Tag: alex cora

Nathan Eovaldi dazzles with 7 2/3 1-run innings as Red Sox secure series win over Yankees with 4-2 victory; Connor Wong picks up first big-league hit in Fenway Park debut

The Red Sox did not need to tear the cover off the ball to get the job done against the Yankees at Fenway Park on Saturday night.

Boston scored two runs on two sacrifice flies in the second inning, an additional run on an infield single in the third inning, and one more on another sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.

Things got a bit shaky towards the end, but the Sox were able to hold on and pick up a series-clinching 4-2 victory over New York.

Matched up against Yankees left-hander Jordan Montgomery to begin things on Saturday, Xander Bogaerts proved to be the catalyst for that two-run bottom of the second by dribbling a leadoff single a mere four feet past home plate.

Rafael Devers followed by drawing an eight-pitch walk, and Hunter Renfroe loaded the bases with a hard-hit single that eluded Montgomery on the mound.

Following a brief mound visit, Enrique Hernandez brought in his side’s first run on a sacrifice fly to center field that brought in Bogaerts and advanced Devers to third, while Bobby Dalbec doubled an early lead by plating Devers on yet another sac fly, though this one only traveled 152 feet and was caught by Yankees first baseman Luke Voit in foul territory.

Still, Voit had to catch Dalbec’s pop fly with his back towards home plate, and that allowed Devers to come into score to make it a 2-0 game.

An inning later, the Sox offense struck with two outs, this time with Bogaerts ripping a two-out double, Devers reaching on an infield single, and Renfroe driving in Bogaerts on another infield knock that came as a result of the Yankees infield playing in a shift.

Fast forward to the seventh, and Bogaerts supplied what would prove to be an important insurance run when he brought in Michael Chavis on a run-scoring sacrifice fly to center field.

While the Red Sox lineup was soft-contacting the Yankees to death, Nathan Eovaldi put together one of his more impressive outings of the season against his former team on Saturday.

Over 7 2/3 innings of work, the veteran right-hander surrendered just one run while scattering seven hits and zero walks to go along with six strikeouts on the night.

That lone tally Eovaldi gave up came at the hands of the last batter he faced, as he served up a two-out solo homer to D.J. LeMahieu in the top half of the eighth.

Besides that one miscue, Eovaldi was thoroughly locked in, never facing more than four Yankees in a single frame thanks to keeping the ball on the ground for the most part and inducing a pair of double plays as a result of doing so.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 109 (72 strikes) to set a new season-high, the 31-year-old hurler ultimately improved to 8-4 on the season in addition to bringing his ERA down to 3.67. His next start should come against the Royals on Thursday.

Red Sox bullpen barely holds on

In relief of Eovaldi, Hirokazu Sawamura got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen with one out to get in the eighth, and he proceeded to walk the bases loaded to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Voit.

That sequence prompted Sox manager Alex Cora to turn to Adam Ottavino, who got Voit to ground out to short to extinguish the threat.

With closer Matt Barnes unavailable, Ottavino was also responsible for the ninth inning as he had a 4-1 lead to protect.

The Yankees made things interesting in their half of the ninth, with LeMahieu plating a run to bring the possible go-ahead run in Aaron Judge. But Ottavino fanned Judge on six pitches, punctuating the at-bat with a nasty 96 mph sinker down and away to preserve the 4-2 victory and notch his fifth save of the year.

With the win, the Red Sox improve to 46-31 (22-17 at home) on the season while remaining a half game back of the Rays for first place in the American League East.

Wong’s first career hit in his first career start

Red Sox catching prospect Connor Wong made his first career start behind the dish on Saturday after debuting as a pinch-runner earlier this week.

The 25-year-old picked up his first big-league hit in the second inning as part of a 1-for-3 night at the plate. He also caught a decent game for Eovaldi and Co.

Next up: Cole vs. Rodriguez

The Red Sox will look to improve to a perfect 6-0 against the Yankees this season by going for the three-game sweep over their division rivals on Sunday afternoon.

Ace right-hander Gerrit Cole will get the ball for New York in the series finale, while left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will do the same for Boston.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN and TBS.

(Picture of Nathan Eovaldi: Winslow Townson/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Chris Sale faces live hitters at Fenway Park for first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery

Red Sox ace Chris Sale reached another important milestone at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon, as he faced live hitters for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring.

Working off the mound at Fenway after warming up in the bullpen as if he were preparing for a start, Sale threw 15 pitches to hitters while mixing in fastballs, changeups, and sliders.

According to The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham, Sale threw 45 pitches in all, with the last 15 being to hitters. He faced off against Christian Arroyo, Michael Chavis, and Bobby Dalbec — all right-handed bats.

“Everything went well,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo). “He felt good about it. I think his next one is next week. We’re excited. He looked really good.”

Kevin Plawecki, who appears to have caught Sale on Saturday, added that his outing ‘was nasty’ on Twitter.

This latest achievement for Sale comes less than a full week after the left-hander threw a 45-pitch bullpen session at Double-A Portland’s Hadlock Field this past Tuesday, which came a few short days after he threw his first 45-pitch bullpen at Triple-A Worcester’s Polar Park last Friday.

As for what’s next, Sale will face live hitters once more sometime next week before the Sox depart for their west-coast road trip that begins on July 2 in Oakland.

Per Cotillo, Sale could be lined up to start a rehab assignment with a Red Sox minor-league affiliate sooner rather than later depending on how he reacts to an increase in workload while facing hitters.

The 32-year-old hurler underwent Tommy John surgery last March — on his 31st birthday, actually — and could be on track to rejoin Boston’s starting rotation by mid-August if all goes according to plan.

That being said, the Red Sox first want to ensure that Sale wakes up Sunday morning without feeling any sort of discomfort before deciding on the next steps to be taken.

“Let’s wait how he reacts to this and then we’ll make a decision,” said Cora.

And so the waiting begins.

(Picture of Chris Sale: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Connor Wong to make first career start for Red Sox, catch Nathan Eovaldi in Saturday’s game against Yankees

Red Sox catching prospect Connor Wong will make his first career start behind the plate while batting out of the nine-hole in Saturday night’s contest against the Yankees at Fenway Park.

Boston promoted Wong from Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday in the same roster move that saw fellow backstop Kevin Plawecki hit the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain.

The 25-year-old — one of three players acquired from the Dodgers in the infamous Mookie Betts/David Price trade — debuted for the Sox as a pinch-runner that same night and scored the winning run in the 11th inning of an eventual 9-5 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field, becoming the first American League rookie to pinch-run in extra innings and score in his debut since Cal Ripken Jr. did so in 1981.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora initially had Wong lined up to make his first start on Sunday, but two factors led to the sudden change.

First, Wong has some familiarity with Saturday’s starter, Nathan Eovaldi. Second, Cora wants to keep Christian Vazquez and Eduardo Rodriguez together for Sunday’s series finale against New York.

In the early stages of spring training this year, Eovaldi had mentioned that Wong caught several of his bullpens over the winter since the two hail from and reside in the Houston-area during the offseason.

“Over the years, I’ve been able to acquire a pretty good workout setup in the garage and everything like that,” Eovaldi told NESN’s Tom Caron back in February. “So I’ve been able to get all my workouts done. And then this offseason as well, I was able to throw to Connor Wong a lot. So, that was nice having a solid catcher behind the plate and being able to work with him.”

The Eovaldi-Wong tandem will debut at approximately 7:15 p.m. Friday night as the Red Sox (45-31) go for the series win over the Yankees (40-35).

Here is how the rest of the Sox will be lining up against Yankees left-hander Jordan Montgomery:

The game will be broadcast on FOX. First pitch, again, is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET.

(Picture of Connor Wong: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Hunter Renfroe nabs Gio Urshela at home to pick up 11th outfield assist of season: ‘He has a cannon, man,’ Xander Bogaerts says

Xander Bogaerts has played with his fair share of defensively-gifted outfielders in his career with the Red Sox.

Whether it be Shane Victorino, Mookie Betts, or Jackie Bradley Jr., Bogaerts has certainly seen Gold Glove-caliber defense from his teammates in the outfield over the years, and he’s seeing it again this season with Hunter Renfroe.

Renfroe, who came into the weekend leading all American League right fielders in Ultimate Zone Rating (3.2), recorded his league-leading 11th outfield assist of the year in the fourth inning of Friday night’s 5-3 victory over the Yankees at Fenway Park.

At the time, the Sox were holding on to a 4-3 lead and the Yankees had just put the potential tying run in scoring position on a leadoff double off the bat of Gio Urshela.

Urshela attempted to score from second on a Miguel Andujar groundball single to right field off Red Sox starter Martin Perez, but Renfroe had other plans.

Fielding the ball rather routinely, Renfroe was able to gun down Urshela at home with plenty of time to spare by unleashing a 94.7 mph laser to an awaiting Christian Vazquez.

Vazquez caught the relay without haste, and snuffed out a sliding Urshela to prevent the possible tying run from crossing the plate for the first out of the fourth.

“Anytime you throw a guy out at the plate, it’s pretty special,” Renfroe said. “You don’t get to do that very often. And especially in that moment, it was a big moment in the game, could have tied the game up. But, obviously, anytime you can help the team win or do something for the team, it’s great.”

Renfroe has made a habit of making these sorts of plays look routine this season, and he has thoroughly impressed his peers — including his manager — while doing so.

“He does a good job charging the ball in that situation,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He has the presence of mind, too, like he didn’t need to keep that throw down. He knew he had a chance to get him at the plate.”

Bogaerts, meanwhile, had a front-row seat to yet another eye-opening display from Renfroe, and he was still in awe of what happened when speaking with reporters hours later.

“He’s been hot for a while,” Bogaerts said of Renfroe. “If you ask me what I could compare him to, it’d be Jackie Bradley. When he gets on that streak, it’s just missiles and doubles and homers and hard hits. It’s pretty nice, man. And his defense, I wish mine was like that. He’s been awesome offensively and defensively. I didn’t even know he was that good of an outfielder, but he’s been playing really, really good for us.

“He has a cannon, man,” Bogaerts added. “He reads the ball well out there, he has a cannon, he’s strong. I mean, this guy is solid. He’s definitely a really good baseball player.”

In addition to his fine night in the outfield, Renfroe also enjoyed a productive evening at the plate. The 29-year-old went 1-for-1 with a double, a sacrifice fly, two RBI, two walks, and one run scored in Boston’s win over New York.

“He had a great game, not only defensively but offensively,” said Cora. “The patience at the plate, getting to fastballs, putting the ball in play with a man at third. A great game for him.”

Over his last 30 games, Renfroe is slashing an impressive .308/.392/.519 with four home runs, 17 RBI, and 21 runs scored. He started the season by posting a .167/.235/.250 slash line in April after signing a one-year, $3.1 million deal with Boston in December.

“We knew he was a good athlete. We knew he was a good defender,” Cora said when asked if the Red Sox knew Renfroe was this good a player. “Talking to him in the offseason, he mentioned that he didn’t have a chance to play against righties, and although he has a reputation of hitting lefties, he needs righties to stay with his approach.

“In spring training, he did a good job for us. He went the other way,” added Cora. “He struggled early on, but he started shooting the ball the other way, staying off pitches. And you see the at-bats, they’re a lot better. He’s actually walking at a high rate now — he’s controlling the zone. We knew he was talented. Everybody knows it, and he’s putting everything together.”

For Renfroe, his early-season struggles this year can likely be linked to the fact that he was playing for his third team in three seasons. In other words, there was a bit of an adjustment period this spring.

As he has gotten more and more acclimated to the Red Sox, though, the Mississippi native has seen his level of play increase drastically.

On May 1, the 6-foot-1, 230 pound right-handed hitter ranked 12th among Boston position players in terms of fWAR (-0.3). Since then, he ranks third on the team in fWAR (1.1) behind only Xander Bogaerts (2.3) and Rafael Devers (1.6), per FanGraphs.

“It’s come really easy for me to transfer over and be part of the Red Sox,” said Renfroe. “It’s been easy for me to come over here and just step right in and do the best I can. Obviously, you can’t fake hard work as well. I worked my butt off this offseason to put myself in the best shape I can and put myself in a great hitting stance going forward into spring training and going forward [into the season].”

(Picture of Hunter Renfroe: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Hunter Renfroe drives in two runs, records 11th outfield assist as Red Sox hold on to top Yankees, 5-3

The Red Sox did not waste any time in getting an already-pumped up crowd into their game against the Yankees at a sold-out Fenway Park on Friday night.

Shortly after the team celebrated Dustin Pedroia’s career in an emotional pregame ceremony, a pair of back-to-back singles from Michael Chavis and Alex Verdugo to lead things off in the bottom of the first inning put the Sox in business against Yankees starter Domingo German.

Xander Bogaerts cleared the bases by ripping a two-run double to left-center field, while Hunter Renfroe drove him in on another run-scoring double to give Boston an early 3-0 lead.

Martin Perez, meanwhile, was making his 15th start of the season for the Sox on Friday, and he allowed the Yankees to come right back into this game despite being given an early cushion to work with.

New York tacked on three unearned runs off the veteran left-hander in their half of the second, with Bogaerts committing a costly fielding error that would later permit Clint Frazier to get his side on the board by drawing a bases-loaded walk and D.J. LeMahieu to even things up with a two-run single to right field.

As previously mentioned, Perez was not charged with either of those three tallies, though he only made it to the two-out mark of the fourth inning while giving up six hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts before his evening came to a close.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 67 (44 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler did not factor into Friday’s decision, but did lower his ERA on the season to 4.09. His next start should come against the Royals back at Fenway Park on Wednesday.

While Perez did allow the Yankees to erase their three-run deficit, Renfroe struck again once more in the bottom of the third, this time plating J.D. Martinez from third base on a sacrifice fly that gave the Sox a 4-3 edge.

The hard-throwing outfielder also contributed to the cause a half inning later, as he gunned down the potential tying run in the form of Gio Urshela on a 94.7 mph dart to home plate for his league-leading 11th outfield assist of the year.

In relief of Perez, who got the hook from Sox manager Alex Cora shortly after that play, Hirokazu Sawamura got the first call out of the Boston bullpen, finished things in the fourth, and tossed a scoreless fifth inning as well.

From there, a pair of ex-Yankees right-handers took over, with Rule 5 pick Garrett Whitlock twirling two scoreless frames before Adam Ottavino punched out two in a 1-2-3 top of the eighth.

Christian Vazquez supplied a much-needed insurance run by scoring Renfroe from second on an RBI single in the bottom half of the frame to make it a 5-3 contest, and that set the stage for Matt Barnes in the ninth.

The Red Sox closer ran into some initial trouble, issuing back-to-back singles to the first two hitters he faced, but was able to settle in, fan Frazier for the first out, and get LeMahieu to ground into a game-sealing 6-4-3 double play to notch his 16th save of the season and preserve the 5-3 victory.

All in all, the Red Sox bullpen (Sawamura, Whitlock, Ottavino, Barnes) on Friday combined to pitch 5 1/3 shutout innings while scattering just three hits and one walk in addition to striking out a total of seven Yankees hitters.

With the win, the Sox snap a two-game skid and improve to 45-31 on the season, though they still trail the Rays by a half game for first place in the American League East.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, they will go for the series win over the Yankees on national television Saturday night.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will get the ball for Boston, while left-hander Jordan Montgomery will do the same for New York.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. eastern time on FOX.

(Picture of Hunter Renfroe: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Dustin Pedroia to be inducted into Red Sox Hall of Fame next year

Dustin Pedroia has been elected to the Red Sox Hall of Fame, the team announced prior to Friday’s game against the Yankees at Fenway Park. Pedroia will be included in the 2022 class.

Under normal circumstances, former Red Sox players have to wait three years post-retirement to receive Hall of Fame consideration, but the team opted to waive that prerequisite while celebrating Pedroia’s illustrious Friday evening.

Red Sox legends Luis Tiant and Pedro Martinez were among those who welcomed Pedroia as the newest member of the team’s Hall of Fame, as the longtime second baseman becomes the 37th former player to join the club.

Pedroia, who turns 38 in August, retired from the game of baseball this past February after spending all 14 years of his major-league career and all 17 years of his professional career with the Red Sox.

Among all-time franchise leaders, the former American League MVP ranks 11th in games played (1,512), 10th in runs scored (922), eighth in hits (1,805), sixth in doubles (394), 18th in home runs (140), 15th in RBI (725), 12th in walks (624), and sixth in stolen bases (138).

Besides Bobby Doerr, who is in the Hall of Fame and had his No. 1 retired by the club in 1988, Pedroia is unquestionably the greatest, modern second baseman in Red Sox history.

In addition to being named AL MVP in 2008 — his second full season — the former second-round draft pick out of Arizona State University won AL Rookie of the Year in 2007, was selected to four All-Star teams, won four Gold Glove Awards, one Silver Slugger Award, and three World Series championships (2007, 2013, and 2018).

From the time he made his first major-league Opening Day roster in April 2007 until the final day of the 2017 season (the last year he played more than 100 games in a single season), Pedroia consistently put himself in the conversation as the best second baseman in baseball, all while never taking a single play off.

In that time period, the California native ranked second among all second baseman in terms of fWAR (48.0), trailing only Robinson Cano over that lengthy stretch, per FanGraphs.

It goes without saying that Pedroia’s career with the Red Sox was a legendary one, and one that was cut short by multiple knee surgeries that came as a result of then-Orioles infielder Manny Machado clipping his leg while sliding into second base in Baltimore on April 21, 2017.

Because of that incident, Peroia ultimately had to undergo a knee replacement this past December, which essentially forced him to call it a career a few short weeks later.

Still, Pedroia will go down in the books as one of the hardest working and grittiest players that has ever donned a Red Sox uniform. And he — all 5-foot-9, 170 pounds of him — played that way despite being told his entire life he was too small to do what he does.

As Red Sox manager Alex Cora put it on Friday when discussing his former teammate: “What this kid means to the organization, to this city, for me personally you can’t put it into words. From day one he gave it everything he had to the game, to the Red Sox. He didn’t take a play off in his career. Even when he didn’t play, he was locked in on every pitch. He’s amazing.”

Thank you, Dustin Pedroia.

(Picture of Dustin Pedroia: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Nick Pivetta dominates with 6 2/3 no-hit innings, but Red Sox fall to Rays, 1-0, on walk-off wild pitch from Matt Barnes

The Red Sox received one of their best starting pitching performances of the season at Tropicana Field on Thursday night, yet were walked off by the Rays on a wild pitch and wound up losing 1-0.

Pivetta did not allow a single hit while walking two, plunking one, and striking out eight over 6 2/3 innings of work.

The right-hander was locked in from the get-go, as he made a statement by punching out the side in the first and taking a perfect game into the fourth, at which point he walked Brandon Lowe to begin the inning.

Lowe helped out Pivetta, though, as he ran into an inning-ending double play, while Hunter Renfroe contributed to the cause in the fifth by making a fantastic leaping catch on a Ji-Man Choi line out to deep right field.

After working his way around a HBP in the sixth, Pivetta came back out for the seventh with his pitch count rising, recorded the first two outs, but then got the hook from Red Sox manager Alex Cora with a string of left-handed bats due to hit for Tampa Bay.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 100 (58 strikes), the 28-year-old hurler turned to his four-seam fastball 45% of the time he was on the mound Thursday, inducing five swings-and-misses while topping out at 98.6 mph with the pitch.

Ultimately hit with the no-decision while lowering his ERA on the season to 4.00, Pivetta’s next start should come against the Royals back at Fenway Park next Tuesday.

In relief of Pivetta, left-hander Josh Taylor came on to record the final out of the seventh, which he needed just six pitches to do to extend his scoreless appearance to 22 consecutive games.

From there, Darwinzon Hernandez issued a one-out double to Keven Kiermaier in the eighth that saw the Sox’ combined no-hit bid come to an end. But Adam Ottavino was able to get out of the inning unscathed.

Matt Barnes got the call for the ninth in a scoreless contest, and he got the first two outs of the inning relatively easily before yielding a groundball single to old friend Manuel Margot.

Margot stole second and advanced to third on a Christian Vazquez throwing error, which put him in position to score the game-winning run on a wild pitch moments later.

Despite not being charged with an earned run, Barnes did pick up his second loss of the year.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against another veteran right-hander in the form of Michael Wacha.

Like Pivetta, Wacha was nearly perfect to begin things on Thursday, as he did not allow his first hit — a bloop single off the bat of Christian Vazquez — until the fifth inning.

Vazquez was able to steal second and even moved up to third on a throwing error, but was left there when Bobby Dalbec struck out to extinguish the threat.

Boston threatened once more with two outs in the sixth, with J.D. Martinez singling and Xander Bogaerts drawing a walk off Rays reliever Drew Rasmussen.

Alas, Rafael Devers grounded out to third, and another scoring opportunity was done away with.

That trend continued in the seventh, with Renfroe leading things off with a hard-hit double, but ultimately being gunned down by Kiermaier at home plate on a Vazquez single.

Vazquez’s time on the base paths in the eighth did not last all that long, as he was picked off at second base by Rays catcher Francisco Mejia. And that would prove to be their last legitimate scoring chance.

All in all, the Red Sox went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base as a team in Thursday’s 1-0 loss.

With the loss, Boston falls to 44-31 on the season while moving to a half game back of Tampa Bay for first place in the American League East. They have dropped their last two series.

—

Next up, the Sox will fly back to Boston and welcome the Yankees into town for a three-game weekend series at Fenway Park that begins on Friday night.

Left-hander Martin Perez will get the start for Boston in the series opener, while right-hander Domingo German will do the same for New York.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN and MLB Network.

(Picture of Matt Barnes: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Garrett Richards gets rocked in shortest outing of season as Red Sox fall to Rays, 8-2

Garrett Richards has been under the microscope as of late after criticizing Major League Baseball’s decision to crack down on foreign substances, which went into effect on Monday.

In his first start since the league’s new protocols regarding “the sticky stuff” were implemented, Richards could not give the Red Sox much of anything against the Rays at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night.

Lasting just 1 2/3 innings, the veteran right-hander surrendered five runs — four of which were earned — on three hits, four walks, and one hit batsman to go along with zero strikeouts to ultimately take the loss in what would go down as an 8-2 defeat for Boston.

Interestingly enough, Richards got his outing off to a solid start by getting the first two outs of the first inning on five pitches. A five-pitch walk of Wander Franco changed that though, and Austin Meadows followed by taking the righty deep to right-center field off a 1-1, 93 mph fastball on the outer half of the plate to give his side an early 2-0 lead.

In the second, Richards again fell victim to the home run ball followed by a walk, as he served up another two-run shot to Mike Zunino.

A Brandon Lowe double would result in another Rays run crossing the plate on a fielding error committed by second baseman Enrique Hernandez, and Richards’ night would come to a disappointing close after he put the next two batters he faced on via a walk and HBP.

Given the early hook by Red Sox manager Alex Cora, the 33-year-old finished the night having thrown just 54 pitches (28 strikes). Of those 54 pitches, 34 were four-seam fastballs, 11 were curveballs, and nine changeups.

Ultimately falling to 4-5 on the year while inflating his ERA to 4.74, Richards’ next start should come against the Royals back at Fenway Park on Monday.

In relief of Richards, Brandon Workman came on, got out of the second unscathed, and also tossed a scoreless third despite issuing a pair of walks.

From there, Yacksel Rios impressed by punching out two while keeping the Rays off the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth innings and Josh Taylor extended his scoreless appearance streak to 21 consecutive games in the bottom half of the sixth.

Matt Andriese, meanwhile, saw the Sox’ four-run deficit grow to seven runs when he yielded a three-run homer to Lowe later in the eighth. That put the Rays up 8-1.

—

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was held in check by Rays starter Rich Hill even after getting to the veteran southpaw early.

Xander Bogaerts got the scoring started for his side with an RBI single in the first inning that plated Alex Verdugo from second to put Boston up 1-0.

Bogaerts was however thrown out at third base to extinguish the Sox’ threat in the first, and that seemingly halted their offensive momentum as well.

That being the case because despite drawing a total of six walks off Hill and the Rays bullpen, the Red Sox only managed to tack on one more run when Christian Vazquez drove in Rafael Devers on a run-scoring single in the eighth inning.

Vazquez’s 29th RBI of the season made it an 8-2 game in favor of Tampa Bay, and that would go on to be Wednesday’s final score.

—

With the loss, the Sox drop to 44-30 on the season and maintain just a half-game lead over the Rays for first place in the American League East.

That being said, first place in the AL East will be up for grabs in the rubber match of this three-game series on Thursday.

Right-hander Nick Pivetta will get the ball for Boston, and he will be opposed by fellow righty Michael Wacha for Tampa Bay.

First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Garrett Richards: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Red Sox injuries: Christian Arroyo should avoid injured list, Tanner Houck allows 2 runs over 3 2/3 innings in latest start for WooSox

Infielder Christian Arroyo remains out of the Red Sox lineup for the middle game of their three-game series against the Rays at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night.

Arroyo suffered a bone bruise in his right shin in Sunday’s loss to the Royals after colliding with center fielder Enrique Hernandez in the fifth inning of that contest.

While the 26-year-old has been held out Boston’s lineup in the two games since sustaining the injury, he has been able to get treatment on his bruised shin and even participated in some running drills earlier Wednesday afternoon. The team appears optimistic that he can avoid a stint on the injured list.

“He’s doing better. Still sore,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said in regards to Arroyo’s status. “We’ll try to stay away from him today. We still believe it’s not an IL situation. Hopefully, he’s ready to play tomorrow — if not, by Friday. So, we’ll be patient with him.”

Boston concludes its three-game set against the Rays on Thursday before opening up a three-game weekend series against the Yankees back at Fenway Park on Friday.

With Arroyo being held out of action once more, Hernandez will get the start for the Sox at second base, while Danny Santana will bat leadoff and start in center field.

Tanner Houck’s tosses 3 2/3 innings in latest start for WooSox

Red Sox pitching prospect Tanner Houck made his second start for Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday since returning from the injured list after being shut down for more than a month with flexor muscle soreness.

After dazzling with three scoreless, no-hit innings in his return to the mound at Polar Park last week, Houck had a tougher time of things when going up the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings (Nationals affiliate) at Frontier Field on Wednesday.

The right-hander served up a leadoff home run to the first man he faced in Luis Garcia, though he was able to settle down for a stretch by retiring nine of the next 10 hitters who came to the plate against him going into the fourth inning.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, however, Houck yielded a hard-hit double to former White Sox outfielder Daniel Palka and saw his day come to a close after recording the second out of the frame.

The runner he left on wound up scoring later in the inning, and the WooSox would go on to fall to the Red Wings by a final score of 5-3 to snap a modest five-game winning streak.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 58 (38 strikes), Houck wound up surrendering two earned runs on three hits (one home run) and zero walks to go along with six strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings of work.

Assuming he wakes up feeling fine on Thursday, the soon-to-be 25-year-old hurler’s next start for the WooSox should come against the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees affiliate) back at Polar Park on Monday.

(Picture of Christian Arroyo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It certainly looks like the Red Sox would like to see Jack Leiter fall to them at No. 4 in next month’s draft

The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft may still be under three weeks away, but it certainly looks like the Red Sox have their sights set on a specific prospect.

After finishing with the fourth-worst record in baseball last year, Boston owns the No. 4 pick in next month’s draft, putting them in a rare spot to add a top-five talent for the first time since 1967 when they had the third overall selection.

In the time since the 2021 high school and college baseball seasons began in the spring, the Sox have been linked to a number of elite amateur prospects, including a pair of right-handers from the esteemed Vanderbilt University in Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter.

There have been moments these past few months where it seemed as though Rocker and Leiter could be the first two players taken off the board, but recently, Leiter in particular has been heavily linked to the No. 4 pick in this summer’s draft.

Last Monday, in their most recent mock draft, FanGraphs had Leiter falling to the Red Sox at No. 4, with former Astros executive Kevin Goldstein writing: “Word is Leiter is trying to price himself down to Boston and wants to land there. Word is that Boston would love that as well. Thus, a match made in heaven.”

Last Wednesday, in their most recent mock draft, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo also had the Sox taking Leiter with their top pick. The same can be said for ESPN’s latest mock as well.

On Monday night, Vanderbilt took on North Carolina State in the second round of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., with Leiter toeing the rubber for the Commodores.

Since the Red Sox had Monday off before opening up a three-game series against the Rays in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, manager Alex Cora had time to tune into ESPN2 to catch some of the highly-anticipated matchup in between catching up on the latest MLB action.

While Cora said he was mainly watching the game since his brother, Joey, attended Vanderbilt, he also caught a glimpse of Leiter’s outing and was asked Tuesday to compare the young righty to a former big-leaguer.

His choice? Former Astros ace right-hander Roy Oswalt, a veteran of 13 major-league seasons.

“Good fastball. I don’t know. I hate to compare guys,” Cora said of Leiter when speaking with reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo). “Maybe a stronger version of Roy Oswalt. Short — but he’s a little bit stronger — with a good fastball and a good breaking ball.”

Leiter, who turned 21 in April, allowed just one run while scattering four hits and one walk to go along with 15 strikeouts over eight dominant innings (123 pitches) on Monday night, though the ‘Dores ultimately fell to the Wolfpack by a final score of 1-0.

Monday’s start could be Leiter’s last for Vanderbilt, as the Commodores will face off against Stanford in an elimination game on Wednesday.

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The son of two-time All-Star Al Leiter, the 6-foot-1, 205 pound hurler is currently regarded by Baseball America as the third-ranked prospect in this year’s draft class, ranking first among amateur pitchers and college players in general.

In 17 regular and postseason starts for Vandy this year, the sophomore has posted a 2.08 ERA, a 0.84 WHIP, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 171:42 over 104 total innings pitched.

Per his Baseball America scouting report, Leiter operates with a five-pitch mix that consists of a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a curveball, a slider, and a changeup.

“This spring, Leiter has primarily worked with a fastball, curveball, slider combination,” the righty’s scouting report reads. “His fastball has been up to 98 mph, but averages 93-95 mph, with excellent carry that generates plenty of whiffs in the zone and above it. Teams love the metrics on Leiter’s fastball, and the combination of his size, extension and carry on the pitch allow it to play up, even when he’s sitting in the 90-93 mph range. His curveball is his best secondary offering now, an upper-70s, 12-to-6 downer that he lands consistently in the zone when he wants but can also bury for a put-away pitch.

“Leiter throws a slider in the low 80s that has less depth but might wind up being a better out-of-the-zone chase offering and he also infrequently throws a mid-80s changeup that scouts loved out of high school and could become an above-average secondary with more reps. Durability was the one concern scouts had with Leiter, and while he did post most weeks throughout the season, he skipped one start to manage fatigue and at times was a bit homer-prone. While Leiter might not project as an ace, scouts see a pitcher who should fit in a No. 2 or No. 3 role and pitch in the big leagues for a long time.”

(Picture of Jack Leiter: George Walker IV/Tennessean.com