Sox Slugged (4 HRs) Their Way To Fourth Straight Win & They Are Tied With Astros For Best AL Mark

 

    I am already growing weary of bashing Red Sox pitcher Garrett Richards (5.2 IP, 5 ER, 11 hits, 3 Ks, 3 HRs) in his first season with Boston. Don't get me wrong, he deserves all the criticism that he's getting from every angle but how many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? The guy is a human puddle without his now illegal sticky substances. Despite his general ineptitude at his job, the Sox (48-31 overall, 24-17 home) won in spite of him. This evening they rallied from an early 5-1 deficit to beat the spiraling Royals (33-44 overall, 15-25 away) 6-5 at scorching Fenway Park in the series opener. I guess that he should be saluted for going that long after allowing all five runs in the first two innings but I'm not a Little League coach or his parent so I'm not here to pat him on his goofy head. He should not be in Boston's starting rotation anymore, they are playing with fire thinking that he'll turn it around anytime soon at the MLB level. 

    Anywho, the Red Sox hit four home runs led by right fielder Hunter Renfroe who had a pair of mammoth blasts. Unlike Richards, Renfroe was a great free agent signing by Boston's GM Chiam Bloom. Their fourth straight victory combined with Houston's (48-31) shocking 9-7 loss to lowly Baltimore (25-54) meant that Boston settles into a tie with the Astros for the best record in the AL. Furthermore, the Giants (50-27) are the only team in baseball with a better record than them. The Royals won two out of three against Boston a few weeks back in Kansas City but the Sox are catching them at a good time since they have now dropped five games in a row. First baseman Carlos Santana hit a three-run homer in the first inning (his 13th of the season) to right field for an early 3-0 KC lead. For the second game in a row, center fielder Kike Hernandez (2-for-3, BB) led off with a home run (his 8th of the season) in the bottom of the first that went over the Green Monster. Center fielder Michael Taylor (his 6th, to right center) and second baseman Whit Merrifield (his 7th, to center; 3-for-5, 2 runs) each hit solo shots in the second for that 5-1 advantage. 

    It was basically Home Run Derby a few weeks early as the Royals starter/opener (since he was working his way back from an injury) Danny Duffy also allowed three bombs in only 3.1 innings of work. First baseman Bobby Dalbec (2-for-4, 2 runs) started the comeback with a solo blast (his 10th of the season) of his own, over the Monster in the bottom of the second inning. Renfroe cut it to 5-4 Royals with a two-run laser (his 10th of the season) to center field that scored shortstop Xander Bogaerts as well. Michael Chavis tied it at five later in that frame with an RBI single that plated Dalbec. The last run of the contest obviously came from one last roundtripper as Renfroe smoked a solo homer over the Monster in the sixth inning. 

    Kansas City's offense-like the rest of their sorry club-is not good but regardless, Boston's bullpen was still excellent: they went 3.1 innings and only allowed one total hit. Hirokazu Sawamura (4-0)-another gem from Bloom-got four outs including a strikeout to kick things off. Josh Taylor pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning for his tenth hold of the season followed by closer Matt Barnes who recorded a 1-2-3 ninth inning on 13 pitches for his 17th save of the season. Tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) promises to be just as gross in terms of weather at the ballpark but Nick Pivetta (6-3) vs. Brad Keller (6-8) is a very winnable matchup for the Red Sox. These won't be the sexiest games of the season but it's a great time for Boston to pile up the wins while they take advantage of a bad team that is going nowhere fast.

The Red Sox Won Another Softball Game 10-8 Against The Braves To Sweep The Two-Game Set

 

    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.

With The Spotlight On Them For The Next Few Months, The Sox Walked Off The Jays In A 6-5 Win

 

    The Bruins and Celtics are done for the season while the Patriots don't have a real game for almost three months so let's hope that the Red Sox (39-25 overall, 19-15 home) can handle being the main focus for the summer around here. So far so good as they beat the Astros (36-27) 12-8 in a wild game last night at Fenway Park and they topped that with a 6-5 triumph tonight in their series opener against the Blue Jays (31-30 overall, 18-17 away) at Fenway on left fielder Alex Verdugo's (3-for-4, 2B, run, RBI) walk-off single that scraped the Green Monster and scored pinch runner Danny Santana with the winning run. Boston isn't a great team (at least on paper) but they are tough to knock out as proven by their MLB-best 23 comeback wins: tonight was the largest deficit they've overcome as Toronto led 5-1 in the top of the sixth inning. This was the second walk-off victory of the season for the Sox and the third time in Verdugo's career that he's done that in his MLB career. 

    The Jays have to be sick to their stomachs because this was a game that they frankly gave away for multiple reasons: besides that lead (which should have been enough), they had twice as many hits as the Sox (16-8) and they left five more guys on base (13-8) which when you add those all up is a perfect recipe for disappointment. Boston's starting pitcher Garrett Richards (5.1 IP, 4 ER, 11 hits, 3 Ks, 2 BBs) is back to being pedestrian at best and honestly, it's a miracle that he lasted that long after allowing a run in the first inning, two runs in the second inning and another in the sixth inning before manager Alex Cora finally came to get him. Toronto's starter Ross Stripling (5.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 hits, 6 Ks, 2 BBs) was handed all of those leads but none of them were enough for him or the crappy Jays bullpen.  

    Right fielder Teoscar Hernandez opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first that plated shortstop Bo Bichette. In the second, Dante's son knocked in catcher Reese McGuire with a run-scoring single and Hernandez followed with another RBI single to make it 3-0. Boston's offense woke up in the third when first baseman Bobby Dalbec crushed a solo homer to center (his 7th HR of the season). That was quickly forgotten as DH Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3-for-4, 2B, BB) smoked a two-run bomb (his MLB-leading 19th of the season) that went two feet (443) further than Dalbec's and off the Draft Kings sign that's above the Monster. The Red Sox scored three times in the sixth inning to cut it to 5-4 in favor of the Blue Jays. Right fielder Austin Renfroe knocked in Verdugo with an RBI single, shortstop Marwin Gonzalez (Xander Bogaerts was a late scratch with left knee soreness) walked with the bases loaded to score Renfroe and catcher Christian Vazquez came home on a wild pitch. 

    Toronto had something going in the seventh inning but Boston's lefty reliever Josh Taylor survived a bases-loaded with one out jam by striking out third baseman Cavan Biggio and pinch hitter Riley Adams to end the inning and keep it a one-run game. Arroyo tied it at five with a solo blast of his own (3rd of the season) into the Monster seats in the eighth inning. Garrett Whitlock (2-1) celebrated his 25th birthday with two scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts which earned him his second win of the season. Apparently, the Blue Jays really want Rafael Dolis (1-2) to be their closer but in his appearances vs. the Red Sox this season, he's been a complete disaster. After a throwing error by Bichette put Santana on second base with no outs, Boston didn't take too long to end it as Verdugo was the next guy up and you know what happened then. 

    This is one of those weird wraparound (aka 4-game) series so Boston and Toronto play three more times including on Monday night. Both weekend contests are day games: Nick Pivetta (6-1) starts tomorrow afternoon (4:10, NESN) for the Red Sox against Steven Matz (6-3). On Sunday afternoon, Red Sox lefty Martin Perez (4-3) takes on Blue Jays lefty Robbie Ray (3-2). Finally, Monday night (7:10, NESN) pits Nathan Eovaldi (7-3) against promising youngster Alek Manoah (1-0) who will be making his fourth career start in MLB. This was an important win as well for Boston from the standpoint that the Sox had to keep pace with the first-place Rays (40-24) who beat the Orioles (22-40) 4-2 this evening but remain only one game ahead of Boston while idle New York (33-30) trails Tampa by 6.5 games and Boston by 5.5 games.

Down To Their Last Out, The Red Sox Rallied For An 8-7 Victory & Series Win Against The Blue Jays

 

    With their lead in the AL East dwindling, the Red Sox (27-18 overall, 14-6 away) picked the perfect time to stage their best comeback win of the season, 8-7 tonight in Dunedin, FL (Toronto's spring training home stadium) against the Blue Jays (23-19 overall, 10-7 home). Down 7-6 in the ninth inning with two outs against the Blue Jays' shaky closer Rafael Dolis (1-1), Boston's star DH J.D. Martinez hit a two-run bomb (his 12th of the season and the 250th of his career) to right center that scored second baseman Michael Chavis (2-for-4, 2B, 2 runs). From there, UConn's Matt Barnes worked around a walk to strike out the side in the bottom of the ninth for his 10th save of the season. 

    After getting blanked 8-0 in the series opener on Tuesday, the Sox won 7-3 yesterday and topped that with this evening's dramatic victory which leaves them one game ahead of Tampa Bay (26-19)-who has won seven games in a row; 1.5 games in front of the Yankees (25-19) who are 7-3 in their last 10 games and the Jays dropped to 2.5 games in back of Boston. With an absurd six no-hitters (1 fewer than the MLB record for an entire season) already thrown in 2021, it was refreshing to see something more along the lines of a softball game. The final score could have been much higher too since the teams combined for 25 hits and they left 17 on base.

    Nick Pivetta (5 IP, 5 runs, 4 ER, 7 hits, 8 Ks, 2 BBs) has surprisingly been the best starting pitcher for the Red Sox this season but he predictably came back down to Earth a bit with this outing. He was better though than the Jays starter Steven Matz (6 IP, 5 ER, 10 hits, 4 Ks, 2 BBs) who looked like the mediocre former Met that he has always been. Weirdly, Boston only scored in two different innings-the second and the ninth. After Toronto scored twice in the first inning on RBI doubles by first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2 hits, 2 runs) and right fielder Randal Grichuk, the Red Sox exploded for five runs in the second inning. First baseman Bobby Dalbec hit a three-run bomb that just stayed fair down the right field line for his fifth homer of the season that scored catcher Christian Vazquez (2 hits, walk) and right fielder Hunter Renfroe. The other two runs came on an infield single by center fielder Kike Hernandez (2 hits) that plated Dalbec and an RBI single by Martinez which scored Hernandez. 

    Toronto cut it to 5-3 in the bottom of the second with an RBI double by DH Bo Bichette (3 hits, 2 doubles, walk) that scored shortstop Marcus Semien, they tied it with a pair of runs in the fifth inning and they went ahead 7-5 in the sixth with two more runs. Semien scored on an error by Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers in the fifth and second baseman Cavan Biggio drove in Guerrero Jr. with an RBI single. Center fielder Jonathan Davis knocked in catcher Danny Jansen with an RBI single in the seventh then he was the tying run as Grichuk drove him in with an RBI single of his own. 

    Boston's bullpen finally settled things down beginning with Darwinzon Hernandez (1 IP, 1 K, 1 BB) who was followed by Phillips Valdez (2-0) who picked up four outs on just nine pitches to earn the win. Dalbec scored on a ground out in the ninth that preceded Martinez's heroics. This six-game road trip for the Red Sox ends with three games this weekend in Philadelphia (22-22 overall, 14-8 home) who is managed by former Yankees skipper Joe Girardi. Martin Perez (1-2) faces Phillies ace Aaron Nola (3-3) tomorrow night (7:05, NESNplus) followed by Nathan Eovaldi (4-2) against Chase Anderson (2-4) on Saturday night (7:15, FOX) and ending with the scuffling Eduardo Rodriguez (5-2 but 4.70 ERA) vs. Zack Wheeler (3-2, 2.52 ERA) on Sunday afternoon (1:05, NESN). The NL East is the worst division in baseball and the Phillies are 4-6 in their last 10 games so taking two more out of three games in another series would be a good way to end this trip for the Red Sox.

Until Further Notice, There Will Be No Angels In The Outfield This Season For That Wretched Team

 

    After seeing last year's disaster of a season, I think that Red Sox (25-16 overall, 13-11 home) fans are experts on what an awful baseball team looks like (along with Boston's other last-place finishers from recent years). The Angels (16-22 overall, 8-13 away) appear to be that type of lifeless bunch as they got destroyed 9-0 this afternoon at Fenway Park on a beautiful day that felt like summer. Boston's starting pitcher Martin Perez (6 IP, 3 hits, 5 Ks, 4 BBs) threw six shutout innings to pick up his first win of the season (1-2) then three relievers followed him with scoreless outings. Former Orioles stiff Dylan "Don't Call Me Bud" Bundy (0-5) got rocked for seven earned runs in just four-plus innings of work if you can call it that. 

    The Red Sox had three times as many hits as the Angels (12-4) and Los Angeles did not record a single extra base hit while Boston had five doubles and three home runs on the day. Is that good? Center fielder Alex Verdugo (2-for-4 w/2 runs) celebrated his 25th birthday (damn I am old) with a solo homer (his 5th HR of the season) in the first inning that gave the Sox an early 1-0 lead. For the second game in a row, the last two hitters in Boston's lineup came through as first baseman Bobby Dalbec (2 doubles, 2 runs) had a two-run double in the fourth inning, followed by an RBI double by left fielder Franchy Cordero. PS you know that your team is rolling when that bum is doing positive things. 

    The best shortstop in MLB-Xander Bogaerts (double, 2 runs)-put it out of reach for LA with a three-run bomb over the Green Monster (and the Monster seats!) in the fifth inning. It was his ninth home run of the season and he continues to lead MLB in hits along with many other offensive categories for his position. Cordero notched another RBI double in the sixth inning and third baseman Rafael Devers (2 runs, walk) provided the last run with a solo blast to the bleachers in right field in the seventh inning-his 10th homer of the season (tied for the team lead with J.D. Martinez). The unlikely trio of Phillips Valdez (strikeout), Darwinzon Hernandez (strikeout) and Austin Brice (strikeout) each pitched an inning of scoreless relief to wrap the second shutout of the year for the Red Sox.

    Boston goes for the three-game sweep tomorrow afternoon (1:10, NESN) as Nathan Eovaldi (4-2) faces Jose Quintana (0-3, 9.00 ERA) who is off to a nightmare start to 2021. The Red Sox have won their last three games in a row and Monday is an off-day so another beating of the Angels would be the perfect ending to this recent stretch of strong play against an overmatched opponent. The Yankees (22-17), Blue Jays (21-17) and Rays (22-19) are all playing pretty well at the moment too so even though Boston has the best record in baseball, they only lead their AL East rivals by two games, two and a half games and three games respectively. The early returns show that their division is the best in the American League and maybe even MLB depending on how you view the top heavy NL West (home of the Giants, Padres and Dodgers).

If The Red Sox Can Get Anything This Season From Hunter Renfroe And/Or Bobby Dalbec, Look Out!

 

    One of the biggest question marks for the Red Sox (24-16 overall, 12-11 home) coming into the 2021 season was the bottom of their lineup-granted you could say that for basically any other team in MLB history. Tonight at Fenway Park in their series opener against the Angels (16-21 overall, 8-12 away), Boston's offense was actually carried by their No. 8 and No. 9 hitters for a change: right fielder Hunter Renfroe was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and two runs scored while first baseman Bobby Dalbec had a clutch two-run bomb of his own in the seventh inning which gave the Sox a 4-3 lead and that is how it would end. This could be the start of a nice win streak as the Red Sox won back-to-back games while LA has dropped its last three games in a row. 

    Boston's starting pitcher Nick Pivetta (6+IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, 7 Ks, 0 BBs) and Angels starter Griffin Canning (6 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks, 2 BBs) were essentially a draw so it came down to a battle of the bullpens in the late innings. Former Red Sox great Jose Iglesias hit an opposite field two-run double in the top of the seventh that scored third baseman Anthony Rendon and first baseman Jared Walsh to make it 3-2 Angels. Dalbec answered in the bottom of the seventh with his two-run homer (his 4th of the season) that went high over the Green Monster then bounced off the Draft Kings sign. Boston's set-up man and closer were both lights out as Northeastern's Adam Ottavino pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts for his eighth hold of the season. Not to be outdone, UConn's Matt Barnes nearly pitched an immaculate inning (3 strikeouts on 9 pitches) as he struck out the side on 11 pitches for his ninth save of the season. 

    Renfroe opened the scoring with a two-run missile in the second inning that went to the first row of the bleachers in straight away center field. His fifth homer of the season gave Boston the 2-0 lead that they would carry until the sixth inning when the most exciting player in baseball-Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani-hit an opposite field home run of his own that cleared the Monster for his American League best 11th homer of the season. It was his first career home run at Fenway so I bet that he will remember that one forever even if it came in a loss for his crappy team. Seriously, what a waste that he plays for LA (for instance, any of the other four California clubs would be much appealing) which has been stuck in neutral for the better part of the past decade. 

        One of the key facets of this win was that LA's other superstar-center fielder Mike Trout-was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts including a bogus called third strike that Ottavino got on him to end the eighth inning. Trout is at least part robot so naturally he didn't even argue with home plate bozo, I mean umpire Ron Kulpa. Tomorrow afternoon (4:10, NESN) Red Sox pitcher Martin Perez (0-2) continues his quest for his first win of the season while the same could be said for Angels pitcher Dylan Bundy (0-4). Boston is two games ahead of New York (21-17) for first-place in the AL East and they are tied with Oakland (24-16) for the second-best record in the AL, trailing only Chicago (23-14) who has played three less games than them. The Red Sox have scored the second most runs in MLB (203), trailing Houston by only one.

The Red Sox Snapped Their Three-Game Losing Streak And Avoided A Sweep Against The A's

 

    After losing the first two games of the series with the A's (23-16 overall, 10-5 away) at Fenway Park, tonight the Red Sox (23-16 overall, 11-11 home) needed a win to salvage something from one of the toughest opponents (either them or the White Sox, take your pick) that they have seen so far early in the 2021 season. With their easy 8-1 triumph, the Sox were able to maintain a one-and-a-half game lead over Toronto (20-16) and remain two games ahead of New York (20-17) for first-place in the AL East. Boston's starting pitcher Garrett Richards (3-2) delivered the goods with six shutout innings of work: he allowed five hits, struck out four and walked three in 91 pitches. 

    It was not competitive for very long as the home team scored three runs in the first inning and three more in the second inning to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Oakland's starting pitcher Sean Manaea (2 innings, 10 hits, 7 earned runs, 2 strikeouts, 1 walk) got completely shelled as you can tell from his pathetic numbers. The Red Sox had 13 hits, led by shortstop Xander Bogaerts (3-for-3 w/HR, 2B, 3 RBIs, BB) and left fielder J.D. Martinez (3-for-4 w/run & RBI). Batting leadoff second baseman Michael Chavis added two doubles, first baseman Bobby Dalbec was 2-for-4 w/2-run HR and right fielder Hunter Renfroe was 2-for-4 with a run. Martinez got the party started early for Boston with an RBI single that scored Chavis in the first inning then Bogaerts followed with a two-run homer (his 8th of the season) over the Green Monster. Dalbec crushed a two-run homer (his 3rd of the season) to dead center in the second inning that scored Renfroe and Xander later notched an RBI double in the frame that plated shortstop Jonathan Arauz.   

     Boston made it 7-0 in the third inning as a run came home on a double play then Chavis scored in the sixth inning after an infield single by Martinez and a throwing error by third baseman Matt Chapman. Oakland was held to eight hits in the entire game and their lone run came in the eighth inning on a ground out. Red Sox manager Alex Cora must have been thrilled that he only needed to use one reliever as Garrett Whitlock covered the last three innings (3 hits, 1 ER, 2 Ks, 1 BB) all by himself and was credited with one of those goofy saves that MLB hands out in long relief blowout victories like that. What a silly rule.

    The other California team in the AL visits Fenway this weekend as the Angels (16-20 overall, 8-11 away) are here for three games. After a decent start to the season, LA is back where they have mostly resided for years: the basement of the AL West. Mike Trout is an all-time great player but in baseball, it takes more than one transcendent outfielder to get anywhere. The Angels are 3-7 in their last 10 games coming into this series. Sadly, we won't get to see Shohei Ohtani pitch against the Red Sox this time around after he started on Tuesday. Nick Pivetta (5-0) faces Griffin Canning (3-2) tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) followed by Martin Perez (0-2) vs. former Oriole Dylan Bundy (0-4) on Saturday afternoon (4:10, NESN) then concluding with Nathan Eovaldi (4-2) opposing Jose Quintana (0-3) on Sunday afternoon (1:10, NESN). I'm hoping that the Sox take at least two out of three against that crappy club. 

While You Watched The B's & C's, Garrett Richards Tossed A Gem & The Red Sox Beat The Mets 2-1

 

    With the team off to such an unexpectedly positive start to the 2021 season, there really haven't been too many players to truly despise so far on the Red Sox (15-9 overall, 7-1 away). However, starting pitcher Garrett Richards (1-2) definitely got off to a rocky beginning to his stay in Boston but all of that was forgotten for at least one night as helped the Sox beat the Mets (9-9 overall, 6-3 home) 2-1 tonight at Citi Field. The veteran righty had two disastrous outings sandwiched around two decent performances but nobody could have expected what he did tonight in 93 pitches: 7 innings, one earned run, seven hits, 10 strikeouts and no walks. Haha who the hell was that guy? 

    New York's lefty starter-something called David Peterson (6 IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, 3 Ks, 2 BBs)-was pretty good too but Boston's offense squeezed just enough out of their five hits to get the win. Richards' only mistake was a hanger that Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil hit to the second deck in right field for a solo home run (his 2nd of the season) in the second inning. The Red Sox answered in the next inning as rookie first baseman Bobby Dalbec finally connected on his first longball of the season to tie it at one. In the sixth inning, center fielder Kike Hernandez doubled and came around to score on a bloop RBI single from third baseman Rafael Devers. 

    You figure that any start by Richards is going to be a bullpen game but not this time as it only took two Boston relievers to finish the job for him. Matt Andriese pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout to get his second hold of the season which paved the way for lights out closer Matt Barnes who pitched a clean ninth inning (1-2-3 with two strikeouts) for his fifth save of the season. This is only a two-game series and winning the opener was very important for the Sox since tomorrow night (6:40, NESN), New York's ace Jacob deGrom (2-1, 0.31 ERA, 50 Ks, 0.55 WHIP) gets the ball against Nick Pivetta (2-0). deGrom has won two Cy Young awards (in 2018 and 2019) and at the moment, he is pitching as well as he ever has in MLB which is crazy to think. In other words, if you like baseball, you'll have to tune in to see him do his thing tomorrow (since let's be serious, you never watch the Mets otherwise).

Rodriguez (3-0) Is Starting To Look Like An Ace Again As Sox Beat Ryu (1-2) & Jays 4-2 Last Night

 

    It's easy to forget sometimes because so much has happened since then, but we are only two seasons removed from an outstanding 19-6 campaign by Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez. Yes, he gets hurt all the time and he missed all of 2020 with a scary heart condition (not to mention a bout with Covid-19) but so far in 2021, Eddie is showing signs that he has found that No. 1 starter form again. Last night in the mini-series opener at Fenway Park vs. Toronto (7-10 overall, 4-7 away), Rodriguez (6 IP, 2 ER, 3 hits, 6 Ks, 1 BB) helped Boston (12-6 overall, 6-5 home) to a 4-2 victory. He was matched up with the Blue Jays ace Hyun Jin Ryu (5 IP, 4 ER, 8 hits, 2 Ks, 0 BBs) and Rodriguez came out on top of that battle.

    The only runs for Toronto came via a solo home run by shortstop Bo Bichette (2-for-4) in the fourth-fifth of the season-and center fielder Randal Grichuk (2-for-4) in the seventh-his second of the season. That gave them a short-lived 1-0 lead in the fourth and cut it to 4-2 in the seventh. All of Boston's runs were in the fourth inning as shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2-for-4) crushed a three-run bomb to center that scored second baseman Christian Arroyo (3-for-4, 2B, run) and left fielder J.D. Martinez. We had started to worry a bit that Bogey hadn't homered this season but with the weather starting to warm up, I bet that gets him going. The Aruba native is hitting .393 with a .439 OBP and .557 SLG, so everybody can relax. First baseman Bobby Dalbec (2-for-3) added an RBI triple (1st 3B of his career) that plated third baseman Marwin Gonzalez. 

    I feel like a broken record here but once again, Boston's bullpen was excellent. Matt Andriese pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning with one strikeout, Northeastern's Adam Ottavino had a scoreless eighth inning with one strikeout and one walk setting the stage for closer Matt Barnes who allowed an infield single but got a strikeout in a scoreless ninth inning for his third save of the season. Tonight (7:10, NESN) is the series finale with Garrett Richards (0-1) facing something called Trent Thornton (0-0). Haha whatever the over/under is, take the over since I feel like both of those nobodies will get shelled. There is no Celtics or Bruins game this evening so expect a long night of baseball at Fenway.

Not Even A Little Minnesota Snowstorm In Mid-April Can Cool Down The Red Sox At The Moment

 

    Yes, we are only 10 games into the usual absurd 162 game regular season in MLB but how wrong were we about the Red Sox (7-3 overall, 4-0 away)? After having their series opener at Target Field delayed by a day, they fell behind 2-0 in the first inning this afternoon to the Twins (5-5 overall, 1-3 home) then proceeded to grind out a 4-2 victory. Boston has now won seven games in a row after getting swept in their opening series against Baltimore (5-6) which feels like years ago at this point. They are in first-place in the AL East and have the second-best record in MLB, trailing only the Dodgers (9-2)-the defending World Series champions. 

    So how are they doing this? It's certainly not behind a dominant pitching staff, rather they are getting timely hits up and down their lineup while their unheralded bullpen has been lights out. Minnesota loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first but Boston's No. 5 starter Martin Perez (5 IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, 2 Ks, 3 BBs) managed to wiggle out of that major jam by only allowing a sacrifice fly and a ground out that each scored a run. It took a little while for the Red Sox offense to get going today but can you blame them when the temperatures were in the low 30s? Right fielder Hunter Renfroe hit a solo homer to dead center in the fifth, his first for Boston and what a bomb it turned out to be. Imagine how far that would have gone on a warm summer day at Fenway Park vs. through swirling winds and snow flakes in Minneapolis. The Red Sox tied it later in the inning as rookie first baseman Bobby Dalbec hit an opposite field double to right that scored second baseman Christian Arroyo (2 for 3, 2B, 2 runs) with the tying run. 

          Dalbec and Arroyo teamed up to do the same exact thing in the eighth inning which gave Boston the lead for good at 3-2. Third baseman Rafael Devers is red hot since his solo homer in the ninth inning (his 5th HR of the season) gave him home runs in four straight games. Boston's bullpen was nothing short of brilliant against the Twins as four guys combined to pitch four scoreless innings and they only allowed one total hit with two walks. The first and last guys were the most impressive as rookie Hirokazu Sawamura pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning with one strikeout. Northeastern's Adam Ottavino walked one but had a scoreless seventh inning to earn his first win as a Red Sox. Lefty Darwinzon Hernandez was the only shaky one since he allowed a walk and a single but he survived to record a scoreless eighth inning. Closer Matt Barnes got his first save opportunity of the young season and he was just as dominant as the other four times that he's gotten the ball in 2021: he had a clean ninth inning on 14 pitches with one strikeout for his first save of the year. 

    Due to yesterday's postponement, tomorrow will be a doubleheader with Minnesota. It's always hard to get a sweep in a doubleheader but Boston will have their two best starting pitchers going: Game 1 (2:10, NESN) is Nathan Eovaldi (1-1) vs. Kenta Maeda (1-0) while Game 2 (which starts 30 minutes after Game 1 ends, NESN) features Eduardo Rodriguez (1-0) against Twins ace Jose Berrios (2-0). Let's hope for a little better weather forecast since baseball is not meant to be played in freezing conditions (unless it's October) and snow squalls. Haha regardless, nothing can slow down the Red Sox who continue to be the hottest team in Major League Baseball.