The Boston Globe - 13.09.2019

C2 Sports The Boston Globe FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

By Steve Douglas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GLENEAGLES, Scotland —
If things had worked out differ-
ently, they might have been
walking out together in the blue
of Europe on the opening day of
the 2019 Solheim Cup.
Instead, Nelly and Jessica
Korda will be proudly wearing
US colors on Friday when they
become the first sisters to be
paired in the biggest team
event in women’s golf.
Despite having some initial
reservations because of their
‘‘different personalities,’’ US
captain Juli Inkster chose to
pick the siblings for the third
match of the morning four-

somes at Gleneagles.

‘‘The more I thought about

it, it would be stupid not to play

them,’’ Inkster said. ‘‘I mean,

this is not often you get two sis-

ters on one team.’’

Indeed, it has only hap-

pened once before at the Sol-

heim Cup. On that occasion, in

1998, Annika and Charlotta So-

renstam made the European

team but were never paired in

foursomes or fourballs.

It will be the Kordas, then,

that get the chance to make his-

tory.

The siblings were born to

Czech tennis players Petr Kor-

da, who won the Australian

Open in 1998, and Regina Ra-

jchrtova, who represented her

country at the Olympics in

1988. Jessica, at 26 the elder of
      the two sisters by five years,
      even represented the Czech Re-
      public at an amateur event as a
      13-year-old before pledging her
      golfing allegiance to the United
      States.
      Yet with Jessica and Nelly
      being born and raised in Flori-
      da and both having US citizen-
      ship, they never entertained the
      idea of playing under any flag
      than the Stars and Stripes at the
      Solheim Cup.
      ‘‘If you see our dad around,
      he better have his USA beanie
      on,’’ Jessica said. ‘‘Just saying.’’
      Nelly is making her debut at

the Solheim Cup, though she

was part of the squad — in a

way — in the 2013 edition in

Parker, Colo.

Jessica was making her first

appearance in the competition

that year and her younger sis-

ter, who was 15 at the time, was

virtually a team mascot, al-

lowed by US captain Meg Mal-

lon to walk inside the ropes and

be in the locker room.

It was the first time Nelly got

to really experience what a Sol-

heim Cup was like, and she

wanted more.

Now she is No. 10 in the

world, the second highest-

ranked American — behind No.

3 Lexi Thompson — and eight

places above her sister.

‘‘We kind of know what ticks

one another off and we know

how to calm each other down,’’

Nelly said before the pairings

were announced.

The siblings spoke in front

of the media together Thursday,

often laughing and often re-

sponding to questions with the

line: ‘‘I second that, what she

said.’’

‘‘We’re in Scotland,’’ said Jes-

sica, sitting with a red-white-

and-blue scarf around her neck.

‘‘It’s really cold. We’re from

Florida. We’re just trying to stay

warm, have fun and make as

many birdies as we can.’’

The Korda sisters will be

taking on Caroline Masson and

Jodi Ewart Shadoff in the four-

somes, which start at 8:10 a.m.

local time. (3:10 a.m. ET).

Four other rookies — Marina

Alex, Megan Khang of Rock-

land, Mass., Brittany Altomare

of Shrewsbury, Mass., and An-

nie Park — were thrown

straight into action by Inkster.

It means Ally McDonald, who

was called up this week as a re-

placement for the injured Stacy

Lewis, is the only rookie not to

play in the first session.

‘‘I really wanted to get my

rookies out there in the morn-

ing and get them out there play-

ing,’’ Inkster said. ‘‘That was a

lot of our thinking.’’

SOLHEIMCUP

Korda sisters to make history as US pair at Solheim Cup

FRED THORNHILL/THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP

Jhoulys Chacin continued to make a strong case for himself with 2„ scoreless innings.

VAUGHN RIDLEY/GETTY IMAGES

Xander Bogaerts doubled in the third inning, his 50th of

the season, and later scored to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.

By Julian McWilliams

GLOBE STAFF

RedSox7

BlueJays 4

TORONTO —
Regardless of
where the Red
Sox are in the standings, some-
thing had to change entering
Thursday’s game against the
Blue Jays. They had won just
three of their past 11 games
and were on a five-game losing
streak.
The Sox’ bats had been cold
in their previous six games,
hitting just .194 since the start
of the series against the Yan-
kees Sept. 6.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for
his past 12. His last hit was his
1,000th, against Yankees
lefthander J.A. Happ. J.D. Mar-
tinez was in a funk, too, slash-
ing .095/.208/.569 in his previ-
ous six games. To make mat-
ters worse, the Red Sox had
lost the first two games of the
series against a young Blue
Jays team and were shutout in
Wednesday night’s matchup.
“We for sure didn’t expect
to come here and lose these
first two games against these
guys,” Bogaerts said after their
8-0 loss Wednesday.
But on Thursday night, fi-
nally, the Sox broke through to

beat the Blue Jays, 7-3, and

avoid the sweep. The Red Sox

are 9½ games out of the sec-

ond wild-card spot with 15

games to play.

“It’s always good to [get the

win],” manager Alex Cora said.

“It was a tough one yesterday.

The at-bats weren’t great. The

at-bats were a lot better today.

We controlled the strike zone a

little bit more.”

Marco Hernandez plated

the Sox’ first two runs, dou-

bling off former Red Sox start-

er Clay Bucholz in the second.

Jhoulys Chacin started and

worked 2„ scoreless innings

for the Sox.

The Sox added another run

in the third. Bogaerts snapped

his skid with a two-out double,

giving him 50 on the season.

Bogaerts and Rafael Devers are

the first pair of Sox to record at

least 50 doubles in the same

season. And Bogaerts became

just the second shortstop to

have 50-plus doubles and 30-

plus homers in a season. The

other was Alex Rodriguez in

1996.

“Once I start getting close

to those type of numbers, I just

take the mentality and ap-

proach to go and get it,” Bo-

gaerts said. “I’m happy I did.

I’ve been hitting a lot of balls

in the infield. Can’t get a dou-

blehittinggroundballsinthe

infield.”

Martinez followed Bo-

gaerts’s double with one of his

own, scoring Bogaerts for a 3-0

lead. In the fourth, Jackie

Bradley Jr. doubled, then Juan

Centeno’s single extended the

lead to 4-0.

The Blue Jays got a pair of

runs in the fifth inning, how-

ever. Lefthander Brian John-

son issued a two-out walk to

Bo Bichette. Next, Cavan Big-

gio roped a triple down the

right-field line, scoring

Bichette. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

then singled in Biggio.

But the Sox added some in-

surance in the seventh. Mookie

Betts stroked his second single

of the game, then stole second.

Brock Holt then singled in Bet-

ts to make it 5-2, Betts scoring

his 130th run of the season. He

became the first Sox player to

score at least 130 runs in a sea-

son since Dom DiMaggio

scored 131 times in 1950. Betts

would tie DiMaggio in the

ninth.

Bogaerts then laced his sec-

ond hit, singling up the middle

to bring in Holt.

Matt Barnes couldn’t find

the strike zone in the eighth in-

ning, walking Justin Smoak af-

ter striking out Rowdy Tellez.

Barnes then struck out Randal

Grichuk but walked Reese

McGuire, putting runners at

first and second with two outs.

Barnes surrendered an infield

single to Anthony Alford be-

fore walking Derek Fisher to

force in a run and shrink the

Blue Jays’ deficit to 6-3.

“The fastball command

wasn’t there,” Cora said. “He

threw a few breaking balls that

were good. Changeup was

good today. Just with the fast-

ball he was all over the place.”

That’s when Cora sum-

moned closer Brandon Work-

man from the bullpen for a

four-out save. Workman got

out the inning unscathed, and

the Red Sox scored in a run in

the ninth, giving them a four-

run cushion again.

The Jays responded with a

run of their own in the bottom

of the ninth, but Workman

struck out Smoak to end it.

The Sox will face the Phil-

lies Saturday, and even though

this season probably won’t ex-

tend beyond September, this

was one they had to get.

“We’ve been in a slump the

last five, six games,” Chacin

said. “It’s always important to

win games. At the end, that’s

the most important thing, to

win the game and that’s what

we did today.

W L Pct. GB

Oakland 87 60 .592 —

Tampa Bay 87 61 .588 —

Cleveland 86 61 .585 ½

Boston 77 70 .524 9½

ALwild-cardrace

At Rogers Centre, Toronto

BOSTON Betts rf AB R H BI BB SO Avg. 523000 .293

Holt 3b 5 1 2 2 0 0 .316

Bogaerts ss 5 1 2 1 0 0 .304

Martinez dh 3 1 1 1 2 1 .303

Benintendi lfMoreland 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .2714 1 1 0 0 1 .246

Bradley cf 411003 .222

MHernández 2b 401202 .284

Centeno c 4 01100 .200

Totals 38 7 12 7 2 8

TORONTO AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

BichettessBiggio 2b 411010423111 .305.220

Guerrero 3b 5 0 1 1 0 1 .273

Tellez 1b 400103 .221

Smoakdh 410012 .210

Grichuk cfMcGuire c 42 0100200020 .233.313

McKinney rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .212

a-Alford ph-rf 2 0 1 0 0 0 .200

Fisher lf 300110 .188

Totals 33 47469

Boston ............................... 021 100 201 — 7 12 0

Toronto .............................. 000 020 011 — 4 7 3

a-popped out for McKinney in 5th. E —Alford

(1), Fisher (3), McGuire (1).ronto 10. 2B —Bogaerts (50), Martinez (33), Brad- LOB —Boston 6, To-

ley (24), MHernández (6), Bichette (16), Grichuk

(27). 3B —Biggio (1). SB —Betts (15). SF —Tellez.

Runners left in scoring position Benintendi, Centeno), Toronto 5 (Bichette 2,—Boston 3 (Holt,

Guerrero, Tellez, McKinney). RISP —Boston 6 for

11, Toronto 3 for 9. Runners moved up —Guerrero.

GIDP —Benintendi. DP —Toronto 1.

Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

ChacínHernandez 2„ 2 0 0 2 3 48 0.00‚00001 63.68

Taylor W 2-2 100001 83.00

Johnson „ 1 2 2 1 0 23 6.69

BrasierCashner ‚ 1 0 0 0 0 4 5.441 0 0 0 0 0 17 4.52

Walden 110001173.33

Barnes „ 1 1 1 3 2 23 4.26

Workman S 12 1‚ 1 1 0 0 1 21 2.10

Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Buchholz L 1-5 474414805.63

Stewart 100010173.78

BoshersRomano ‚ 3 2 1 0 1 20 5.59100001155.52

Pannone 1„ 0 0 0 0 2 16 6.19

Shafer 121000182.88

Brasier 1-1, Workman 3-0, Pannone 1-0. Inherited runners-scored —Hernandez 2-0, HBP —by

Walden (Alford). WP —Walden. PB —Centeno.

Umpires —Home, Chris Segal; First, Jeff Nelson;

Second, Stu Scheurwater; Third, Alan Porter.

T —3:32. A —17,420 (49,286).

HOW THE RUNS SCORED

SECOND INNING

RED SOX — Martinez walked. Benintendi struck

out. Moreland singled to left, Martinez to second.

Bradley struck out. M.Hernández doubled toright, Martinez and Moreland scored. Centeno

grounded out, first to pitcher.

THIRD INNING

RED SOX — Betts fouled out to first. Holt

popped out to third. Bogaerts doubled to right.Martinez doubled to right, Bogaerts scored. Ben-

intendi grounded out, first to pitcher.

FOURTH INNING

bled to left. M.Hernández struck out, catcher toRED SOX — Moreland struck out. Bradley dou-

first. Centeno singled toright, Bradley scored.

Betts hit an infield single to third, Centeno to sec-

ond. Holt grounded out, pitcher unassisted.

FIFTH INNING

BLUE JAYS — Alford, pinch-hitting for McKin-

ney, popped out to left. Fisher grounded out, first

unassisted. Bichette walked. Biggio tripled to

risingled to left, Biggio scored. Tellez grounded in-ght,Bichettescored.Brasierpitching.Guerrero

to fielder’s choice, short unassisted, Guerrero

out.

SEVENTH INNING

RED SOX — Betts singled to left and stole sec-

ond. Holt singled to right, Betts scored. On right

fielder’s fielding error, Holt to second. On pickoff

attempt, throwing error by catcher, Holt to third.

Bogaerts singled to center, Holt scored. Martinezstruck out. Pannone pitching. Benintendi ground-

ed into a double play, short to third to first, Bo-

gaerts out.

EIGHTH INNING

BLUE JAYS — Tellez struck out, catcher to first.

Smoak walked. Grichuk struck out. McGuire

walked, Smoak to second. Alford hit an infield

single to short, Smoak to third, McGuire to sec-

ond. Fisher walked, Smoak scored, McGuire tothird, Alford to second. Workman pitching.

Bichette flied out to right.

NINTH INNING

singled to left. On left fielder’s fielding error, Bet-RED SOX — Centeno lined out to right. Betts

ts to third. Holt singled to left, Betts scored. Bo-

gaerts flied out to right. Martinez grounded out

to second.

BLUE JAYS — Biggio singled to right. Guerrero

grounded out to third, Biggio to second. On

passed ball, Biggio to third. Tellez hit a sacrificefly to center, Biggio scored. Smoak struck out.

Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 4

SoxbeatJays,haltlosingskidat5

before Milwaukee let him go af-

ter leaving him on the injured list

for a month.

But in three games since join-

ing the Sox, two of them starts,

Chacin has pitched 5„ innings

without allowing a run. He has

given up two hits, walked three

and struck out seven.

Chacin got up to 48 pitches on

Thursday night against Toronto.

He left the game in the third in-

ning with a 3-0 lead and saw the

Sox go on to a 7-4 victory that

snapped a five-game losing

streak.

Chacin didn’t get the victory

but he gained plenty of satisfac-

tion.

“He did a good job. He hit the

wall in that last inning, but over-

all another good performance,”

manager Alex Cora said. “Fast-

ball command was better; the

slider plays. He has a pretty good

ideaofwhattodo.”

Chacin is getting stronger

each time out. The idea each time

is to go as deep as he can.

“I’m getting there,” he said.

“Feeling a little more like my old

self.”

Chacin has a 3.98 ERA over

252 games and 11 seasons. He al-

so started three playoff games for

Milwaukee last season and gave

up two runs over 12‚ innings.

This season was a rough one,

but he’s been a successful big

league starter.

Chacin retired the first five

Blue Jays he faced, three by

strikeout. It should have been six

in a row but Andrew Benintendi

lost a fly ball to left field in the

lights and it fell in for a double

for Randall Grichuck.

Chacin, who was walking to-

ward the dugout, came back to

the mound and walked Reese

McGuire to continue the inning

before Billy McKinney flied out

to right field.

He put two on in the third be-

fore Darwinzon Hernandez came

on to strike out Red Sox-killer

Rowdy Tellez.

Chacin is one of five players

uONBASEBALL

Continued from Page C1

from Venezuela on the roster and

he’s taken it upon himself to

serve as a mentor to Hernandez,

Eduardo Rodriguez and the oth-

ers.

“He understands the things

they have to do, not only on the

field,” Cora said. “He’s been great

for them.”

Chacin enjoys that role.

“I never played with any of

these guys before. But I knew Ed-

uardo and Sandy [Leon] from be-

fore and [Xander] Bogaerts, too,”

he said.

“It’s fun to talk about pitching

and hitting and everything else

in baseball. I’ve been around and

I know a little bit more than

them. I talk about my experienc-

es and tell them that no matter

how much you’re down in this

game, you have to pick your head

up and keep trying because it can

change. You can’t ever give up.”

Chacin will likely get three

more starts for the Sox this sea-

son, more chances to build a case

to find a job for next season.

“I’m just trying to take advan-

tage of this opportunity,” he said.

“However many times I pitch

over the next couple of weeks, I

want to finish strong and show

that I’m healthy and can be a

good pitcher again.”

Maybe that could be with the

Red Sox. One of the flaws of this

season’s team was the lack of ro-

tation depth and that will be im-

portant to fix next year, especially

given the troubling injury history

with both David Price and Chris

Sale.

Chacin could well be a good,

low-cost fit.

“It’s Boston. I’ve been very

happy to be here and get to know

these guys,” he said. “They won

the World Series last year and it’s

a great opportunity to be in an

organization like that.

“I’m just trying to help this

team now and give myself a

chance to pitch next season. I still

have a lot of games left.”

Peter Abraham can be reached at

[email protected]. Follow

him on Twitter @PeteAbe.

Chacin making most of his opportunity