The Red Sox improved to 5-5 in Grapefruit League play on Monday following a 9-3 win over a split New York Mets squad for their second consecutive victory.
Eduardo Rodriguez made the start for Boston in this one at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie, his second of the spring.
The left-hander looked solid against New York’s lineup this afternoon as he retired six of the nine hitters he faced while scattering three hits and striking out a pair over two scoreless innings en route to the eventual winning decision.
Through two outings this spring, the 25-year-old hurler has given up two earned runs in four total innings of work while also fanning five.
In relief of Rodriguez, Brandon Workman, Mike Shawaryn, Adam Lau, Denyi Reyes, Matthew Gorst, and Brian Ellington combined to surrender three runs on 10 hits, three walks, one HBP, and eight punch outs over the final seven frames on Monday.
Shawaryn was fairly impressive himself, as he was responsible for five of those strikeouts while shutting out New York in more than two innings of relief. He also walked one and hit another with a pitch.
On a side note, Tim Tebow was featured in the Mets’ starting lineup for the first time ever against the Red Sox.
The former Heisman Trophy winner went 2/3 with a pair of singles, his first two base knocks of the spring.
On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Mets left-hander Steven Matz, who struck out 152 batters with New York in 2018.
The southpaw did not have much going his way on Monday though, as Boston’s bats got to him for four runs on five hits before being chased in the top half of the third.
As it turns out, all four of those runs off of Matz came in the second inning, as Chad De Le Guerra got the scoring started with a one out RBI single to score Sam Travis and advance Tony Renda to third.
Immediately following that, Gorkys Hernandez had his first signature spring moment, as the former Giants outfielder belted a three-run home run to deep left field for his first of 2019.
Fast forward to the fifth, and Travis and Renda struck again, this time driving in a pair of runs on an RBI single and RBI groundout respectively off of Justin Wilson.
An inning later, the Red Sox tacked on another two runs to pad their lead, with Juan Centeno and 2018 seventh round draft selection Jarren Duran picking up a run driven in each.
Finally, in the ninth, a Bobby Dalbec leadoff double would later result in Boston’s final run of the afternoon crossing the plate on a two out RBI single off the bat of Danny Mars.
That run-scoring knock put the Red Sox up 9-3, which would go on to be the final score of this contest.
Some notes from this win:
Rafael Devers, batting second, went 2/3 on Monday. JD Martinez, batting right after Devers, finished the day 0/3 with a strikeout.
In addition to his first home run of the spring, Gorkys Hernandez flashed the leather a bit as well to rob Amed Rosario in the first inning.
Tate Matheny also robbed Michael Conforto of a hit.
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Next up for the Red Sox, they head to the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches to take on the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
As it was the last time these two clubs matched up, it will be Hector Velazquez vs. Max Scherzer for your starting pitching matchup.
First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET. This one will not be on NESN, but if you have MLB.TV, MASN is the way to go.
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