home run. A Votto walk and Ramirez single got things rolling in the 3rd. A Gallardo WP would score a run followed by a Navarro run scoring double, 4-0 HAR. COV answered in the bottom of the 3rd with a Choo walk and Blanco single which ended Kuroda's day. Paco Rodriguez was brought in and promptly uncorked a WP scoring a run, he eventually got Davis to pop out. Victorino led off the 4th with a single, then stole 2nd and took 3rd on an error by the catcher. A Bourn double would score a run and end the day for Gallardo. Perkins was brought in to pitch and Torres ph for Butler, Torres walked to put two runners on and Votto followed up with a 3 run shot. Siegrist was brought in to start the 4th and after two strike outs he gave up a Herrera walk who stole 2nd on the next pitch. Solano followed with a single scoring Herrera, but Solano was thrown out trying to take an extra base. Uneventful rest of the game as HAR closed out the series winning 8-2.
Good series by Ray, was able to play all the games by netplay which was awesome, back and forth the entire series making moves within the games.
