Tag: Baseball

Jackie Bradley Jr. Goes Yard Twice, Drives in Six Runs as Red Sox Tee off on Orioles in 17-6 Win

After an ‘unacceptable’ 11-2 loss to open a three-game weekend series on Friday, the Red Sox bounced back against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, blowing out their divisional foes by a final score of 17-6 to improve to 54-45 on the season.

Making his 20th start of the season for Boston and second against Baltimore was Rick Porcello, coming off an outing in which he allowed four runs in six innings against the Toronto Blue Jays in a win this past Monday.

Tossing five full innings this time around, the right-hander, like David Price before him, got shelled for six runs, all of which were earned, on a season-high 11 hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts on the night.

The first five of those six Orioles tallies came in the bottom half of the third, when after his team had jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, Porcello gave it right back by serving up a one-run double to Trey Mancini to cap off a string of three straight hitters reaching base to begin the inning, a one-out, three-run home run to Renato Nunez off a 1-0, 81 MPH changeup, and a two-out RBI single to Chris Davis.

Those three hits resulted in the Red Sox’ initial five-run advantage completely disappearing, but fortunately for Porcello, his side tacked on a total off 11 runs over the next two innings, and he did not give that lead up.

The only other damage the Orioles got off Porcello took place in the fifth, when with two outs and the bases empty, outfielder Anthony Santander stayed hot and took the New Jersey native deep to right on an 0-2, 84 MPH slider on the inner half of the plate for his second homer in as many days.

Porcello was just one pitch away from his first 1-2-3 inning, but instead yielded hits to three of the last four Orioles he faced and wrapped up the fifth by getting Richie Martin to ground out to second.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 99 (67 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler turned to his two-seam fastball more than 31% of the time he was on the mound Saturday, inducing one swing and miss with the pitch. He also topped out at 91.2 MPH with his four-seamer, a pitch he threw 26 times and got four whiffs on while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Ultimately picking up his eighth winning decision of the season despite his ERA inflating to 5.61, July has not been Porcello’s best month, as he owns a 8.64 ERA over his last three starts. As it turns out though, the Sox are 3-0 in those games. Porcello’s next start should come against the New York Yankees on Thursday.

In relief of Porcello, Heath Hembree entered in the middle of the sixth with a cushy 10-run lead to protect, and he retired the side in order.

From there, left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez punched out the side, walked one, and gave up a hit to another in the seventh in his third appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket on the 16th, fellow lefty Josh Taylor worked his way around a leadoff single in an otherwise perfect eighth, and Colten Brewer finished things off with a clean ninth inning to secure the 17-6 blowout victory for the Red Sox.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Orioles rookie right-hander Tom Eshelman, making his third career big league start and first against a team besides the Tampa Bay Rays.

A leadoff single from J.D. Martinez would turn out to be the catalyst for a huge four-run second inning, with Andrew Benintendi reaching base on a four-pitch walk, and Christian Vazquez getting his team on the board first with an RBI single to left, driving in Martinez all the way from second.

Jackie Bradley Jr., with a large group of family and friends in attendance, padded that early lead by blasting his 10th home run of the season, a 410-foot, three-run shot off a first-pitch 76 MPH curveball from Eshelman.

An inning later, Rafael Devers reached the 20-homer plateau for the second straight season, as he led off the third by taking Eshelman deep to right off a 3-2, 86 MPH two-seamer right down Broadway.

That gave the Red Sox an early five-run lead, and it looked like they were on their way to running away with this one. They eventually did, but not before the Orioles made this a new game with a five-run frame of their own in their half of the third.

The 5-5 stalemate did not last long, though. Not with Michael Chavis reaching first on a one-out throwing error in the fourth and Mookie Betts plating him, as well as himself, on his 15th big fly of the year. This one sent 364 feet over the left field fence to give the Red Sox a new 7-5 lead.

A pitching change following a Devers walk and Xander Bogaerts single saw Jimmy Yacabonis take over for Eshelman, and he was immediately greeted by Martinez, who ripped his second hit of the night, a two-run double to left, to score both Devers and Bogaerts. 9-5.

A wild pitch with Benintendi at the plate allowed Martinez to advance to third easily, and Vazquez capitalized on Baltimore’s miscue by collecting his second RBI of the contest on a bloop single to left. 10-5.

With runners at first and second and still one out to get, Bradley Jr. laced an 0-2, 86 MPH slider from Yacabonis and just snuck his second three-run homer of the night off the right field foul pole.

Per Statcast, Bradley Jr.’s 11th dinger of 2019 had an exit velocity of 99.9 MPH, good enough to put the Red Sox up 13-5.

In the fifth, a Brock Holt leadoff double resulted in three more Boston runs crossing the plate, with Betts, Devers, and Bogaerts stringing together back-to-back-to-back RBI hits off Yacabonis, making it an 11-run contest in the process of doing so.

Fast forward all the way to the ninth, with outfielder Stevie Wilkerson pitching for the O’s, Sandy Leon, who entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh, put this one to bed by blasting home run number three on the season off a 1-0, 55(!!!) MPH slider.

Leon’s first non-three-run shot of the year gave the Red Sox the 17-6 lead, which would go on to be Saturday’s final score.

Some notes from this win:

Michael Chavis left in the fifth inning Saturday due to back spasms. He won’t play tomorrow, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora isn’t too concerned.

From Red Sox Notes:

From The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham:

Rafael Devers’ July to this point: .333/.408/.794 with eight home runs and 25 RBI.

Xander Bogaerts’ last seven games: .500/.559/.767 with two homers and five RBI.

Mookie Betts, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games on Saturday, is slashing .426/.493/.672 with two homers, 10 RBI, and 10 walks over his last 15 games.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s the final game of this weekend series on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore.

Right-hander Andrew Cashner gets the start for Boston against his former club, while fellow righty Asher Wojciechowski will do the Same for Baltimore.

Fresh off a five-inning, five-run performance in his Red Sox debut last Tuesday, Cashner made 17 starts with the O’s before being traded on July 13th.

In his career at Camden Yards, the 32-year-old is 6-8 with a lifetime 4.49 ERA and .260 batting average against over 22 starts and 130 1/3 total innings pitched.

Wojciechowski, meanwhile, brings with him a 5.74 ERA over four appearances (three starts) and 15 2/3 innings of work on the 2019 season.

The 30-year-old has only faced off against Boston one time, and that came back in September of 2017 when he was with the Cincinnati Reds. In that one appearance, Wojciechowski tossed two scoreless innings of relief in an eventual 5-4 loss.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox going for a much-needed series win.

Red Sox Activate Nathan Eovaldi from Injured List

Before taking on the Baltimore Orioles in the second of a three-game weekend set on Saturday, the Red Sox activated right-hander Nathan Eovaldi from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, right-hander Ryan Weber was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket. The club made the transaction official earlier Saturday.

Shelved since April 20th due to loose bodies in his right elbow, Eovaldi underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on April 23rd to remove said loose bodies.

Before being placed on the IL, the 29-year-old posted a 6.00 ERA and .266 batting average against over his first four starts and 21 innings pitched of the 2019 season.

Now, Eovaldi will look to provide the Red Sox with some help out of a bullpen that has had their fair share of struggles this year.

In his lone rehab outing with Triple-A Pawtucket on Thursday, the Texas Native struck out the side and walked one in a scoreless second inning against the Louisville Bats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. 11 of the 19 pitches he threw went for strikes.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is treating Eovaldi’s return as a trade deadline acquisition, saying last Saturday that, “We are going to add Nathan Eovaldi. For some reason, people seem to, not, like, grasp on to that. He’s a big addition for us coming and we feel he’ll be ready to go within about a week to join us on a full-time basis out there.”

On the other side of this roster move, Ryan Weber was optioned back down to the PawSox the same night he allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk over 3 2/3 innings of relief in Friday’s loss to the Orioles.

Weber, 28, owns an ERA of 5.25 through eight appearances (three starts) with Boston this year and an ERA of 5.16 through 11 starts with Pawtucket.

First pitch for the Red Sox on Saturday is scheduled for 7:05 PM EDT on NESN. Rick Porcello gets the start, while Eovaldi will more than likely make his debut as a reliever regardless of the score.

David Price Gets Shelled for Six Runs as Red Sox Get Blown out by Orioles in Baltimore

After taking three out of four from the Toronto Blue Jays this past week, the Red Sox came into the weekend with a three-game weekend set against the Baltimore Orioles on deck. As it was with the Toronto series, the main objective was to sweep Baltimore, especially with a stretch of 14 straight games against the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays beginning of Monday. Instead of a sweep though, the best the Sox can hope for going forward is a series win, as they dropped the opener in disappointing fashion by a final score of 11-2 Friday.

Making his 18th start of the season for Boston and second against the O’s was David Price, fresh off throwing a season-high 113 pitches in his last time out against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Tossing just four full innings in this one, the left-hander surrendered six runs, all of which were earned, on eight hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts on the humid night.

The first three of those Baltimore runs came right away in the bottom half of the first, when with two outs and runners on the corners following a one-out single and walk in consecutive order, Price served up a three-run home run to Anthony Santander on a 2-2, 93 MPH two-seam fastball over the outer half of the plate.

An inning later, after the Red Sox responded with two runs of their own, more two-out trouble arose for the Tennessee native, this time with Richie Martin ripping a triple off the right field wall and coming into score on a fielding error committed by J.D. Martinez, making it a 4-2 game.

In the fourth, Keon Broxton doubled his team’s lead, taking Price deep to left off a 2-2, 84 MPH changeup for a 407-foot, two-run blast.

Here are the locations of the two pitches Price gave up for home runs. Notice where Sandy Leon is set up. Not great.

If there are any positives to take away from Price’s performance, he did end his evening by punching out the last three Orioles he faced.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 88 (58 strikes), the 33-year-old hurler turned to his four-seamer more than 35% of the time he was on the mound Friday, inducing six swings and misses and topping out at 95.5 MPH with the pitch while Leon was at the plate.

Losing at Camden Yards for the first time in his career, Price is now 7-3 on the season to go along with a 3.61 ERA. His next start should come next Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

In relief of Price, Colten Brewer entered the fifth with the Red Sox trailing 6-2, and he filled the bases with the three first Orioles who came to the plate before allowing a run to cross the plate on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Stevie Wilkerson.

A six-pitch walk of Broxton to re-load the bases led to another change, this time with Ryan Weber taking over for Brewer.

Weber did yield another Baltimore run by getting Martin to ground into a force out at second, but ultimately escaped the frame without further damage.

From there, with the Red Sox already behind six runs to begin with, Weber took one for the team as they say, as he saw three more Orioles runs runs (two earned) cross the plate in a three-run seventh for Baltimore before tossing a scoreless bottom of the eighth to keep any hopes of a nine-run comeback alive.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against left-hander John Means, who was Baltimore’s lone representative in the 2019 All-Star Game earlier this month.

Sam Travis, getting the start in left field with the southpaw on the mound, got the scoring started for Boston in the second, when with no outs and Christian Vazquez at first following a leadoff walk, the 25-year-old belted his first home run of the season. A two-run blast that had an exit velocity of 98 MPH and traveled 396 feet, per Statcast.

Travis’ second career big league homer cut the Orioles’ deficit from three runs to just one, but the Sox failed to capitalize on any run-scoring chances the remainder of the night.

Means sat down 15 of the next 18 Red Sox hitters he faced following the home run, stranding runners at first and second in the fifth in the process of doing so.

The Boston bats didn’t fare much better against the Orioles bullpen either, despite Jackie Bradley Jr. and Sandy Leon putting runners at the corners with one out in the seventh.

Nope, left-hander Richard Bleier got out of that mess, while Jimmy Yacabonis fanned two in a shutout eighth inning of work and Miguel Castro gave up a two-out single to Bradley Jr. in an otherwise clean frame of relief to close this 11-2 blowout loss for the Red Sox out.

Some notes from this loss:

The Red Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position Friday. They left seven men on base.

Xander Bogaerts’ 10-game hitting streak came to an end, while Mookie Betts extended his to 11 with a leadoff single in the first inning.

J.D. Martinez’s last seven games: .103/.212/.207 with one home run and one RBI.

From NESN’s Guerin Austin:

—

Simply put, the Red Sox got outplayed by the Orioles in nearly every facet of the game on Friday. And that seems to be the theme with this 2019 team, one minute, you think they’re about to go on a tear, then they go ahead and take a step backwards like this.

Next up, Rick Porcello gets the start for the Sox on Saturday night. He’ll be opposed by Orioles righty Tom Eshelman.

In his only other start against the O’s this year, Porcello surrendered three runs on five hits over four innings, eventually taking the loss back on April 13th.

When pitching at Camden Yards, Porcello has posted a lifetime 4.38 ERA and .219 batting average against over 10 outings and 61 2/3 total innings pitched.

Eshelman, meanwhile, was originally drafted by the Houston Astros in 2015 and was part of the deal that sent Ken Giles from the Philadelphia Phillies to Houston in December of that same year.

Acquired by the Orioles from the Phillies in exchange for international bonus slot money on June 9th, Eshelman’s first two major league starts have come against the Rays, where he has allowed a total of six runs over 10 2/3 total innings of work.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 7:05 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking for a much-needed win.

Also, it’s hot in Baltimore this weekend.

Red Sox Reportedly ‘Monitoring’ White Sox’ Jose Abreu’s Availability as Trade Deadline Looms

The Red Sox are reportedly among a handful of clubs monitoring the availability of Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu as the trade deadline nears, per Forbes’ Phil Rogers.

Abreu, 32, is set to become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2019 season and is slashing .273/.309/.500 with 21 home runs and 66 RBI through 92 games this year.

As things stand right now, the White Sox are about halfway through a five-year rebuild, and with a record of 42-51, currently sit 11 games back of the Minnesota Twins for first place in the American League central.

Abreu and the Red Sox have been linked since the Cuba native defected from his country back in 2013.

Boston did make a lucrative offer to the then-26-year-old infielder, but ultimately came up short of the six-year, $68 million proposal from Chicago.

Now, the White Sox are in a position to deal Abreu for prospects and perhaps re-sign him in the winter.

Against left-handed pitching this season, Abreu owns an OPS of .947 to go along with four homers and 15 RBI. His OPS falls by nearly 200 points when facing off against right-handed pitching, but the power numbers go up as well.

With those splits in mind, would it necassarily make sense for the Red Sox to pursue a right-handed first baseman? Probably not, because Michael Chavis is already holding things down and Steve Pearce should be able to make his return from the injured list at some point this season.

Sure, going after a vaunted slugger like Abreu, who owns a career 1.063 at Fenway Park, would be nice, but given how financially pressed president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowsk and the Red Sox seem to be, the main objective heading into July 31st should be to acquire bullpen help.

Chris Sale Fans 12 over Six Innings, Rafael Devers Homers Again as Red Sox Take Series from Blue Jays with 5-0 Win

After yet again barely holding on to take a one-run contest over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night, the Red Sox wrapped up their seven-game homestand Thursday with a 5-0 victory over their divisional foes to improve to 53-44 on the season.

Making his 20th start of the season and fourth against the Blue Jays for Boston in this series finale was Chris Sale, who entered Thursday having allowed 14 runs (13 earned) over 14 2/3 innings in the previous three.

Turning things around for the better this time out, the left-hander tossed six scoreless frames, scattering just two hits and two walks to go along with 12 strikeouts on the afternoon.

Right from the jump, it appeared that Sale was on his game, as he punched out the side in order in a 17-pith top of the first.

The most trouble the Florida native ran into came in the top half of the fifth, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led things off by drawing a four-pitch walk and Brandon Drury advanced him to second on a two-out single three at-bats later.

Fortunately for Boston, Sale was able to reach back and fan Freddy Galvis on a 2-2, 96.7 MPH four-seam fastball to escape the jam.

Other than that bit of stress, Sale retired 18 of the 22 Blue Jays hitters he faced in total and capped off his stellar performance by getting Justin Smoak to softly ground out to short to put an end to the top of the sixth.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 101 (67 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler relied on his four-seamer nearly 37% of the time he was on the mound Thursday, inducing four swings and misses and topping out at 96.7 MPH with the pitch. He also induced a game-high eight whiffs with his slider, a pitch thrown eight times while Sandy Leon was behind the plate.

At long last, Sale’s streak of consecutive home starts without a win is over, as the lefty picked up his first victory at Fenway Park since July 11th of last year to improve to 4-9 on the 2019 season.

Lowering his ERA down to 4.05 on the season in the process of doing so, Sale’s next start should come Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

In relief of Sale, Marcus Walden came on in the seventh with a four-run lead to protect, and he did just that, working his way around a leadoff HBP by inducing a 6-4-3 inning-edning double play and twirling a 1-2-3 eighth.

Finally, in his second appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket on July 16th, left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez fanned a pair in a scoreless ninth inning to secure the shutout win for his side.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Blue Jays left-hander Thomas Pannone, a native of Rhode Island who had faced the Sox twice this season before Thursday and had given up four runs across those appearances.

Pannone held his own for the most part to begin things in this one, limiting the Boston bats to just two hits over the first four innings.

It wasn’t until Sam Travis reached base on a one-out double in the bottom half of the fifth when the scoring started.

That being the case because. two pitches later, Sandy Leon got the Sox on the board with an RBI single back up the middle off a 1-0, 80 MPH changeup from Pannone.

A hard–fought walk drawn by Mookie Betts put runners at first and second for Rafael Devers, who came through in the prime run-scoring spot by mashing his 19th home run of the season, a 417-foot shot that had an estimated exit velocity of 109.8 MPH off the bat, per Statcast.

That blast put Boston ahead 4-0 and ultimately chased Pannone from this contest.

Fast forward to the seventh, and Mookie Betts essentially put this game on ice, greeting new Blue Jays reliever with a 418-foot solo shot to lead off the inning.

Betts’ 14th big fly of 2019 gave the Red Sox the 5-0 advantage, and that would go on to be Thursday’s final score.

Some notes from this win:

From Red Sox Notes:

From MLB Stats:

Red Sox’ 1-2-3 hitters (Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts) on Thursday: 5-for-11 with two home runs, three runs scored, and four RBI.

Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts extended their hitting streaks to 10 games on Thurday. Over that span, Betts has scored 14 runs, while Bogaerts has recorded multiple hits in his last five games.

Rafael Devers in July: .345/.419/.782 with seven home runs and 23 RBI.

Darwinzon Hernandez on Thursday: 12 pitches, eight strikes, five swings and misses, and topped out at 97.1 MPH with his four-seam fastball.

—

So, the Red Sox end their seven-game homestand by taking three of four from the Blue Jays. Next up, they head out for a two-city, six-game road trip before welcoming the New York Yankees into town for the first time this season.

The first stop of the road trip is Baltimore, where left-hander David Price will get the start in the opener for Boston, and fellow southpaw John Means will do the same for Baltimore.

It will be Price’s first start since all that Dennis Eckersley drama resurfaced on Wednesday, but I can’t imagine that will serve as any sort of distraction for him.

In his only start against the O’s this season back on April 14th, the 33-year-old tossed a seven-inning shutout while striking out seven to earn the win.

Over 12 career outings at Camden Yards, Price owns a lifetime 2.72 ERA and .237 batting average against in 76 total innings of work.

Means, meanwhile, was selected to be Baltimore’s lone representative in the 2019 All-Star Game.

Through 19 appearances (15 starts) this season, the 26-year-old has posted an impressive 2.94 ERA and .227 batting average against despite surrendering six earned runs over six innings in his last time out against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Three of those starts have come against the Sox, where Means is 1-2 with a 2.12 ERA over 17 total innings pitched. The Orioles are 1-2 in those games.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7:05 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox going for their third straight win.

Red Sox’ Nathan Eovaldi Strikes out Side in Scoreless Second Inning in Rehab Outing with Triple-A Pawtucket

After being sent out on a rehab assignment earlier in the day, Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi twirled a scoreless second inning for Triple-A Pawtucket in their game against the Louisville Bats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, on Tuesday morning.

Seeing his first real in-game action since April 17th, the 29-year-old needed 19 pitches, 11 of which were strikes, to punch out the side on Tuesday. He also yielded a one-out walk and allowed that runner to advance to third on a passed ball and balk in consecutive order, but was able to strand said runner.

According to the PawSox’ Mike Monaco, Eovaldi topped out at 98 MPH with his four-seam fastball and 94 MPH with his cutter. Monaco also notes that Eovaldi got a pair of strikeouts looking on his curveball, a pitch he threw two times.

Placed on the 10-day injured list on April 20th and transferred to the 60-day IL on June 25th, Eovaldi underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies in his right elbow back in April.

The initial plan was for Eovaldi to rejoin the Red Sox rotation once healthy, but that changed earlier this month when manager Alex Cora announced that the righty would move to the bullpen.

Since Thursday appeared to go well for Eovaldi, the likeliest outcome is that he will be activated off the injured list sometime this weekend while the Sox are in Baltimore.

In eight career regular season appearances as a reliever, the Texas native is 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA and .188 batting average against over 14 total innings pitched.

This past Saturday, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski likened Eovaldi’s return to a trade deadline acquisition, saying that, “We are going to add Nathan Eovaldi. For some reason, people seem to, not, like, grasp on to that. He’s a big addition for us coming and we feel he’ll be ready to go within about a week to join us on a full-time basis out there.” 

Given where he is at, it will be interesting to see whether or not Cora uses Eovaldi in high-leverage situations out of the ‘pen immediately, or instead opts to ease his pitcher back into things.

Rafael Devers Homers, Drives in Four Runs as Red Sox Hold on to Top Blue Jays 5-4

After waiting out a 33-minute rain delay, the Red Sox bounced back from a disappointing 10-4 loss on Tuesday by barely holding on to a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday to improve to 52-44 on the season.

Making his 20th start of the season for Boston and second against Toronto was Eduardo Rodriguez, who allowed a season-high six earned runs north of the border back on May 21st.

Turning things around in this one, the left-hander yielded just two runs, both earned, on three hits and three walks to go along with four strikeouts over 6 1/3 quality innings of work.

Both of those Blue Jays tallies came courtesy of the home run ball, with Teoscar Hernandez taking Rodriguez deep to center on a first-pitch, 92 MPH four-seam fastball to lead off the top half of the third, and Hernandez doing the same with one out in the fifth on another 1-1, 92 MPH heater.

Other than those two blips, Rodriguez retired 17 of the first 22 hitters he faced with the help of Jackie Bradley Jr. before running into some trouble to begin the seventh, where Cavan Biggio led things off by drawing a five-pitch walk and Justin Smoak reached on an E5 committed by Rafael Devers at third.

A simple fly out off the bat of Freddy Galvis for the first out of the inning would wind up being the last action for Rodriguez, as Hernandez was due to hit next for the Jays.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 99 (63 strikes), the 26-year-old hurler turned to his four-seamer more than 54% of the time he was on the mound Wednesday, inducing seven swings and misses and topping out at 95 MPH with the pitch while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Ultimately improving to 11-4 while lowering his ERA on the year down to 4.34, the month of July has treated Rodriguez very well to this point. Over his last three starts, the Venezuela native has surrendered just four earned runs in 18 1/3 total innings pitched. That’s good for an ERA of 1.96 and not to mention a batting average against of .182 in that span as well.

Rodriguez’s next start should come on Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

In relief of Rodriguez, Matt Barnes came on with two runners on and two outs to get in the seventh, and he officially closed the book on the starter’s night by walking Hernandez on six pitches to load the bases before fanning Danny Jansen and Eric Sogard back-to-back to escape the jam.

From there, left-hander Josh Taylor got the call for the eighth in a legitimate high-leverage situation, but all he could manage to do was serve up a one-out homer to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., cutting his team’s lead to 4-3, and put the next two men he faced in Randal Grichuk and Biggio on base with a HBP and six-pitch walk.

So, Brandon Workman entered with the potential tying run in scoring position and potential go-ahead run at first base, and he, like Barnes in the inning prior, came through with two huge punchouts to end the threat.

Finally, in the ninth, responsible for closing this thing out, Workman walked Hernandez and Danny Jansen to lead off the inning in a 5-3 game, got the first two outs in consecutive order after that, and allowed Gurriel Jr. to drive in his second run of the evening on a first-pitch, RBI single to center.

That made it a one-run contest yet again at 5-4, but, fortunately for Boston, Workman was able to rally with a seven-pitch strikeout of Grichuk to notch his fifth save of the season.

It may have taken him a season-high 45 pitches to do so, but Workman came through when it mattered to wrap up a tight 5-4 win for the Red Sox.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez, who entered Wednesday with a 6.22 ERA on the season while also leading the American League in walks with 58.

Brock Holt, batting out of the nine-hole, kicked off a five-run evening for Boston by coming through with two outs in the bottom of the second and ripping a line-drive RBI single to center.

An inning later, Rafael Devers put his opposite field power on display yet again, leading the third off with his 18th home run of the season off a 0-1, 88 MPH changeup from Sanchez.

In the fourth, Devers struck with his second and third RBI of the contest on a two-out, two-run double to right following base hits from Christian Vazquez and Mookie Betts, giving his side the 4-1 advantage.

Fast forward all the way to the eighth, after the Jays had battled their way back to make it a 4-3 contest, and the budding Devers capped off a fantastic night at the plate with a one-out, run-scoring single off Toronto closer Ken Giles to drive in Holt from second.

Holt scoring gave Devers his 70th RBI of the season, and it also gave the Red Sox a 5-3 lead, which would turn out to be just enough in an eventual 5-4 victory.

Some notes from this win:

From Red Sox Notes:

From Red Sox Stats:

From The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham:

Rafael Devers’ July thus far: .353/.431/.765 with six home runs and 20 RBI.

Xander Bogaerts during his nine-game hitting streak: .474 (18-for-38) with three doubles, five homers, and 16 RBI.

Mookie Betts during his nine-game hitting streak: .447 (17-for-38) with one double, one triple, and six RBI.

Brock Holt’s last seven games: .611/.600/.778 with three RBI and five runs scored.

—

On a day that started with some unneeded drama, the Red Sox were able to come out with a win. They’ll look to wrap up the four-game set against the Blue Jays with a series victory on Thursday afternoon.

Left-hander Chris Sale is set to get the ball for Boston, while fellow southpaw Thomas Pannone will do the same for Toronto.

Sale has not had much success against the Jays this season, posting an ERA of 7.98 and batting average against of .359 in three starts against them so far, including an outing in which he gave up five runs in less than six innings pitched back on July 3rd.

Pannone, meanwhile, will likely serve as the opener for Toronto after being recalled from Triple-A Buffalo.

In 24 appearances (two starts) in 2019, the Rhode Island native owns a 6.18 ERA over 39 1/3 total innings of work.

His last big league outing before being sent down came against Boston on July 4th, where he allowed four earned runs over 4 1/3 frames of relief.

First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT on NESN. Weather could be a factor once more.

Rest in Peace, Pumpsie Green.

 

Andrew Cashner Allows Six Runs, Picks up Loss in Debut as Red Sox Fall to Blue Jays 10-4

After narrowly escaping their series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday, the Red Sox went ahead and fell flat on Tuesday, dropping the second of the four-game set by a final score of 10-4 to fall to 51-44 on the season.

Making his 18th start of the season and first for Boston since being acquired from the Baltimore this Orioles this past Saturday was Andrew Cashner, who hadn’t seen any in-game action since before the All-Star break.

Working into the sixth inning of his Red Sox debut, the right-hander yielded six runs, five of which were earned, on eight hits, two walks, and one HBP to go along with a pair of strikeouts on the night.

The first three of those Toronto tallies came in the top half of the second, when after being given an early one-run lead, Cashner allowed two of the first three Blue Jays hitters he faced to reach base before serving up a three-run, 441-foot home run to Teoscar Hernandez off a 1-1, 84 MPH changeup that the outfielder appeared to be sitting on.

In the third, a leadoff walk of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would cause more trouble for Cashner, as the Blue Jays rookie came in to score from third on a two-out RBI single from Justin Smoak four at-bats later, making it a 4-1 contest in favor of Toronto.

From there, Cashner showed a bit of consistency by sitting down the next eight Jays who came to the plate, but the most crushing blow in this one came in the sixth, after the Red Sox had battled back to tie things up at four runs apiece.

Going into the sixth, which is something the number-five starter in Boston’s rotation has not done much of lately, Cashner was greeted once again by Smoak, and on the first pitch the Blue Jays slugger saw, he unloaded on a hanging 76 MPH curveball down the heart of the plate and deposited it 426 feet to right field.

That gave Toronto the 5-4 edge, and Cashner’s outing soon came to a quick close following a ground ball single from Freddy Galvis.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 92 (57 strikes), the 32-year-old hurler turned to his changeup more than 43% of the time he was on the mound Tuesday, inducing two swings and misses with it. He also topped out at 95.9 MPH with his four-seam fastball, a pitch he threw 33 times while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

A debut that did not go quite as expected, Cashner will look to rebound from his worst start in nearly two months in his next time out, which should come against the Orioles in Baltimore on Sunday.

In relief of Cashner, Josh Taylor came on with an inherited runner on first and three outs to get in the sixth. The left-hander got the first out of the frame courtesy of a force out at second, essentially swapping Galvis for Hernandez as the base runner at first.

A throwing error on a pickoff attempt allowed Hernandez to move up all the way to third, and he scored on a wild pitch with Eric Sogard at the plate to officially close the book on Cashner’s start. 6-4 Blue Jays.

From the beginning of the seventh until the end of the eighth, Colten Brewer worked his way around a one-out double in a scoreless inning of relief and Darwinzon Hernandez did the same in the eighth despite walking one in his first appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket earlier Tuesday.

The ninth inning is where things really fell apart for the Sox, and that was mainly because Heath Hembree surrendered three straight hits to the Jays to begin the frame, which in turn gave them an 8-4 lead.

Ryan Weber entered to try and stop the bleeding, but he too allowed the runner he inherited to score on a Randal Grichuk RBI double before being charged with a run of his own on a run-scoring two-bagger off the bat of Danny Jansen.

Jansen’s 29th RBI of the season put his team ahead 10-4, which would turn out to be a lead Boston could not battle back from this time around.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against rookie rigtht-hander Jacob Waguespack, making his first career big league start after being used after the opener in two prior outings for the Blue Jays.

Seemingly picking up right where he left off to kick off the scoring for Boston in this one was Xander Bogaerts, who extended his hitting streak to eight games by blasting his 21st home run of the season with two outs in the first inning. Per Statcast, the ball had a projected exit velocity of 109.3 MPH and was hit an estimated 409 feet over the Green Monster.

Fast forward all the way to the fifth, Michael Chavis begin the crawl out of a four-run hole by reaching base on a two-out single, breaking a string of seven straight Red Sox hitters being retired by Waguespack.

Two batters later, after Chavis had advanced to third on a double from Brock Holt, the top of the lineup came through with runners in scoring position, first with Mookie Betts ripping a two-run, line drive single to left, then with Bogaerts striking again and plating Betts on an RBI base knock through the middle of the infield.

Those two important hits brought the Red Sox back to a 4-4 stalemate with Toronto, and it seemed as though all the momentum was working in Boston’s favor.

That would not turn out to be the case though, as the Jays went up 5-4 the very next inning and would not have to look back.

Sure, the Red Sox had their fair share of chances to score, like with runners at first and third with two outs in the fifth, or with runners at first and second to lead off the sixth, or with runners at first and second with one out in the seventh, or with Chavis drawing a two-out walk to bring the tying run to the plate in the eighth.

Nothing came of those opportunities, and the Blue Jays capitalized on the Sox’ inability to score runs by running up the score to 10-4 in their half of the ninth, which, as already mentioned, would go on to be Tuesday’s final score.

Some notes from this loss:

The Red Sox went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday. They left 10 men on base.

From Red Sox Stats:

From The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier:

The Red Sox are 8-6 against the Toronto Blue Jays this season, a team that had won 35 games heading into this series.

From Red Sox Notes:

Mookie Betts’ July so far: .432/.500/.614 with seven extra-base hits and six RBI.

Xander Bogaerts during his eight-game hitting streak: .455 (15-for-33) with five homers and 16 RBI.

—

As Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before Tuesday’s loss, “We’ve been consistent at being inconsistent.” That much was proven in another frustrating performance against a divisional opponent. 

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s the third game of this series on Wednesday night, weather permitting.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez is set to get the ball for Boston, while fellow southpaw Aaron Sanchez will do the same for Toronto.

Owning the last quality start from a Red Sox starting pitcher, Rodriguez’s only other outing against the Blue Jays this season did not go well, as the 26-year-old surrendered six earned runs over five innings in an eventual 10-3 loss at Rogers Centre back in May.

Sanchez, meanwhile, has had a miserable 2019 thus far, owning the most losses in the American League with 13 to go along with a 6.22 ERA through 20 starts this season.

The once highly touted prospect has posted a lifetime 3.56 ERA over 10 career appearances (seven starts) at Fenway Park, including an outing back on April 11th in which he allowed four runs, only one of which was earned, in five innings of work.

The Blue Jays are 5-15 in games Sanchez has pitched in so far in 2019.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking to get back on track.

Red Sox Recall Top Pitching Prospect Darwinzon Hernandez from Triple-A Pawtucket, Option Ryan Brasier in Corresponding Move

Before taking on the Toronto Blue Jays in the second of a four-game series Tuesday night, the Red Sox announced that left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez had been recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket. In a corresponding move, right-hander Ryan Brasier was optioned to Triple-A. The club made the transaction official earlier Tuesday.

Hernandez, 22, is now up with Boston for the fourth time this season after being promoted to the PawSox on June 15th.

Ranked as the Sox’ top pitching prospect, the Venezuela native has posted a 4.76 ERA and .175 batting average against to go along with 20 strikeouts and 16 walks over seven International League appearances (three starts) and 17 total innings pitched.

Since being moved to Pawtucket’s bullpen at the beginning of the month, Hernandez has allowed just one earned run on one hit, one HBP, one walk, and six punchouts over four relief outings.

In two separate appearances with the Red Sox so far in 2019, one coming as a reliever and the other as a starter, the 2013 international signee owns an ERA of 5.06 and xFIP of 4.68 over a small 5-1/3 inning sample size.

Over those 5 1/3 frames of work, Hernandez has faced 22 right-handed batters and eight left-handed batters. The rightys are slashing .375/.545/.500 off him, while the leftys are just 1-for-8 with one double.

Hernandez’s stuff certainly plays, it’s always been about his control, or lack thereof, that has raised some concern.

But, with the move to the bullpen for the time being, it appears as though Alex Cora and the Red Sox have another southpaw to turn to alongside Josh Taylor.

On the other side of this move, Ryan Brasier was demoted to Triple-A Pawtucket following a night in which he yielded four runs on four hits in the eighth inning of 10-8 win for Boston. He had pitched in the final two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers before that.

After really coming out of nowhere last year, Brasier has fallen back to Earth in 2019, posting a 4.24 ERA and .242 batting average against over 44 appearances and 40 1/3 innings of work.

As Red Sox Stats surmises though, this could just be a way to get the 31-year-old off his feet for a bit.

Still, looking back to this past offseason, where Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that either one of Brasier, Matt Barnes, Tyler Thornburg, or Steven Wright could become the team’s closer with the departure of Craig Kimbrel, it’s clear that that certain strategy didn’t quite pan out.

Brasier was optioned on Tuesday, Barnes has blown six saves so far this season, Thornburg was released last week, and Wright was placed on the injured list this past Saturday.

Now, we turn to Nathan Eovaldi, who signed a four-year, $68 million deal with the Red Sox to be a starting pitcher, as the next option out of the ‘pen.

They got away with it since they won the World Series, but the lack of preparation that went into this Red Sox season, specifically with the makeup of the bullpen, should have been criticized more, because it’s the main talking point with this team at this point in the year.

Michael Chavis’ First Career Grand Slam Sets Tone Early as Red Sox Hold on to Take Opener from Blue Jays

After dropping their series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night, the Red Sox opened up a new four-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays in much more encouraging fashion Monday, taking the opener by a final score of 10-8 to snap a two-game skid and improve to 51-43 on the season.

Making his 19th start of the season and third against Toronto for Boston was Rick Porcello, who entered the week having given up six total runs in his first two outings against the Jays.

This time around, the right-hander yielded four runs, all of which were earned, on eight hits, one HBP, and zero walks to go along with a pair of strikeouts over six full innings of work.

The first two of those Toronto tallies came in the top half of the second, when with two outs and a runner on first, Porcello served up a two-run home run to the just-called up Billy McKinney on a 2-0, 90 MPH two-seam fastball on the inner half of the plate.

An inning later, with one out and runners at first and second, an RBI double off the bat of Randal Grichuk and RBI groundout off the bat of Justin Smoak in consecutive order plated two more runs, cutting the Sox’ initial five-run lead down to just one.

Things were not looking all that positive for Porcello at that point, but New Jersey native did recover nicely enough from there by sitting down nine of the final 12 hitters he faced leading into the middle of the sixth, which is where his outing came to a close. Rafael Devers helped out, too.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 112 (71 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler relied on his four-seamer nearly 27% of the time he was on the mound Monday night, inducing two swings and misses and topping out at 92.7 MPH with the pitch.

Able to pick up the winning decision to improve to 7-7 on the year despite his ERA inflating up to 5.37, Porcello has quite simply not been a quality starting pitcher since he tossed that seven-inning shutout gem against the Minnesota Twins on June 17th.

In four starts since then, Porcello owns an ERA of 10.50 over his last 18 innings pitched. He’ll look to turn things around in his next time out, which should come against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.

In relief of Porcello, Marcus Walden came on with a six-run cushion to work with, and it appeared as though the Red Sox would cruise to a victory following a scoreless seventh inning from the right-hander.

Ryan Brasier, however, did not have as easy as a time as Walden did, as he saw his team’s six-run lead shrink down to four on a one-out Smoak double, a Danny Jansen RBI single, a McKinney single, and a sacrifice fly from Eric Sogard.

With runners on the corners and still two outs to get in the eighth, Matt Barnes was tabbed with getting out of the jam, and he did so, but not before closing the book on Brasier’s night by surrendering a two-run base knock to the first man he saw in Freddy Galvis.

Just like that, a 10-4 lead turned into a 10-8 one, whcih meant Brandon Workman coming on for the save in the ninth on a night where it looked like he would not be needed.

Up against the 4-5-6 hitters in Toronto’s lineup, Workman needed only 14 pitches to retire the side, notching his fourth save and securing the 10-8 victory for his team in the process of doing so. Bullpen meltdown avoided.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Blue Jays rookie right-hander Trent Thornton, facing Boston for the third time this season and second time in a span of two weeks.

Getting things started right away in the bottom of the first, a Mookie Betts leadoff double and back-to-back one out walks drawn by Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez loaded the bases early for Andrew Benintendi.

On the second pitch he saw from Thornton, an 0-1, 93 MPH heater, Benintendi pulled an RBI single to right field to drive in Betts for his side’s first run and to refill the bases for Michael Chavis.

In a rookie-on-rookie matchup, Chavis won the first battle against Thornton, as he unloaded on a 3-2, 94 MPH four-seamer right down the heart of the plate and sent it 421 feet over the Green Monster for his first career Grand Slam and 16th homer of the season.

That put the Red Sox up 5-0 early, but as already mentioned, the Jays battled their way back to cut that deficit to one heading into the bottom half of the third.

There, with Thornton out and right-hander Sam Gaviglio in, a two-out walk drawn by Sandy Leon would turn out to be the catalyst for another five-run rally, as a Brock Holt walk and Betts free pass loaded the bases again, this time for Rafael Devers.

Devers came through with a two-run single on a 3-2, 84 MPH slider from Gaviglio, and Bogaerts followed suit by plating Betts and moving Devers up to third on a line-drive RBI single to center, making it an 8-4 contest.

Martinez’s second walk saw righty Joe Biagini replace Gaviglio, and up to the plate came Benintendi with the bases full once more.

Fittingly enough, the one who drove in the Sox’ first run of the night also drove in the last two, as Benintendi hacked at an 0-1, 94 MPH two-seamer from Biagini and slapped a two-run double down the left field line, off the base of the left field wall.

Both Devers and Bogaerts were able to score as a result, and the Red Sox had themselves a 10-4 lead.

The Sox were unable to send more than four hitters to the plate in a single frame from the fourth inning on, but despite Toronto’s best efforts, they managed to hold on and take this series opener by a final score of 10-8.

Some notes from this win:

From Red Sox Notes:

From MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith:

Xander Bogaerts during his seven-game hitting streak: .414/.469/.862 with four homers and 14 RBI.

—

A nice way to recover from a tough weekend against the Dodgers for sure, but as Sox manager Alex Cora mentions in the attached quote, his team needs to be better, especially at closing out games.

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s the second of this four-game series on Tuesday night.

Right-hander Andrew Cashner, acquired from the Baltimore Orioles this past Saturday, is set to get the start and make his Red Sox debut. The Blue Jays have yet to name a starter.

Cashner, 32, owns an ERA of 1.41 and batting average against of .168 over his last five starts and 32 innings pitched dating back to June 8th.

In eight career starts against Toronto, Cashner is 3-2 with a 2.49 ERA over 50 2/3 total innings of work.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking for their second straight win.