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.

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.