The Boston Globe - 23.08.2019

Sports

THEBOSTONGLOBEFRIDAY, AUGUST23,2019 | BOSTONGLOBE.COM/SPORTS

C

TV HIGHLIGHTS

PGA playoffs: Tour Championship, 1 p.m., Golf
NFL exhibition:Browns-Buccaneers, 7:30 p.m., NFL
Baseball: Red Sox-Padres, 10:10,NESN
Listings,C6

Childs’ play

Sox let kids in for free at Fen-

way, and they eat it up.A1

Highest civilian honor

Cousy (right) receives Medal of Freedom

in a ceremony at the White House.A2

Thomasloses lead

He’s tied with Schauffele at the

top of Tour Championship.C3

ALSO TODAY

By Nora Princiotti

GLOBE STAFF

Patriots 10

Panthers 3

FOXBOR-

OUGH— By

the time Tom

Brady stepped to the postgame

podium Thursday night, all the

signsof on-fieldactionhad

beenrendered invisible. Brady

was clean and in street clothes,

jeans and a T-shirt, and sport-

ing a camel-colored hat witha

ribbon and a stiff brim. Such

are the luxuries of life as a

starting quarterback.

After sitting out the first two

preseason games, Brady played

in the third, a 10-3 win against

the Carolina Panthers. He got

the start and played threese-

ries, cappinghis nightwithan

eight-minute, 15-play touch-

down drive.Overall, he was 8

of 12 for 75 yardswith no inter-

ceptionsbefore Jarrett Stidham

took over in the secondquarter.

Brady was playing without

Julian Edelman,Josh Gordon,

N’Keal Harry or Demaryius

Thomas,his projected top four

receivers,at his disposal. The

onlywideouthe had a good

connection going with was

PhillipDorsett, who caught5 of

5 targets fromBrady for 41

yards.

“Phillip is a guy that I’ve

played a lot of footballwith and

I have a lot of trust in,” Brady

said. “Experienceis a great

thing in football if you use it

well, and I thinkour experi-

encetogether pays off. I read

his bodylanguage.”

Brady and undrafted rookie

PATRIOTS, Page C2

By Alex Speier

GLOBE STAFF

Red Sox5

Royals 4

For one sun-splashedaf-

ternoon, nothing else mat-

tered.The cacophony of a

Red Sox season gone awry — their medi-

ocre record, their place in the standings,

the increasingly dubious claims to being

involved in a pennant race, the struggles

of the pitching staff, the August offen-

sive decline,the shortcomings of execu-

tion — washed away in one liberating in-

ning at Fenway Park.

A delay of 21,018minutesgave way

to a conclusionthat required just 12

minutes, the Red Sox claiming a 5-4

walkoff victory Thursday afternoon over

the Royalsin the 10th (andonly) frame

of a meeting more than two weeks in the

making.

Brock Holt, who delivered the win-

ninghit by drilling a hit downthe left-

field line off lefthander Richard Lovela-

dy, punctuated the victory after round-

ing first base by sprinting away from his

teammates and sliding exuberantly

across home plate, the sort of display so

rarely on display this year. It required

unique circumstances to produce it.

“That was probably the most fun I

think probably all of us have had playing

baseball,” said Holt.

RED SOX, Page C4

JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF

It was a celebration for the Sox as BrockHolt’s walkoff singleput a quickend to theirdelayed gamevs. the Royals.

BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF

QuarterbackTom Brady, who went8 for 12 passingfor 75 yardsin his

first appearanceof the preseason,also scrambledoncefor 3 yards.

Chung indicted

Patriot hit with cocaine

charge after police found

drug at his N.H. home.A1

Roger Clem-

ens is 57 years

old and has

me rethinking

my hard-line

stance against

PED users

when it comes

to the Hall of

Fame ballot.

A Hall of Fame that includes

Trevor Hoffman and Mike

Mussina, but not Clemens, is

something of a joke, is it not?

The older Clemens gets, the

more I wantto look at his spec-

tacular numbers (354 wins,

seven Cy Youngs!) and forgive

obvious, but unproven,evi-

dencethat he was using perfor-

mance-enhancingdrugs at the

end of his illustrious career.

Clemens cameto little St.

Peter’s Fieldin Cambridge

Thursday to pitch in the 26th

annual Oldtime Baseball

Game. Facing a raft of local col-

legiate talent, Clemensstarted

the gameand pitched two per-

fect innings,fanning three. He

also played first base and drove

in two runs.

The gamewas invented by

sportswriter Steve Buckley dur-

ing the baseball strike of 1994

and continues as one of our

great, quaint local traditions,

no less than L Street Brownies

swimmingin the oceanon New

Year’s Day and the Boston Pops

performing on the Esplanade

on the Fourth of July.

Esteemed baseballstars

such as Pedro Martinez, Jim

Lonborgand Oil Can Boyd

have lent the currency of their

fame to the Oldtime Game

through the years, and Clem-

ens cameto Cambridge to

pitch to college kids for the

benefit of Compassionate Care

for ALS patients.

This is not a one-time thing

for Clemens. He hasn’t lived

here since he boltedfor Toron-

SHAUGHNESSY, Page C5

Dan Shaughnessy

Catching

up with

Clemens

ERIN CLARK FORTHEGLOBE

Seven-time Cy Young winnerRoger Clemenspitchedtwo
perfect innings in the 26th annual Oldtime Baseball Game.

Brady sharp,

as is Stidham

Hoyer sits out

Patriots’victory

1‚

INNINGS

7

BATTERS

22

PITCHES

1

RUN

12

MINUTES

6½

RED SOX GAMES BEHIND

IN WILD-CARD CHASE

SHORT DAY

ATTHE OFFICE

Fantastic finish

It’s short andsweet as Sox needjust 12 minutes to beat K.C.

A brief look at some key numbers from Thursday’s abbreviated Red Sox-Royalsgame at Fenway Park,

the completion of their Aug. 7 game that was suspended at 4-4 in the 10th inning because of rain:

‘’‘I never playedto make the Hall of Fame

... As far as Cooperstown,there’sa bunch
of coolstuff of minethat is in there.’

ROGER CLEMENS, ownerof 354wins,7 CyYoungawards

FOXBOROUGH— It was just a preseasongame
against the Panthers, but Kyle Van Noy was nervous
on Thursday night.
It had nothing to do with the stakes of the game,
of course. Earlyin the first quarter, Van Noy sacked
Cam Newton, but appeared to injure his kneeon the
play. Van Noy tried to jog off the field but couldn’t
make it and sat down on the turf. After finally hob-
bling off, he wentinto the blue medicaltent to get
checked out by Patriots doctors.
Thankfully, Van Noy emerged from the tent, ran
a few sprintsin front of the doctors and returned to
the game.
But the Patriots almost lost their starting line-
backer, a key member of a SuperBowl-winningde-
fense, before the 2019season even began. And it
would have happened in a completely meaningless
preseason game.
“Of course I was nervous,” Van Noy said after the
game.“Of course it wouldbe a bummer. It would be
a bummer to get injured at any point. That’s the na-
ture of our game. It happens, and you just want try
your best to stay away from it.”
The Patriots beat the Panthers on Thursday,
ON FOOTBALL, Page C3

BenVolin

ON FOOTBALL

Injuries

worth risk in

preseason?