Category: Baseball

RECAP: Steve Pearce Hits First Homer in a Red Sox Uniform, JD Martinez Blasts 28th Home Run, and #RedSox Win Seventh Straight.

Coming off a road trip in which they went 7-2, the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park last night to take on the Texas Rangers, who currently sit in last place in the American League West.

Looking for his team’s seventh straight win, Eduardo Rodriguez took the mound for his 18th start of the season on Monday.

Pitching into the sixth inning of this one, the lefty held the Rangers scoreless while scattering three hits and three walks while recording five strikeouts in exactly 5.2 frames.

With another shutout performance, although it certainly was not his best, Rodriguez has now extended his scoreless innings streak to 13.2 going back to the final two innings of his start against the Yankees.

In his full two starts since then, both in July, the Venezuela native has a pitching line that looks like this: 2-0, 11.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 11 K.

It would be nice if he could consistently pitch deeper into games, but at this point, I think it’s time to accept that is not going to happen as frequently as the Red Sox would like. But when you toss back-to-back shutouts, it becomes less of an issue.

Finishing with a final high pitch count of 105 (68 strikes), Rodriguez departed from last night’s contest in the sixth after recording the first two outs of the inning and allowing two straight Rangers to reach. Out of those 105 pitches, the 25 year-old hurler went to his four-seam fastball 47% of the time, topping out at 95.5 MPH with it in the fourth inning. He’ll look to carry over this recent success in his last start before the All-Star Break, which should come against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

In relief of Rodriguez, the Red Sox bullpen saw the shutout through to its completion. Heath Hembree got out of the jam in the sixth, Brandon Workman gave up a leadoff triple in the seventh but did not allow that potential run to cross the plate, Joe Kelly struck out two in the eighth, and making his Red Sox debut, Ryan Brasier tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to wrap up his new team’s 63rd win of the season. Brasier, who had not pitched in the majors since 2013, was actually responsible for eight of the 12 fastest thrown pitches all night, according to Statcast.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup needed just two swings of the bat to take care of Texas on Monday night.

The first came in the bottom half of the first inning. In his first at bat in a Red Sox uniform at Fenway Park, Steve Pearce took Rangers starter Mike Minor deep to left on a 3-2 fastball right down broadway. His fifth big fly of the season, a two-run shot, was also his first since being acquired by Boston on June 28th.

Fast forward all the way to the eighth now, with Jesse Chavez on the mound for the Rangers, and JD Martinez essentially put this game out of reach.

Following two singles from Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi to leadoff the inning, Chavez tried to sneak a 2-2 fastball on the inner half of the plate and paid for it dearly, as Martinez scorched his 28th big fly of the season 374 feet into the Monster seats, making it a 5-0 game.

Some notes from this win:

The top four hitters in the Red Sox lineup last night, Betts, Benintendi, Martinez, and Pearce, went a combined 8/16 with five RBI and five runs scored. Other than that, Sandy Leon was the only other hitter to reach base.

Speaking of Andrew Benintendi, you should be voting for him right now. If I can’t convince you, maybe Brock Holt can.

redsox.com/vote

—

Looking for the series win along with their eighth straight win, Hector Velazquez gets the ball for the Red Sox tonight. Making his first start since April 14th against the Orioles, he’ll be matched up against fellow Mexico native Yovani Gallardo for Texas. First pitch of the middle game is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET.

Xander Bogaerts Is Your American League Player of the Week.

To cap off a perfect 6-0 week for the Red Sox, Xander Bogaerts was named AL Player of the Week earlier Monday afternoon.

After slashing .400/.600/.933 with two home runs and eight RBI in his last five games, it is clear to see why the Red Sox shortstop was deserving of the honor.

Overall, Bogaerts has had himself a solid season, maybe one that has flown under the radar for most. He’s not hitting for a high average as he has done in the past, but a .520 slugging percentage and a AB/HR rate of just over 20 would set new career highs for the Aruba native.

Out of 25 qualified shortstops, Bogaerts ranks 6th in fWAR via Fangraphs, which is impressive when you consider he missed nearly three weeks of games while on the disabled list with a left ankle injury.

On the National League side, after a 10 RBI performance on Saturday, Nationals first baseman Mark Reynolds was selected as the other Player of the Week.

Also, don’t forget to vote for Andrew Benintendi for the AL Final Vote in this year’s All-Star Game. Here’s the link.

redsox.com/vote

 

RECAP: Nine Strikeout Day for Rick Porcello Key for #RedSox in 7-4 Win to Complete Sweep of Royals.

Wrapping up a nine game road trip in Kansas City on Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox looked for their sixth straight win and their second straight sweep. With a rookie pitcher making his first career start on the bump for the Royals, they got that done in fairly simple fashion.

In his 19th start of the season yesterday, Rick Porcello was certainly not at his best, but credit to him for limiting the damage, which is something he excels at.

Pitching seven full innings in this one, the righty surrendered three runs, all earned, on nine hits and one walk while also tying a season-high in strikeouts with nine on the day.

What looked to be a stress free outing for Porcello turned into a bit of a rough one starting in the third inning and carrying over to the fourth as well. Over that stretch, the Royals got to the New Jersey native for five of their nine hits, three which came consecutively in the third, and all three of their runs. After what David Price went through on Saturday night, this did not seem all that encouraging, but Porcello settled down after that.

After striking out Adalberto Mondesi to retire the side in the sixth, you would think that Porcello’s day would come to an end with his pitch count nearing 100. Instead, he came back out for the seventh.

That decision looked like it was going to backfire immediately for Alex Cora and the Red Sox, as the Royals led the bottom half of the frame off by putting runners on second and third after consecutive hits from Drew Butera and Whit Merrifield.

Following a brief mound visit from Cora, Porcello still remained in the game, high pitch count and all. He must have gotten strong words of encouragement during that visit, because he sat down the next three batters he faced on 10 pitches to both strand the runners in scoring position and end his day on a positive note.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 111 (78 strikes), the 29 year-old hurler relied on his slider the most yesterday, as he went to it 40 times. He also topped out at 93.1 MPH with his four-seam fastball in the seventh inning.

Beginning his July with two solid outings against the Nationals and Royals, Porcello will look to build on this success he has found in his next time out, which should come against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday in what will be his last start before the All-Star Break.

In relief of Porcello, Matt Barnes got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen for the eighth inning, and he retired the side in order while picking up two strikeouts along the way.

That set things up for Tyler Thornburg to make his second appearance in three days for the ninth, and he was not at the top of his game either. Keep in mind that it as a 7-3 game by the time Thornburg took the mound, but he was unable to finish the inning while allowing the Royals to score their fourth run of the contest. With that being said, Craig Kimbrel had to come on in what turned out to be a save opportunity.

With two outs still to get, the Red Sox closer gave up a single to Jorge Bonifacio, which meant the tying run for Kansas City was now at the plate and represented by Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda after him.

Luckily, Kimbrel buckled down, struck out both Moustakas and Duda, and came away with his 27th save of the season to ensure his teams 62nd win.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a pitcher in Heath Fillmyer who had yet to make a big league start. Righty Jakob Junis was supposed to make the start for the Royals, but he was placed on the disabled list with lower back inflammation on Sunday morning.

Instead, Fillmyer got the nod, and it took a little while for the Red Sox lineup to get going. In fact, it wasn’t until the third inning when they finally got on the board thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of Steve Pearce to score Mookie Betts from third.

After the Royals took the 2-1 lead in their half of the third, Eduardo Nunez responded by driving in the tying run on a one out RBI single in the fourth to score Xander Bogaerts, who had reached base on a fielding error to leadoff the top half of the frame, from second.

Following another bottom half of an inning in which the Royals tacked on what looked to be a go-ahead run, the Red Sox responded again in the top of the fifth.

With Fillmyer still on the mound for Kansas City, The 1-2-3 hitters in the Red Sox lineup all reached base with one out to load the bases for Mitch Moreland. In a five pitch at bat, Moreland eventually drew a walk to score Mookie Betts from third and pick up his first of two RBI on the day.

Following a pitching change, Xander Bogaerts followed that Moreland at bat up by simply launching a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Andrew Benintendi to easily score from third for what turned out to be the go-ahead run.

Fast forward to the seventh now, and the Red Sox essentially put this thing out of reach by tacking on an additional three runs of insurance. Highlighted by RBI hits from Moreland, Bogaerts, and Nunez, Boston entered the seventh with a 4-3 lead, and by the time the side had been retired by Royals reliever Enny Romero, that lead had inflated to 7-3. A lead in which they would not have to look back from.

Some notes from this win:

After reaching base six times on Saturday, Andrew Benintendi reached base in his first four at bats against the Royals on Sunday, taking him to ten straight plate appearances in which he reached base before striking out in the eighth.

Heading into the home stretch of the first half of the season, the Red Sox are 62-29.

—

With seven games still to play before hitting the All-Star Break, the Red Sox are back home to take on the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays. For the opener against Texas tonight, it will be a pitching matchup featuring two lefties in Mike Minor and Eduardo Rodriguez.

Coming off a start in which he strung together six shutout innings against the Nationals, Rodriguez will look to rebound against a team that he gave up three home runs to back on May 5th in Arlington. First pitch of the first game is scheduled for 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.

Also, vote for Andrew Benintendi.

redsox.com/vote

For the First Time in His Career, Mitch Moreland, 32, Is an All-Star.

In a season where it initially looked like he would not be receiving regular playing time, Mitch Moreland has managed to turn that situation into his first All-Star Game selection.

With Hanley Ramirez getting most of the starts at first base for the first 50 or so games to start the 2018 campaign, Moreland struggled to find regular at bats, and had difficulties out of the gates because of it.

As of April 13th, the Mississippi native was slashing a mere .217/.308/.304 in 26 plate appearances. Since that point in the season, Moreland owned a .918 OPS in 60 games heading into this afternoon’s contest against the Royals.

If he had enough at bats to qualify, Moreland would rank number one in terms of OPS on the season (.883) among American League first baseman.  The nine-year veteran has also collected 11 HR and 41 RBI in exactly 70 games.

Moreland will join the likes of Mookie Betts, JD Martinez, Chris Sale, and Craig Kimbrel as members of the Red Sox getting the call for this year’s Midsummer Classic. Outfielder Andrew Benintendi also has the chance to join those five, as he has been selected as one of the five players in the Final Vote for the American League.

With the All-Star Game just over a week away, I’m looking forward to seeing what our Red Sox All-Stars have in store for us in the nation’s capital.

Here’s how you can vote for Benintendi: redsox.com/vote

 

RECAP: David Price Shaky Again but #RedSox Prevail in Blowout Win over Royals.

Coming off one of his worst starts in a Red Sox uniform last Sunday against the Yankees, David Price looked to rebound and get back on track against a team that struggles to score runs in the Kansas City Royals.

In what was his 18th start of the season on Saturday night, Price found himself struggling yet again. Only managing to pitch into the fifth inning, the lefty got pounced on for four runs on six hits, one walk, and three HBP.

Price did manage to tie his season-high in strikeouts with nine on the night, but that did not do him any favors against a Royals team that typically find themselves struggling at the plate.

The real kick in the gut, to me anyway, was the last frame Price appeared in the fifth. A half inning after his team stormed back from a 3-0 hole to take a one run lead, what does Price do? Gives up a leadoff single to Whit Merrifield, hits three of the next five batters he faces to set a new team record, gives up what was the tying run initially, and leaves the game with a pitch count of 102 (69 strikes) in the FIFTH inning. Talk about going deep into your start.

A reason for that high pitch count could be the fact that exactly one-third of them resulted in foul balls off the bats of Royals hitters. Regardless of that, these last two starts from Price have to have the Red Sox feeling a bit concerned. Struggling against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium is one thing, but putting up a performance like that against a 25-62 team the night after Chris Sale had his way with them? Not a great look, especially when you consider how he has been pitching since this video dropped following his start against the Angels on June 26th.

Anyway, topping out at 95.3 MPH with his two-seam fastball in the third inning this time around, the Tennessee native will look to regain the prominence he displayed from May 12th to June 26th in his next outing, which should come against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday.

In relief of Price, the Red Sox bullpen combined for 5.1 no-hit innings en route to the series-clinching win. Heath Hembree picked up his fourth win of the season by getting out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth and tossing a scoreless sixth. And from the middle of the seventh on, Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly, Brandon Workman, and Hector Velazquez wrapped up a game that had somehow turned into a laugher for Boston.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup could not get to Royals starter Brad Keller the way they got to Jason Hammel on Friday night. Instead, it took until the fifth inning for them to finally get on the board, and it all started with a two out rally.

Already trailing by three runs with two outs in the top half of the fifth, the top of the lineup, mainly Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi set the table for the middle part with JD Martinez due up next.

On a 1-2 fastball from Keller, the Red Sox DH ripped a line drive single to left, scoring Betts from second to put his team on the board while also advancing Benintendi to third.

Two batters later and the bases now loaded, Xander Bogaerts delivered with a bases-clearing 3 RBI double hit over the head of Alcides Escobar in center field. That put the Red Sox up by one momentarily as the Royals came back to knot things up at four in their half of the fifth.

In the seventh, the Red Sox tacked on another three runs, with the most important coming on a Mitch Moreland sac fly to score Andrew Benintendi from third for the go-ahead run.

Three batters after that happened, Christian Vazquez came through with what looked to be important insurance runs at the time, as he scored both JD Martinez and Xander Bogaerts on a 2 RBI single.

In the eighth inning, Andrew Benintendi, who had walked in all four of his at bats prior to this one against Royals righty Kevin McCarthy, blasted his first home run since June 21st to put the Red Sox up 8-4. Ballgame over, or so I thought.

Instead of easing up on the gas pedal in the ninth, the Red Sox lineup decided to kick it up a notch by plating SEVEN runs. Highlighted by back-to-back RBI doubles from Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi, this offensive outpouring all but put the lowly Royals out of their misery, and we got to see Drew Butera, a backup catcher for KC, pitch.

All and all, every member of the Red Sox lineup who had at least one at bat in last night’s contest, 11 total, drove in at least one run, which added up to 15 in nine innings.

Some notes from this win:

Andrew Benintendi did not record an official at bat until the eighth inning on Saturday. In total, his OPS shot up from .856 all the way up to .881 in one game.

JD Martinez, in case you lost count, is up to 74 RBI on the season now.

Combined, Betts, Benintendi, and Martinez went 8/13 with 4 RBI, 4 BB, and 4 K.

Exactly 90 games into the season now, the Red Sox are 61-29. Pretty decent.

Some injury news:

Joe Kelly had to depart with two outs in the eighth due to light-headedness.

Christian Vazquez fractured his right pinky while sliding into second base, so he’ll be placed on the 10-day disabled list today. Expect Blake Swihart to get more opportunities behind the plate backing up Sandy Leon.

—

On a more positive note, the Red Sox will go for the sweep this afternoon with Rick Porcello on the hill for the series finale. He’ll be matched up against Jakob Junis for Kansas City, who held Boston to two runs over six innings pitched in the only other time he has faced them back on May 1st. First pitch of the final game is scheduled for 2:15 PM ET. Last game before heading home.

 

RECAP: Mookie Betts Hits 100th Career Homer and Chris Sale Picks up 100th Career Victory as #RedSox Open Series in Kansas City with 10-5 Win.

Coming off an off day on Thursday, the Red Sox took to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO to take on the 25-61 Royals. Having already taken two out of three from them earlier this season at Fenway Park, the Red Sox, led by Chris Sale, were looking to end a nine game road trip on a positive note.

Making his 19th start of the season on Friday, Sale carried over the dominance he displayed throughout the month of June in another great showing. In what was his shortest start since June 13th, the lefty went six innings deep in this one, surrendering just one run on five hits and one walk while fanning 12 Royals on the night.

By the time Sale took the mound for the first time in the bottom half of the first, his team had already gotten him four runs of support. And an inning later, that lead inflated all the way up to eight runs. So, the 29 year-old was never under much duress on Friday night, and the Royals only got to him once, on a Alcides Escobar RBI single, in the second, in six frames of work.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 99 (65 strikes), Sale displayed his full range of abilities with a fine defensive play in his final inning.

Out of those 99 pitches, the Florida native went to his nasty slider 43 times, which resulted in nine swinging strikes and 10 called strikes. He also topped out at 100.3 MPH with his four-seam fastball in the second inning.

A performance worthy of his ninth winning decision of the season, Sale reached a milestone with his 100th career win as well. He’ll look to build on this start, and make even more of a case to get his third consecutive nod for the AL in the All-Star Game, in his next time out, which should come against the Texas Rangers back at home on Wednesday.

In relief of Sale, we got our first look at Tyler Thornburg in a Red Sox uniform, and in case you were not able to catch it, I can confirm that he is a real person.

Making his first appearance with the club since being acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 2017 season, Thornburg gave up one run in the lone inning he pitched in the seventh. Granted, a Lucas Duda leadoff triple probably should have been a leadoff double had Mookie Betts not misplayed the ball in right field, but other than that, it certainly was not the worst relief appearance these eyes have seen.

From that point on, Brandon Workman gave up a two-run home run to Mike Moustakas in the eighth, and Hector Velazquez gave up one run on a Whit Merrifield RBI single in the ninth to make it a 10-5 game, while also picking up the final out to ensure his teams 60th win of the season.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup got to Royals starter Jason Hammel right away in this one. In his only other start against Boston this season, Hammel surrendered eight runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings pitched back on April 30th. On Friday night, the righty got hit hard once again, but did not make it into the fifth inning.

Leading the night off as he typically does, Mookie Betts took the third pitch he saw from Hammel and launched it 410 feet to left center for his 22nd long ball of the season.

In the process of doing that, not only did Betts put his team on the board first, but that homer was also good for the 100th of the outfielder’s career.

Four batters later, Brock Holt came to the plate with the bases loaded, and he took advantage of that by ripping an RBI single to right field to score JD Martinez from third and Steve Pearce from second.

Another two batters later, Sandy Leon put the exclamation point on an exciting opening frame by lining an RBI single of his own to right, scoring Xander Bogaerts from third for his teams fourth run of the night already.

In the second, with Hammel still on the mound for Kansas City, a pair of two-run home runs off the bats of JD Martinez (27) and Xander Bogaerts (14) doubled the Red Sox lead to eight heading into the bottom half of the inning.

Fast forward all the way to the eighth, and Jackie Bradley Jr. collected his 26th RBI of the season to score Eduardo Nunez from third for the ninth run of the night. An inning later, Steve Pearce capped off his three-hit with an RBI double to score Blake Swihart and put his new teams 10th and final run on the board.

Some notes from this win:

From @SoxNotes: Chris Sale is in line to earn the 100th win of his career. In his last 6 starts, he has a 1.10 ERA. He has not allowed a HR in his last 44.0 innings, the longest streak of his career.

And

Players to hit 100 HR with the Red Sox before turning 26: Tony Conigliaro – 160 Jim Rice – 133 Ted Williams – 127 Mookie Betts – 100 (turns 26 on Oct. 7)

It is July 7th, JD Martinez is slashing .328/.392/.647 with 27 HR and 73 RBI. The Red Sox are also the only team in all of baseball with 60 wins.

—

Looking to rebound from an ugly outing against the Yankees last Sunday, David Price will get the ball for the middle game of this weekend series later tonight. He’ll be matched up against Royals righty Brad Keller, who initially started the season as a reliever, but has since transitioned into a starting role with the club. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM ET on FOX.

 

Constructing the National League All-Star Roster.

Yesterday, I wrote about who I had representing the American League in this year’s All-Star Game. So today, I give you the National League side with the same format as before, that being the roster is based off of last year’s. Let’s get into it.

Starters:

C: Buster Posey, SFG
1B: Freddie Freeman, ATL
2B: Ozzie Albies, ATL
3B: Nolan Arenado, COL
SS: Brandon Crawford, SFG
OF: Nick Markakis, ATL
OF: Matt Kemp, LAD
OF: Bryce Harper, WAS
SP: Max Scherzer, WAS

Reserves:

C: JT Realmuto, MIA
1B: Brandon Belt, SFG
1B: Paul Goldschmidt, ARI
2B: Scooter Gennett, CIN
2B: Javier Baez, CHI
3B: Eugenio Suarez, CIN
3B: Matt Carpenter, STL
SS: Trevor Story, COL
OF: Lorenzo Cain, MIL
OF: Brandon Nimmo, NYM
OF: Kyle Schwarber, CHI

SP: Jacob deGrom, NYM
SP: Aaron Nola, PHI
SP: Miles Mikolas, STL
SP: Mike Foltynewicz, ATL
SP: Jon Lester, CHI
SP: Patrick Corbin, ARI

RP: Brad Hand, SDP
RP: Kenley Jansen, LAD
RP: Josh Hader, MIL
RP: Adam Ottavino, COL
RP: Sean Doolittle, WAS
RP: Felipe Vazquez, PIT

And there you have it. 32 players listed above, I made sure to include at least one representative from all 15 NL teams. Let me know if I left anyone deserving of an All-Star nod off.

 

Today Is the Last Day to #VoteRedSox, so Here’s Who I Have Representing the American League in This Year’s Midsummer Classic.

With today both being an off day for the Red Sox and the last day to vote for All-Star Game starters, I figured I should share something like this.

So, without further ado, here is what this year’s American League All-Star Roster would look like if it were up to me. I will be using last year’s position breakdown as a template.

Starters:

C: Wilson Ramos, TBR
1B: Jose Abreu, CWS
2B: Jose Altuve, HOU
3B: Jose Ramirez, CLE
SS: Francisco Lindor, CLE
OF: Mike Trout, LAA
OF: Mookie Betts, BOS
OF: Aaron Judge, NYY
DH: JD Martinez, BOS
SP: Luis Severino, NYY

Reserves:

C: Gary Sanchez, NYY
1B: Matt Olson, OAK
2B: Jed Lowrie, OAK
2B: Whit Merrifield, KCR
2B: Dee Gordon, SEA
3B: Alex Bregman, HOU
3B: Eduardo Escobar, MIN
SS: Manny Machado, BAL
OF: Mitch Haniger, SEA
OF: Shin-Soo Choo, TEX
OF: Nick Castellanos, DET
OF: Eddie Rosario, MIN
DH: Nelson Cruz, SEA

SP: Chris Sale, BOS
SP: Justin Verlander, HOU
SP: Gerrit Cole, HOU
SP: James Paxton, SEA
SP: Corey Kluber, CLE
SP: Blake Snell, TBR
SP: Charlie Morton, HOU
SP: Trevor Bauer, CLE
SP: Mike Clevinger, CLE

RP: Edwin Diaz, SEA
RP: Blake Treinen, OAK
RP: Aroldis Chapman, NYY
RP: Chad Green, NYY
RP: Craig Kimbrel, BOS
RP: Ryan Tepera, TOR

With 38 or so players listed above, I believe this counts injury replacements and alternatives as well. I’m pretty sure I accounted for all 15 teams, but let me know if I left someone off you think deserves to go to DC in a few weeks. Looking at you, AJ Hinch.

National League roster should be posted sometime tomorrow.

 

RECAP: Eduardo Rodriguez Bounces Back with Six Shutout Innings as #RedSox Complete Sweep of Nationals on Independence Day.

After dropping two out of three to the Yankees in New York to start a nine-game road trip, the Red Sox had the opportunity to improve to 4-2 on the trip yesterday thanks to two straight wins over the Washington Nationals in DC.

Making his 17th start of the season and coming off back-to-back poor outings against the Mariners and Yankees, Eduardo Rodriguez toed the rubber for his first time ever at Nationals Park.

In six quality innings pitched, the lefty failed to surrender a single run as he held the Nationals to just three hits and one walk while fanning six on the day. If it weren’t for his spot in the order due up in the top half of the seventh, I’d like to think Rodriguez could have gone even deeper, but considering that the Red Sox were threatening with runners in scoring position, I understand the decision to pinch-hit Andrew Benintendi in that spot.

Regardless, the Venezuela native only needed 84 pitches (54 strikes) to get through those six scoreless innings, and he really dazzled to pick up his 10th winning decision of the season.

Out of those 84 pitches Rodriguez went to his deadly changeup a total of 26 times, which resulted in five swinging strikes, one called strike, and seven balls in play. He also topped out at 95.7 MPH with his four-seam fastball in the fourth inning.

Building off a successful start to the new month, the 25-year-old hurler will look to carry over this new-found momentum in his next start, which should come back at Fenway Park against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday.

In relief of Rodriguez, the Red Sox bullpen carried on and completed the shutout with three scoreless frames of their own. Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly, and Craig Kimbrel locked down their teams 59th win of the season, and in doing so, Kimbrel, despite allowing the tying run to come to the plate, notched his 26th save of 2018.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was limited in what they could do yesterday and that was mostly because of a solid performance out of the Nationals bullpen.

In fact, Washington’s starter for this series finale, Erick Fedde, had to leave in the second inning with what was later diagnosed as right shoulder inflammation. That really did not matter though, because the Red Sox failed to plate a run until the top half of the seventh.

Going into the frame with this thing still tied, Rafael Devers got the rally started with a leadoff double off of Nats reliever Ryan Madson. Two batters later, after Devers had moved up to third on a Eduardo Nunez single, Jackie Bradley Jr. came through with the clutch sacrifice fly to finally put the Red Sox on the board.

Two batters later, with Andrew Benintendi pinch-hitting for Eduardo Rodriguez, a wild pitch on ball four from Madson allowed Eduardo Nunez, who had advanced to third on that Bradley sac fly, to easily score and put his team up by two runs.

Fast forward to the ninth, and another Jackie Bradley Jr. RBI, this one coming on a double to score Eduardo Nunez all the way from first, pretty much put this game away from the Red Sox by putting them up 3-0.

One note from this W:

It is July 5th and the Red Sox are 30 games over .500. That is all.

—

With a trip to Kansas City up next on the schedule, the Red Sox will find themselves enjoying a day off on Thursday before kicking off a three-game weekend series against the lowly Royals on Friday. Chris Sale, who owns a career 3.16 ERA in 16 games at Kauffman Stadium, gets the ball for the opener. He’ll be matched up against veteran righty Jason Hammel for the Royals. First pitch of the first game on Friday is scheduled for 8:15 PM ET.

Also, happy belated Independence Day.

 

RECAP: Powered by Three Home Runs, #RedSox Cruise to 11-4 Win over Nationals.

On the night following a tight 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Monday, the Red Sox were back out there on Tuesday looking to clinch an interleague series on another hot night in the nation’s capital.

Making his second start since Steven Wright was placed on the disables list on June 26th, Brian Johnson, although effective, found himself making another short start last night. In his last time out against the Angels on Thursday, the lefty managed to toss four innings of one run ball in a game his team won. And on Tuesday, Johnson went two outs deeper than he did in his previous start.

Pitching into the fifth inning of this one, Johnson surrendered two runs, both earned, on eight hits and two walks while fanning two as well. Those two runs came in the Florida native’s last full frame in the fourth, an inning in which the Nationals reached base four times.

In a bottom half of the fifth that saw Washington reach base two times in three attempts to lead things off, Johnson’s night came to an end after he got Daniel Murphy to line out to JD Martinez for the second out of the inning.

Unable to pick up the winning decision, the 27-year-old finished with 77 pitches (52 strikes) on the night, 16 more than he threw in his last start. Out of those 77, Johnson went to his four-seam fastball 54% of the time and topped out at 91 MPH with it.

As for his next start, all signs are pointing towards Steven Wright making a return to the Red Sox rotation before the All-Star Break. Now, I don’t know if that means Wright will be ready to start a game within the next five days, but it’s something to watch for. And regardless of who’s pitching, Johnson or Wright would more than likely start against the Texas Rangers next Monday.

Anyway, in relief of Johnson, Heath Hembree was inserted into this one with one more out to get in the fifth. With runners already at first and second, Hembree proceeded to make things more difficult for himself by giving up a single to Mark Reynolds to load the bases.

Remember, at this point in the game, the Red Sox had just gone up by seven runs thanks to a six run effort in the top half of the fifth. If Hembree, were to have given up anywhere from to two to four runs here, the momentum of the game could have shifted just like that. Instead, he got Michael A. Taylor to strike out on six pitches to get out of the jam.

After striking out in his first career at bat in the top half of the sixth, the righty reliever would come back out for a second inning of work in the bottom half. With that, Nationals catcher Pedro Severino greeted Hembree by blasting a 425 foot home run to lead off the inning. Luckily, Hembree rebounded by striking out the side and ending his night on a more positive note.

From that point on, Brandon Workman picked up his first win of the season by tossing a 1-2-3 seventh. William Cuevas made his first appearance for the Red Sox since 2016 as well last night, and despite giving up a run on two hits, wrapped this win up by going the last two innings.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was powered by two three-run homers and one two-run homer, so that’s eight of the 11 runs scored right there.

Facing off against a starter who had only made one career appearance against Boston in Nationals righty Tanner Roark, Eduardo Nunez got the scoring started with his 6th home run of the season, a three-run jack in the second inning.

Three innings later, it was Brian Johnson, yes Brian Johnson, who got a six run rally started with a one out single.

Capped off by a JD Martinez 2 RBI single, a Steve Pearce RBI single, and a Xander Bogaerts three run home run, the Red Sox went into the halfway point of this one with a 9-2 lead.

Fast forward all the way to the top of the ninth, with this game already out of reach, JD Martinez decided he was not satisfied with his 2 RBI night, so he added on another two with his league-leading 26th big fly of the season.

That put the Red Sox up 11-4 and all but ensured the team their 58th win of the season heading into the final game of this interleague series.

Some notes from this W:

Not related to the Red Sox, but the Nationals managed to let Tanner Roark pitch seven innings in this game. He gave up NINE runs, so credit to him for eating some innings in a game that was lost in the fifth inning.

Back to Red Sox related stuff, Mitch Moreland had to depart from this game in the third inning due to back spasms. He should be ready to go in time for the series opener in Kansas City on Friday.

Since joining the Red Sox five days ago, Steve Pearce is 4/9 in three games with at least one at bat. He’ll be starting at first base tomorrow morning.

Going into Wednesday, JD Martinez leads all of baseball in home runs (26) and RBI (71).

Before tomorrow morning’s series finale, the Red Sox will activate Tyler Thornburg from the 10-day disabled list, meaning he will make his first appearance for Boston since he was traded from the Brewers two offseasons ago.

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Looking for the series sweep, the Red Sox will be going with lefty Eduardo Rodriguez for the finale. Winless in his last two starts, Rodriguez will be matched up against Nationals rookie Erick Fedde, who owns a 6.00 ERA in five games started this season. With it being the Fourth of July and all, first pitch is scheduled for a rare morning start at 11:05 AM ET. Happy Independence Day, time to break out the brooms.