Tag: rafael devers

Red Sox’ Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers named to American League All-Star team as starters

Red Sox infielders Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers have been named to the American League All-Star team as starters, Major League Baseball announced Thursday night.

Bogaerts becomes an All-Star for the third time in his career and is slated to start an All-Star Game for just the second time after getting the starting nod at shortstop for the American League back in 2016.

Following a 1-for-4 showing at the plate in Boston’s 15-1 win over the Royals at Fenway Park on Thursday, the 28-year-old is now slashing .329/.391/.550 with 25 doubles, 13 home runs, 48 RBI, 50 runs scored, 29 walks, 57 strikeouts, and five stolen bases through his first 77 games (325 plate appearances) of the 2021 season.

Among qualified American League shortstops, Bogaerts came into play Thursday ranking first in hits (94), first in doubles (24), third in homers, third in runs scored (49), third in RBI, first in batting average (.330), second in on-base percentage, first in slugging percentage (.551), first in OPS (.942), first in weighted on-base average (.400), second in wRC+ (151), and first in fWAR, per FanGraphs.

“For Xander to be a starter, that means the world. He’s one of the best, if not the best shortstop in the big-leagues,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said following the rout over Kansas City on Thursday afternoon. “The way he goes about his business, it’s amazing. I’ve been saying all along, he’s the most consistent in this organization. He’s amazing. Day in and day out he shows up, he works and he goes out there and performs. There’s no red flags on the field and off the field. This kid got here and he contributed to win a World Series.”

By finishing in first place in regards to the fan vote, Bogaerts beat out the likes of Toronto’s Bo Bichette and Houston’s Carlos Correa for the top spot among AL shortstops.

Devers, meanwhile, becomes an All-Star for the first time in his young career after nearly making the team in 2019.

The 24-year-old enjoyed a productive day at the plate on Thursday, as he went 3-for-5 a home run, three runs scored, and five runs driven in to raise his batting line on the season to .288/.359/.582.

The homer, a 426-foot three-run blast, was his 20th of the season, while his five RBI brought his total on the year up to an American League-leading 69 through 78 games (329 plate appearances).

As of Thursday morning, Devers ranked first among qualified AL third basemen in hits (81), first in doubles (24), first in home runs (19), second in runs scored (52), first in RBI, first in batting average (.282), fourth in on-base percentage (.355), first in slugging percentage (.571), first in OPS (.926), first in isolated power (.289), first in weighted on-base average (.387), first in wRC+ (143), and first in fWAR (3.0), according to FanGraphs.

Devers finished in first place among American League third baseman in terms of fan votes, as he beat out Houston’s Alex Bregman and Chicago’s Yoan Moncada for the No. 1 spot.

“[With] Raffy, we had a conversation early in the season, actually in spring training. It was him understanding what was going on in the business,” said Cora. “Looking around and everybody’s talking about all these young kids, right? (Fernando) Tatis, (Ronald) Acuña, (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), (Cavan) Biggio, (Bo) Bichette, and people forget about the fact that he’s 24. He led the big leagues in extra-base hits two years ago and he’s doing what he’s doing now. For him to get recognized, I know it it means the world for him, it means the world for the organization.”

To put it simply, both Bogaerts and Devers are having stellar seasons with the Red Sox to this point, and the two teammates will become the first pair of Boston infielders ever to start in the same All-Star Game at shortstop and third base.

—

J.D. Martinez and Alex Verdugo, who were both named All-Star finalists along with Bogaerts and Devers on Sunday, were not named as starters for the American League side on Thursday.

That being the case because Martinez finished second behind Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani to start at designated hitter for the AL, while Verdugo finished ninth among eligible AL outfielders and behind the likes of the Angels’ Mike Trout, the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, and the Blue Jays’ Teoscar Hernandez.

While Martinez and Verdugo will not start this year’s Midsummer Classic, there is still a chance for both of them to partake in the festivities, as pitchers and reserves for both the American League and National League teams will be announced on Sunday, July 4.

From there, All-Star Week will begin in Denver on July 11 with the All-Star Futures Game, and the All-Star Game itself will take place at Coors Field on July 13.

(Picture of Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Rafael Devers, Danny Santana collect 5 RBI each as Red Sox crush Royals, 15-1, to finish off sweep and perfect homestand

Even on short rest, the Red Sox opened up the second half of their season by crushing the Royals, 15-1, at Fenway Park on Thursday afternoon to finish off a four-game sweep of Kansas City while also wrapping up a perfect 7-0 homestand.

With the win, Boston improves to 20 games over .500 for the first time this season at 51-31. They also increase their lead over the Rays, who were idle on Thursday, for first place in the American League East to 3 1/2 games.

Kiké Hernández got the scoring started for the Sox right away, as he led things off against Royals starter Kris Bubic by clubbing his third leadoff home run in the last five days in the first inning.

J.D. Martinez followed suit in the fourth, as he led the inning off with another solo shot — his 17th homer of the season — to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

A two-out walk drawn by Hunter Renfroe and two-out single from Marwin Gonzalez brought Danny Santana to the plate with the chance to do some damage, and the switch-hitter did just that by mashing an opposite field three-run blast into the Red Sox bullpen. Santana’s first big fly since late May put his side up by five runs.

The Boston offense put up another four-spot in their half of the fifth against Royals reliever Ervin Santana, with Alex Verdugo, Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts loading the bases with one out, and Rafael Devers plating a pair on a two-run single to center field.

The bases were re-loaded when Gonzalez was issued another free pass, and Santana came through in that spot by placing a softly-hit, 108-foot RBI single to second base that came as a result of the Kansas City infield playing in a shift.

A balk with Connor Wong at the plate brought in another run, and the Red Sox found themselves in possession of a 9-0 lead.

Devers tacked on three more runs on one swing of the bat in the sixth. With two outs and runners on second and third, the left-handed slugger absolutely obliterated a 98 mph sinker from Josh Staumont and sent it flying 426 feet — with an exit velocity of 110.2 mph — over everything in right field for his 20th dinger of the season.

Michael Chavis, pinch-hitting for Hernández, drove in an additional run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh, while Gonzalez and Santana wrapped up productive days at the plate by collecting one more RBI each in the eighth.

All in all, the Red Sox lineup totaled 15 runs on 17 hits on Thursday. Devers went 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs scored, and five RBI to tie a season-high in that department. Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI, and one walk. And Santana — in his best game in a Sox uniform to date — went 3-for-5 with a double, one run scored, an a season-high five runs driven in.

Eovaldi tosses seven scoreless frames

While the Red Sox were getting stellar production out of their lineup on Thursday, they also got yet another impressive start from Nathan Eovaldi.

Making his 17th start of the season in this one, the right-hander tossed seven scoreless innings while scattering just five hits and zero walks to go along with six strikeouts on the afternoon.

Four of the five hits Eovaldi allowed came within the first three innings. From the top of the fourth up until the middle of the seventh, the flame-throwing righty retired 12 of the last 13 hitters he faced.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 84 (63 strikes), the 31-year-old hurler picked up his team-leading ninth winning decision of the year while also lowering his ERA to 3.41. His next start should come against the Angels in Anaheim next Tuesday.

Andriese gives up shutout bid

In relief of Eovaldi, Matt Andriese came on the for the eighth inning, faced the minimum in the inning thanks to a double play, but was unable to keep the shutout going in the ninth when he served up an RBI double to Jarrod Dyson.

Still, Andriese did stay on until the end, and he saw the Sox’ 15-1 victory through to its completion.

Next up: Heading out West

The Red Sox will board a flight to San Francisco later Thursday afternoon and open up a three-game series against the Athletics in Oakland on Friday.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez is slated to get the ball for Boston in the series opener, while right-hander Frankie Montas will be doing the same for Oakland.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Danny Santana: Boston Red Sox)

Kiké Hernández thrives in return to leadoff spot as Red Sox clobber Gerrit Cole, finish off sweep of Yankees with 9-2 win

Kiké Hernández was back in the leadoff spot the first time in nearly two weeks at Fenway Park on Sunday, and he did not waste any time in getting the Red Sox on the board.

Matched up against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, Hernandez greeted the right-hander in the first inning by depositing the first pitch he saw — a 96.3 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate — 379 feet over the Green Monster for his seventh home run of the season and his second of the leadoff variety.

A hard-hit double from Alex Verdugo followed by a seven-pitch walk drawn by J.D. Martinez kept the pressure on for Cole, and Rafael Devers took full advantage of that by crushing a 100 mph fastball down the heart of the plate 451 feet over everything in right field.

Devers’ 19th big fly of the year had an exit velocity of 113. 7 mph, and it gave the Red Sox an early 4-0 lead.

In the third inning, Cole fell victim to the long ball once more, this time with Martinez leading things off with his 15th homer of the season — a 421-foot blast to dead center that increased his side’s advantage to five runs.

Christian Vazquez added on to that with a sacrifice fly later in the frame that brought in Bogaerts from third, and the Sox were off to a 6-0 start against one of the best pitchers in the American League.

Given all that run support to work with, Eduardo Rodriguez was able to settle in and put together his second straight quality outing when going up against a divisional foe.

Making his 15th start of the season on Sunday, Rodriguez twirled six solid innings, allowing just two earned runs on five hits and zero walks to go along with eight strikeouts on the afternoon.

For the first time this year, the left-hander got through five innings without yielding a run, as the only two he gave up came on a two-run shot off the bat of Aaron Judge in the top half of the sixth.

After getting taken deep, however, Rodriguez rallied and retired the last three hitters he faced in order to end his day on a more positive note.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 96 (62 strikes), the 28-year-old hurler mixed in a healthy diet of fastballs, cutters, changeups, sinkers, and sliders en route to inducing 11 total swings-and-misses while topping out at 95 mph with his heater.

Ultimately improving to 6-4 on the season in addition to lowering his ERA to 5.83, Rodriguez’s next start should come against the Athletics in Oakland on Friday, the first day of July.

The Boston bats got one of the two runs Rodriguez gave up back in the seventh, with Devers collecting his fourth RBI on a hard-hit single that plated Devers. They tacked on two more on a Vazquez solo homer and Hernandez RBI double an inning later.

The Red Sox bullpen, meanwhile, preserved Rodriguez’s valiant effort. Darwinzon Hernandez ran into some trouble in the seventh, but Garrett Whitlock was able to bail him out by escaping a bases loaded-jam before tossing a scoreless eighth inning as well.

Yacksel Rios got the call in the ninth, and he saw the Red Sox’ 9-2 victory through to its completion by recording the final three outs of the ballgame.

With the win, the Sox finish off their second three-game sweep of the Yankees this month. Boston is now a perfect 6-0 against New York this season.

Having extended their winning streak to three consecutive games, the Red Sox improved to 47-31 (23-17 at home) on the season while moving a half-game ahead of the Rays for first place in the American League East.

—

Next up, the Sox will welcome the Kansas City Royals into town for a four-game set that begins at Fenway Park on Monday night.

Right-hander Garrett Richards will be getting the ball for Boston in the series opener, while left-hander Danny Duffy will be doing the same for Kansas City.

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

(Picture of Kiké Hernández and Alex Verdugo: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, and Alex Verdugo named All-Star finalists

Four Red Sox have advanced into the final stage of All-Star voting, Major League Baseball announced earlier Sunday afternoon.

Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, and Alex Verdugo were all named as American League All-Star finalists, which means they all move onto the next phase of voting and all have a chance to start in this season’s Midsummer Classic in Denver.

Bogaerts came into Sunday ranking first among qualified American League shortstops in batting average (.327), second in on-base percentage (.399), first in slugging percentage (.554), second in weighted on-base average (.401), second in weighted runs created plus (153), and second in fWAR (3.6), per FanGraphs.

As noted by MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith, the 28-year-old led all American League shortstops in total votes with 1,570,467.

Toronto’s Bo Bichette and Houston’s Carlos Correa finished second and third behind Bogaerts and join the Red Sox star as All-Star finalists.

Devers, meanwhile, also led all American League third basemen in votes, tallying 1,569,381 of them to finish ahead of Houston’s Alex Bregman and Chicago’s Yoan Moncada.

As of Sunday morning, the 24-year-old slugger was leading qualified AL third basemen in hits (76), doubles (23), home runs (18), runs scored (51), runs driven (60), slugging percentage (.564), OPS (.908), isolated power (.287), wOBA (.379), and wRC+ (139).

Martinez received 755,663 votes to finish second among American League designated hitters, trailing only Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani while finishing ahead of Yordan Alvarez of the Astros.

Verdugo on the other hand, just made the cut, as the 25-year-old finished eighth among nine AL outfield finalists in phase one of voting by receiving 702,560 votes.

With finalists determined for each defensive position (excluding pitcher) in both leagues, the second phase of All-Star voting will commence at 12 pm eastern time on Monday. That will last until 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, at which point starters will be announced later that night on ESPN.

Per MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan, the rest of the 2021 All-Star rosters will be unveiled on July 4, with the 91st installment of the MLB All-Star Game taking place at Coors Field on July 13.

(Picture of Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo: Winslow Townson/Getty Images)

Rafael Devers walks it off as Red Sox salvage series split against Blue Jays with 2-1 victory

The Red Sox were three outs away from picking up a hard-fought, 1-0 shutout victory over the Blue Jays at Fenway Park on Monday.

Matt Barnes came on for the save in the top half of the ninth and got the first two outs of the inning easily before making the decision to pitch to one of the hottest hitters on the planet in Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

That decision would turn out to be costly for the Sox, as Barnes served up a towering, 451-foot mammoth shot of a game-tying home run in the process of being charged with his third blown save of the year.

Still, even with that setback, the Red Sox did not falter going into the bottom portion of the inning.

Matched up against reliever Rafeal Dolis, Alex Verdugo and J.D. Martinez led off with a pair of singles to eventually put a runner in scoring position with one out for Rafael Devers.

On the fourth pitch he saw from Dolis, Devers got a hold of a 95 mph sinker on the inner half of the plate and crushed it off the Green Monster.

Devers knew it was good for a hit as soon as it left the bat, as Verdugo came into score from second to seal a 2-1 walk-off victory for the Red Sox.

With the win, not only does Boston halt a two-game losing skid, but they also salvage a series split with Toronto in addition to improving to 40-27 on the season.

Eovaldi takes perfect game into fourth inning

The Sox were in desperate need of a quality starting pitching performance at on Monday, and that’s exactly what they got from Nathan Eovaldi.

Having seen his team get outscored 25-6 over its last two games, both losses, Eovaldi put together one of his most impressive outings of the season to date against the Blue Jays.

In what was his 14th start of the year, the veteran right-hander kept the Jays off the scoreboard while scattering just three hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts over 6 2/3 pristine innings of work.

After retiring the first 10 hitters he faced, Eovaldi saw his perfect game and no-hit bid come to an end all at once when he yielded a one-out single to Bo Bichette in the top of the fourth.

Eovaldi escaped the inning without allowing Bichette to get past second base before sitting down six more Jays batters in order.

The seventh presented a bit of a challenge for the righty, as he gave up back-to-back singles to lead things off, but nullified that by inducing a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Randal Grichuk; at which point his night came to a close.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 81 (55 strikes), the 31-year-old hurler turned to his four-seam fastball 40% of the time he was on the mound Monday, inducing just one swing-and-miss while topping out at 100.3 mph with the pitch.

Despite being hit with the no-decision, Eovaldi did lower his ERA on the season to 3.78. His next start should come against the Royals in Kansas City on Sunday.

Verdugo comes through early

The Red Sox lineup was matched up against an unfamiliar opponent in the form of Blue Jays rookie right-hander Alek Manoah, who was making his first career start at Fenway Park, to begin things on Monday.

While Manoah got through the first two innings unscathed, the bottom half of the third was somewhat of a different story.

With two outs and Enrique Hernandez at first base after reaching on a fielder’s choice, Alex Verdugo delivered what would turn out to be the most important Red Sox hit of the night.

On a 1-0, 94 mph fastball from Manoah, Verdugo laced a double to left field that was just out of the reach of left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Because the ball eluded Gurriel Jr.’s glove, Hernandez was able to hustle in to score all the way from first while Verdugo was credited with an RBI double.

Taylor shines again out of bullpen, Barnes earns win

By the time Nathan Eovaldi’s night had come to an end with two outs in the top of the seventh, left-hander Josh Taylor came on in relief of the starter.

Taylor fanned Rowdy Tellez on six pitches to end the inning and punched out two more in a shutout top of the eighth to extend his scoreless appearances streak to 18 consecutive games dating back to April 30.

Matt Barnes, meanwhile, was able to strike out Teoscar Hernandez after giving up that game-tying home run to limit the damage in the ninth, and he earned his third winning decision of the season since he was the last Red Sox pitcher to take the mound on Monday.

Next up: On to Atlanta

The Red Sox will board a flight to Atlanta for the start of a three-city, eight-game road trip on deck that starts with two against the Braves at Truist Park.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will get the start for Boston in the opening game of the two-game interleague series on Tuesday, while rookie southpaw Tucker Davidson will do the same for Atlanta.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Rafael Devers: Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)

Kiké Hernández delivers with go-ahead RBI double, Bobby Dalbec crushes 453-foot homer as Red Sox come back to take series from Yankees with 7-3 win

Kiké Hernández made sure to make his first hit in nearly two weeks count.

After not playing on Thursday or Friday, Hernández came into the weekend in the midst of an 0-for-21 slump and was dropped to seventh in Alex Cora’s lineup as a result.

In the eighth inning of a 3-3 game Friday night, Hernández came to the plate for the fourth time with two outs and Rafael Devers at first following a leadoff single with reliever Chad Green on the mound for New York.

On the fifth pitch he saw from Green — a 2-2, 95 mph fastball at the top of the zone — Hernández laced a go-ahead RBI double down the left field line that allowed a husting Devers to score all the way from first.

Hernández’s late-game heroics gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead, but they were not done there.

Christian Vazquez followed with a run-scoring double of his won to drive in Hernández, while Bobby Dalbec put this one to bed by crushing a 453-foot two-run home run to deep center field.

Dalbec’s sixth homer of the season, which had an exit velocity of 115.6 mph to make it the hardest-hit ball of his career to this point, put the Red Sox up 7-3, which would go on to be Friday’s final score in the team’s series-clinching victory over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

Five straight hits in the sixth

Before the eighth-inning rally, Boston put up their first three runs of the night earlier in their half of the sixth.

There, five straight one-out hits courtesy of Alex Verdugo, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Hunter Renfroe resulted in some serious offensive production, with Devers driving in a pair off Yankees starter Jameson Taillon on a two-run single and Gonzalez plating Devers on yet another run-scoring double off reliever Jonathan Loaisiga.

That little outburst gave the Sox a 3-2 lead going into the middle of the sixth inning.

Rodriguez’s no-decision

Eduardo Rodriguez made his 11th start of the season for the Red Sox on Friday. The left-hander took a perfect game into the third inning before giving up back-to-back two-out singles, though nothing came of it.

The fourth inning, however, was a different story for Rodriguez, as he served up a two-run blast to Gleyber Torres to give the Yankees their first lead of the night at 2-0.

Rodriguez ran into some more trouble in the sixth when he issued a one-out walk to Aaron Judge and yielded a ground-rule double to Gio Urshela to put runners in scoring position. With Torres due to hit next for New York, Rodriguez’s outing came to a close.

Garrett Whitlock was deployed from the Red Sox bullpen to replace Rodriguez, and he allowed one of the runners he inherited to score on a sacrifice fly before ending the inning.

With that third run being charged to Rodriguez, the 28-year-old hurler finished the day having surrendered three earned runs on one walk and seven strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings of work on 88 pitches — 55 of which were strikes.

Able to lower his ERA on the season to 5.59 despite not being involved in the decision, his next start should come against the Astros back at Fenway Park on Thursday.

Whitlock and Ottavino impress against former organization

Whitlock, who the Red Sox selected from the Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, came back out for the seventh inning after finishing things in the sixth.

Facing off against the team that selected him in the 18th round of the 2017 draft, the right-hander wound up facing the minimum three batters in the seventh by inducing an inning-ending double play off the bat of Gary Sanchez.

Adam Ottavino, meanwhile, had spent the previous two seasons with the Yankees prior to getting traded to the Red Sox over the winter.

In his first appearance at Yankee Stadium since that trade went down, the Brooklyn native continued the dominating run he has been on of late by sitting down the only three hitters he faced in order in the bottom half of the eighth.

Workman struggles with walks, which leads to Barnes closing it out

From there, the Sox had already jumped out to a late 7-3 lead and turned to Brandon Workman to wrap things up.

Workman, making his second appearance out of the Boston bullpen since re-joining the club on Thursday, got the first two outs of the ninth rather easily, but then proceeded to walk the next two Yankees who came to the plate.

That resulted in Cora making the call for closer Matt Barnes, who fanned the lone hitter he faced on five pitches to secure the 7-3 win for his side and notch his 14th save of the season.

With the 7-3 triumph, the Red Sox guarantee their first series victory in the Bronx since the 2018 ALDS. They also pick up their third straight win to improve to 35-23 and remain within a game of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East.

Next up: Richards looks to complete the sweep

The Red Sox will send right-hander Garrett Richards to the hill on Sunday night as they look to complete the sweep against their divisional foes.

The Yankees will be going with fellow righty Domingo German as they look to avoid a three-game sweep.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 7:08 p.m. eastern time on ESPN.

(Picture of Kiké Hernández: Richard Schultz/Getty Images)

Rafael Devers mashes 3-run homer, Marwin Gonzalez enjoys 2-hit night as Red Sox open series against Yankees with 5-2 win

It would appear that Rafael Devers has gotten his fastball back.

After struggling with the heater in Houston this week, Devers got this weekend’s series against the Yankees started with a bang at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.

With two outs and runners at first and second in the top of the first, the 24-year-old greeted Yankees starter Michael King by crushing an 0-2, 96 mph fastball at the top of the zone to deep right field for a three-run home run.

Devers’ team-leading 15th homer of the season traveled 429 feet off the left-handed hitter’s bat and had an exit velocity of 112.4 mph, which would turn out to be the second hardest-hit ball of the night. It also gave the Red Sox an early 3-0 lead.

Gonzalez breaks out of slump with two-hit night

To his credit, King settled in for New York after a rough first inning. The Rhode Island native strung together four consecutive scoreless frames before allowing a one-out single to Xander Bogaerts in the sixth. That resulted in the Yankees turning to left-hander Lucas Luetge.

Hunter Renfroe greeted Luetge by advancing Bogaerts to second on a single, while Hunter Renfroe — who came into Friday’s contest in the midst of a 1-for-24 skid — scored both runners by lacing a two-run double down the left field line.

The Sox went ahead 5-0 on Gonzalez’s first hit since May 22, and the switch-hitter also reached base again on a one-out double later on in the ninth.

Eovaldi tosses six solid innings, but scuffles towards the end

Nathan Eovaldi made his 12th start of the season for the Red Sox on Friday, matched up against one of his former teams at a ballpark he knows quite well.

Over six innings of work, the veteran right-hander yielded two runs — only one of which was earned — on eight hits and zero walks to go along with seven strikeouts on the night.

Both runs Eovaldi surrendered came in his final frame of action, with Aaron Judge getting his side on the board with a two-out solo home run to the short porch and Gio Urshela scoring on a Marwin Gonzalez fielding AND throwing error later in the inning.

For how impressive he was in the beginning, Eovaldi gave up four of his eight hits in the sixth. Still, six quality innings is six quality innings.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 87 (59 strikes), the 31-year-old hurler’s next start should come against the Astros back at Fenway Park on Wednesday.

Strikeouts galore from the Red Sox bullpen

In relief of Eovaldi, right-handed reliever Hirokazu Sawamura got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen for the bottom half of the seventh inning.

Sawamura needed all of 12 pitches to punch out Gary Sanchez, Brett Gardner, and D.J. LeMahieu in order, and he also picked up two more strikeouts in a scoreless bottom of the eighth as well to pave the way for Matt Barnes.

Barnes, making his 24th appearance of the season, dominated to the tune of a three-strikeout inning in which he secured his 13th save of the year while also preserving a 5-2, series-opening victory for the Red Sox.

With the win, their second straight, the Sox improve to 34-23 on the season and move to a game back of the Rays for first place in the American League East

Next up: Rodriguez vs. Taillon

A struggling Eduardo Rodriguez will take the hill for the Red Sox against the Yankees on Saturday night. He will be opposed by right-hander Jameson Taillon.

Rodriguez is coming off the worst month of his career. In six May starts, the left-hander went 1-4 with a 7.28 ERA and .957 OPS against over 29 2/3 innings pitched. The Sox went 1-5 in those six starts.

Saturday will mark Rodriguez’s first outing at Yankee Stadium since August 2, 2019.

Tallion, meanwhile, carries with him a 5.10 ERA through his first 10 starts (47 2/3 innings) in a Yankees uniform. The 29-year-old has only made one prior start against the Red Sox, which came when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in April 2017.

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

(Picture of Rafael Devers: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

New Podding the Red Sox episode: The Providence Jorunal’s Bill Koch joins the show

On this week’s installment of Podding the Red Sox: A BloggingtheRedSox.com Podcast, I am joined by Bill Koch, who covers the Red Sox for The Providence Journal.

Among the topics Bill and I discussed were how his New England roots shaped his interest in sports journalism, what led him to covering the Red Sox for The Providence Journal, how he goes about writing and tweeting about the Red Sox, his thoughts on Boston’s season thus far, what Alex Cora will have to deal with in the Bronx this weekend, his prediction for what Chaim Bloom will do before next month’s trade deadline, when Jarren Duran could be making his major-league debut, and much more!

The episode is available to listen to on iTunes and Spotify, among other platforms.

Thank you to Bill for taking some time out of his busy in-season schedule to have a conversation with me.

You can follow Bill on Twitter (@BillKoch25) by clicking here. You can check out his work for the Providence Journal by clicking here.

Thank you for listening and we will see you next time! Please make sure to subscribe and leave a five-star review if you can!

(Picture of Fenway Park: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox commit 2 costly errors, fail to get anything going offensively in 5-1 loss to Astros

The Red Sox were within striking distance of the Astros heading into the bottom of the seventh inning at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night.

Trailing by a run at 2-1, Hirokazu Sawamura came on for Garrett Richards and yielded a leadoff single to Kyle Tucker. A Rafael Devers fielding error on a Chas McCormick groundball put runners at first and second with no outs.

Sawamura proceeded by inducing another grounder off the bat of Myles Straw, one that was hit directly to Xander Bogaerts for what looked to be the start of a huge 6-4-3 double play.

Bogaerts fielded the ball cleanly and made a routine toss to Marwin Gonzalez, who misfired on his throw to first base that got past a sprawling Danny Santana and allowed Tucker to score easily.

A five-pitch walk of Martin Maldonado, a wild pitch, and an intentional walk of Jose Altuve loaded the bases as Red Sox manager Alex Cora made the switch from Sawamura to Garrett Whitlock.

Making his first appearance out of the bullpen in a week, Whitlock issued a free pass to the first man he faced to bring in another run before Yordan Alvarez tapped an infield single off him to plate an additional run and make it a 5-1 game.

What transpired in the seventh inning on Tuesday was what ultimately did the Red Sox in. By falling to Houston by a final score of 5-1, Boston drops back down to 32-22 (16-9) on the season. They remain two games back of the Rays for first place in the American League East.

Richards provides six solid innings

Garrett Richards made his 11th start of the season for the Red Sox and put together yet another strong showing.

Despite dealing with his fair share of traffic on the base paths, the right-hander surrendered just two earned runs on four hits, four walks, and five strikeouts over six innings of work.

The first of the two Astros runs Richards gave up came on a towering solo home run from Jose Altuve right away in the first inning. The second came on a sacrifice fly from Chas McCormick after Richards served up a leadoff double and followed with a four-pitch walk later in the bottom half of the fourth.

Besides that, the 33-year-old hurler was able to retire six of the final seven Astros he faced to get through six full innings.

Despite lowering his ERA on the season down to 3.75, Richards was charged with his fourth loss and is now 4-4. His next start should come against the Yankees in the Bronx on Sunday night.

Red Sox’ offensive woes continue

For the second straight day, the Red Sox lineup was held in check at Minute Maid Park. Boston was once again limited to five hits while managing to push across just one run against Astros rookie starter Luis Garcia.

Hunter Renfroe sparked the lone offensive output of the night with a leadoff double in the fifth, marking his fifth consecutive game with an extra-base hit. Danny Santana advanced Renfroe to third on a single moments later, and it appeared as though the Sox were ready to pounce.

Christian Vazquez failed to advance either runner by popping out to the infield, Marwin Gonzalez plated Renfroe on an RBI groundout, and Enrique Hernandez also popped out to extinguish the threat.

From there, an Alex Verdugo leadoff single and Vazquez two-out single in the seventh went for naught as Garcia made it through seven complete innings for the first time in his young career.

The Astros bullpen took over in relief of Garcia and preserved the one-run effort by tossing a pair of scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth.

Next up: Pivetta vs. Valdez

Wednesday’s starting pitching matchup between the Red Sox and Astros will feature a pair of right-hander and a left-hander, with righty Nick Pivetta getting the ball for Boston and southpaw Framber Valdez doing the same for Houston.

Pivetta will look to play the role as the stopper with the Sox looking to halt a two-game skid and get back in the win column.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN and ESPN.

(Picture of Garrett Richards: Leslie Plaza Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Rafael Devers homers, collects 3 RBI as Red Sox come back to top Braves, 9-5, in rain-filled night at Fenway Park; Nick Pivetta records season-high 9 strikeouts

It took until the wee hours of Thursday morning on account of a 2 hour and 53 minute rain delay, but the Red Sox were able to salvage a series split against the Braves with a 9-5 win at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.

With the victory, which took nearly six hours to see through to the end, the Red Sox snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 30-20 (14-13 at home) on the season. They remain a half-game back of the Rays for first place in the American League East.

Shoutout to Dave Mellor and the rest of the Red Sox grounds crew for their efforts in this one.

Pivetta strikes out nine over six innings

Nick Pivetta made his 10th start of the season for Boston in Wednesday’s series finale, and despite getting hit relatively hard, he did keep his team in the game.

Over six innings of work, the right-hander yielded four runs — all of which were earned — on seven hits and two walks to go along with a season-high six strikeouts on the night.

The first two of those four Atlanta runs came right away in the top of the first, as Pivetta walked Freedie Freeman on five pitches which was promptly followed by an RBI triple off the bat of Ozzie Albies.

Albies came into score on a two-out, run-scoring double from Dansby Swanson, and Boston found themselves down 2-0 just like that.

A Guillermo Heredia leadoff double an inning later would result in another Braves run crossing the plate when William Contreras picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly. 3-0 Atlanta.

Pivetta would settle in for a bit from there, with the only hiccup coming when he served up a solo home run to Austin Riley in the top half of the fifth.

Wednesday’s outing marks the second straight start in which Pivetta has allowed four or more runs, but he wrapped things up on a much more positive note by punching out four of the final five hitters he faced — which included striking out the side in his sixth and final frame of work.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 102 (68 strikes), the 28-year-old hurler turned to his four-seam fastball 45% of the time he was on the mound Wednesday, inducing seven swings and misses while topping out at 97 mph with the pitch. He also induced eight swings-and-misses with his slider, a pitch he threw 20 times.

Able to improve to a perfect 6-0 on the season despite raising his ERA to 3.86 in what technically goes down as a complete game (the second of his career), Pivetta’s next start should come against the Astros in Houston next Tuesday.

Renfroe homers to get scoring started for Sox

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against veteran left-hander Drew Smyly for the Braves, who came into play Wednesday sporting a 5.11 ERA through his first seven starts of the season.

After finding themselves in an early two-run hole, Hunter Renfroe got things started for the Sox in the second inning when unloaded on a hanging curveball from Smyly and deposited it 377 feet on a line over the Green Monster.

Renfroe’s sixth home run of the season, which made it a 2-1 game in favor of Atlanta, had an exit velocity of 102.4 mph.

Devers’ big fly to dead center ties it

Fast forward to the bottom of the fourth, and the long ball again proved to be Boston’s best friend, as a two-out walk drawn by Xander Bogaerts brought Rafael Devers to the plate, representing the tying run in a 3-1 contest.

On the third pitch he saw from Smyly — yet another hanging curveball — the dangerous left-handed slugger crushed a booming, game-tying two-run shot 434 feet (107. 1 mph off the bat) to deep center field for his team-leading 14th home run of the year.

Four-run rally in sixth proves to be pivotal

The Braves went up by a run on the heels of Devers’ two-run blast to re-take the lead at 4-3, but the Boston bats would not be silenced.

With one out in the bottom half of the sixth, the Sox had Smyly on the ropes with Alex Verdugo and J.D. Martinez each lacing a sharply-hit single to put runners at first and second.

A wild pitch with Bogaerts at the plate allowed Verdugo to advance to third. That miscue would prove to be costly for Atlanta when Bogaerts plated Verdugo on a softly-hit fielder’s choice to third base moments later.

Verdugo — aggressive as ever — was going on contact, and on a headfirst slide he managed to slip under Contreras’ tag at home plate to score and knot things up at four runs apiece.

Devers took responsibility for the go-ahead run by driving in Martinez on an RBI double down the left field line, while Christian Vazquez provided some much-needed insurance by greeting new Braves reliever Luke Jackson with a bases-loaded, opposite field two-run single that scored both Boagaerts and Devers and gave the Red Sox a commanding 7-4 advantage.

Inclement weather results in long delay

As the sixth inning came to a close, the rate at which the rain was falling from the Boston skies picked up. That led to the Red Sox grounds crew rolling out the tarp on the field at a Fenway.

A rain delay began at approximately 9:08 p.m. eastern time. And after a 173-minute standstill, the game resumed shortly after midnight.

Red Sox bullpen closes it out

When the tarp came off the field, it was Josh Taylor who got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen for the start of the seventh inning.

The left-handed reliever plunked the first hitter he faced in Ronald Acuna before recording the first two outs. Adam Ottavino was deployed to face the right-handed hitting Riley and got him to pop out to retire the side.

Ottavino also worked a 1-2-3 top of the eighth. The Sox tacked on two more insurance runs on a Danny Santana RBI and Vazquez sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning to give Matt Andriese a five-run lead to operate with.

Andriese, making his first appearance since May 23, got the first out, gave up a towering solo home run to Contreras, and a single to Acuna, which prompted Red Sox manager Alex Cora to turn to his closer, Matt Barnes, to finish things up in a non-save situation.

Barnes, making his first relief appearance since May 22, induced a game-ending double play from Freeman to secure the 9-5 win for his side.

Next up: An off day on Thursday, then a weekend series against the Marlins

The Red Sox will enjoy their second off day of the week on Thursday before welcoming the Miami Marlins into town for a three-game weekend series that begins Friday night.

Left-hander Martin Perez is slated to get the ball for Boston in the series opener, while rookie right-hander Cody Poteet is lined up to do the same for Miami.

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

(Picture of Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers: Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)