Who said that baseball is way too boring and the sport is in major trouble when a mid-June regular season game takes four hours and 10 minutes? Haha OK maybe don't answer those. While you were probably watching something else or at least flipping back and forth, the Red Sox (42-27 overall, 22-10 away) were winning by identical 10-8 scores last night and this evening against the underachieving Braves (30-35 overall, 17-19 home) at Truist Park. They swept the two-game series and have won their last three games in a row while the Rays (43-26) have dropped their last two games, leaving Boston only one game back of Tampa Bay for first-place in the AL East.
This is obviously not sustainable in the sense that the Red Sox' starting pitchers have to be at least a little better while their offense is good but they won't be able to carry them for almost 100 more games in the regular season. For the second straight night, Boston had a comfortable early lead that wasn't nearly enough for their crappy starter-in this case Garrett Richards (4 IP, 6 runs, 4 ER, 7 hits, 3 Ks, 1 BB). Check Atlanta's record, the three-time defending NL East champs are currently struggling: they are tied with Washington for third-place in MLB's worst division with only one team (the Mets) above .500. Luckily for the Sox, Braves rookie pitcher Ian Anderson (4 IP, 4 runs, 4 ER, 7 hits, 5 Ks, 1 BB) wasn't much better. If you're wondering why this game took so long, each team used six relievers apiece and there were a combined 26 hits. Oy vey.
Trailing for the first time all game (7-6 in the 7th inning), pinch hitter Christian Arroyo crushed a grand slam (his 4th HR of the season went 467 feet!) to left to put Boston ahead 10-6. Closer Matt Barnes wasn't available so Northeastern's Adam Ottavino got to fill in for him and he allowed an RBI double to Atlanta's superstar right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (3-for-5, 2 doubles) in the ninth but he settled down to record his fourth save of the season. The Red Sox bats got going early as right fielder Hunter Renfroe (2-for-5, double, run) hit a two-run single in the first that scored DH J.D. Martinez (2-for-5 w/2B, 2 runs) and center fielder Alex Verdugo. Atlanta got a sacrifice fly in the third inning that cut it to 2-1 before Boston scored twice in the fourth inning on first baseman Bobby Dalbec's RBI single that scored Renfroe and Richards surprised everyone by smacking an RBI double (his first career MLB hit) to the right field gap that plated Dalbec.
The Braves got two runs in the home half of the fourth on a ground out and an infield single to trim the Red Sox lead to 4-3. Atlanta's awful bullpen was exposed in both of these losses as Boston scored twice more in the fifth when shortstop Xander Bogaerts (3 doubles, 2 runs) hit a double and Martinez scored on an error then third baseman Rafael Devers followed with an RBI single that scored his buddy. The Braves got serious at that point as shortstop Dansby Swanson (2 hits, 2 runs) tied it with a three-run homer (his 11th HR of the season) off Richards in the fifth. First baseman Freddie Freeman (3B, 2 runs, 2 BBs) gave them that brief 7-6 lead with a solo shot in the sixth (his 16th HR of the season).
Yacksel Rios (WHO!?) picked up the win even though he only faced one batter: he got Swanson to line out to him with runners on first and second and two outs in the sixth. For that brief appearance, the guy making his Red Sox debut after being acquired earlier this week from Seattle for cash considerations earned his first win for Boston. Sox lefty reliever Josh Taylor notched his ninth hold of the season by recording a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts. Did you ever think that you'd live long enough to say truthfully that Taylor is one of Boston's best and most valuable relievers on a playoff contending club?
The last off day for the Red Sox was on May 27 so needless to say, they are long overdue for the one that they get tomorrow. After that short rest, they are in Kansas City (30-37) for three games this weekend. The Royals got off to a unexpectedly solid start to the season but they predictably have fallen apart like you read about, going 1-9 in their last 10 games and they have dropped their last six games. Sadly, we won't get to see former Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi in action since he just went on the IL with a rib injury. The opposite of his terrible team, he was off to a brutal start in 2021 but he had been on fire lately before he got hurt. You need to get out more if you have heard of any of the pitchers that are starting for the Royals in this series: Nick Pivetta (6-2) faces rookie Jackson Kowar (0-2) on Friday night in the opener (8:10, NESN), Martin Perez (4-4) takes on Kris Bubic (1-2) on Saturday afternoon (4:10, NESN) and Nathan Eovaldi (7-3) gets Brad Keller (6-6) for the series finale on Sunday afternoon (2:10, NESN). If there was ever a series for the Sox mostly terrible starting pitchers to regain some confidence (well at least for a little bit), this has to be that time.
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