There is a reason that I haven't written about the Red Sox in weeks: between an absurd Covid-19 outbreak and a mostly pathetic stretch of performances, they gave me absolutely no motivation to even mention them. Tonight at least was different though as Boston (80-62 overall, 44-29 home) held off Tampa Bay (88-52 overall, 43-26 away) 2-1 at Fenway Park. The victory allowed the Sox to avoid the three-game sweep at the hands of the Rays (who finished 11-8 against them in the regular season) while also inching past the floundering Yankees (78-61) for the top AL Wild Card spot. As you can guess from the final score, Boston got some brilliant pitching from starter Nathan Eovaldi (7 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 8 Ks, 2 BBs) and Hansel Robles of all people had a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts to record his 12th save of the season.
With that said, there is no question who the main star of this game was for the Red Sox: it had to be right fielder Hunter Renfroe. He hit a go-ahead two-run homer (his 27th of the season) in the eighth inning that also plated pinch hitter Kyle Schwarber and had not one but two outfield assists (he leads MLB with 16 of them this season). The second one could not have been more dramatic either since he threw out Tampa third baseman Joey Wendle at third base trying to stretch a double into a triple. It was a killer mistake by Wendle because it was the final out of the game, ouch babe! Haha what a way to lose granted the Rays have plenty of cushion with the second best record in MLB.
After Rays starter Shane McLanahan pitched five scoreless innings, Tampa Bay finally struck first in the eighth inning as designated hitter Nelson Cruz knocked in second baseman Brandon Lowe (2 hits, run, walk, stolen base) with an RBI double to temporarily put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0. The Red Sox took control in the bottom of the eighth inning as Renfroe crushed a two-run blast (his 27th of the season) off reliver JT Chargois (5-1) and entirely over the green monster. With closer Matt Barnes out for a long time with Covid-19, it's been a complete mess for the Sox when it comes to the ninth inning and having a lead this season. After Josh Taylor and Garrett Richards (7-7) combined to survive the eighth inning and only trail by a run, Robles was who got the call for the save opporunity with other options either out for the moment or way overworked (Garrett Whitlock and Adam Ottavino say hello).
Boston is nine games behind Tampa Bay but we have known for a long time that the AL East was all but clinched by the Rays. The AL Wild Card is the best race in baseball with Boston a half game ahead of the Yankees, 1.5 games in front of Toronto (who has won their last seven games in a row), 2.5 games ahead of the Mariners (76-64) and three games ahead of Oakland (75-64). After an off day on Thursday, the Red Sox begin a brutal six-game road trip against the White Sox (80-59) for three games followed by three games at Seatlle. Boston is only three games above .500 (36-33) on the road this season so that is in jeopardy of falling below .500 if this trip goes sideways. There is no question that the White Sox are one of the best teams in baseball while the Mariners are currently one of the hottest so each club promises to be a handful for the Red Sox to deal with at the moment.
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