Tag: ryan weber

Four Home Runs Power #RedSox to 10-6 Victory over Twins

The Red Sox improved to 11-15-1 in Grapefruit League play on Friday evening following a 10-6 triumph over the Minnesota Twins down the road at Hammond Stadium. This victory marked the  team’s third in a row as well as the final installment of the 2019 Chairman’s Cup.

Initially slated to start for Boston Friday was Chris Sale, but with him agreeing to a five-year, $145 million contract extension in the afternoon and all, the left-hander was scratched in favor of another southpaw in Dan Runzler.

Runzler, 33, recorded the first five outs of this one, surrendering two runs on zero hits and a pair of walks to go along with three strikeouts in his brief outing.

It looked as though Runzler was going to be able to escape the second by following up two consecutive walks with two consecutive strikeouts, but was pulled for Trevor Kelley, who allowed Minnesota’s first two runs of the night to score on a Max Kepler RBI single.

From the middle of the third inning on, Ryan Brasier, Brandon Workman, Colten Brewer, Jenryy Mejia, Andrew Schwaab, Adam Lau, Hunter Smith, and Daniel McGrath combined to give up four Twins runs on 10 hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts over the final seven frames of this one.

Brasier, Workman, and Brewer all appear to be locks to make Boston’s Opening Day roster at this point. Together, they scattered just two hits and fanned five from the third until the conclusion of the fifth.

Mejia, meanwhile, did not do a great job of convincing anyone he deserves a spot in the Red Sox bullpen to start the season, as he allowed two more Minnesota runs to cross the plate on three hits in a rough sixth inning.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson, who figures to serve as the club’s number two starter behind Jose Berrios to start the season.

Despite that reputation, the Boston Bats jumped on Gibson right from the get go, as Andrew Benintendi led things off with a laser of a first inning solo home on the very first pitch he saw.

Three at-bats without an out later, Xander Bogaerts unloaded the bases on a fly ball RBI single to right field to score Eduardo Nunez from third.

After Mitch Moreland struck out swinging, Jackie Bradley Jr. got his hot night at the plate started right with another run-scoring single to plate Rafael Devers from third and give his team an early 3-0 advantage.

Two innings later, following a two-run bottom half of the second for Minnesota, JD Martinez and Bogaerts would wind up being the catalysts for a five-run inning for the Red Sox with back-to-back singles to lead things off.

Following a GIDP off the bat of Moreland, Bradley Jr. would give Boston some breathing room by launching his third home run of the spring to make it a 5-2 contest.

That homer would lead to a Twins pitching change and be followed up by two more long balls from Christian Vazquez (1) and Gorkys Hernandez (2) in consecutive order.

But the third inning rally was not yet done. Not before Rafael Devers drove in Aneury Tavarez from third on an RBI single to give the Red Sox a commanding 8-2 lead.

In total, the Red Sox tallied eight runs on 13 hits before even reaching the midway point of the third inning. Not too shabby.

Going back to the game, Eduardo Nunez and Mike Miller were responsible for the final two runs of Boston’s eventful night, with Nunez collecting his RBI in the fifth and Miller doing the same in the eighth to make it a 10-4 game at that point.

The Twins would try their best to make things interesting in their half of the ninth by pushing across another pair of runs, but the Red Sox would hold on to take this one by a final score of 10-6.

Some notes from this win:

Xander Bogaerts had a scary collision with Twins outfielder Byron Buxton in between third and home during a rundown in the second inning, with his left shoulder taking the brunt of the hit.

“I didn’t want to look down. I don’t know how it looks,” Bogaerts said Friday. “It just didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to look. As I went down, I let one of the trainers take a look. It looked fine. So, I was, ‘All right, lets keep going.”

Bogaerts remained in the game until the fifth inning. Saturday morning will more than likely provide a better indication on how the 26-year-old is feeling with Opening Day looming.

Rafael Devers update: now slashing .404/.417/.596 with one home run and seven RBI through 47 spring at-bats.

According to the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, Brandon Workman will pitch once again on Saturday.

—

Speaking of Saturday, next up for the Red Sox, they’ll wrap up their 2019 Grapefruit League campaign by hosting a split Pittsburgh Pirates squad at JetBlue Park.

Right-hander Jameson Taillon is scheduled to start for Pittsburgh, while fellow righty Nathan Eovaldi will be doing the same in his final start before his first full season with Boston begins.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT on NESN. Last game before heading out to Arizona to play the Chicago Cubs in a pair of exhibition games.

Nathan Eovaldi Strikes out Three as #RedSox Fall to Twins 4-1

The Red Sox fell to 8-15-1 in Grapefruit League play on Monday afternoon following a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Minnesota Twins down the road at Hammond Stadium. They are now 2-4 against Minnesota this spring, and with only one game left between the two sides, the 2019 Chairman’s Cup essentially belongs to the Twins already.

Making his second start of exhibition season in this one was Nathan Eovaldi, who made his Red Sox Grapefruit League debut against the Twins as well.

Working the first four innings of this one, the right-hander surrendered two runs, both of which were scored in the first, on four hits and one walk to go along with three strikeouts on the day. He was also reaching 99-100 MPH with his fastball.

Those two runs came on a two out two-run home run off the bat of Eddie Rosario, marking the Twins slugger’s fourth home run of the spring.

Other than that, Eovaldi worked his way around two more additional hits in the bottom half of the second before retiring the final six hitters he faced in order to end his afternoon on a positive note.

From the middle of the fifth inning on, Matt Barnes, Brandon Workman, and Ryan Weber combined to give up another pair of runs on four hits, no walks, and five strikeouts over the final four frames.

Barnes, who revealed postgame that he was tipping some of his pitches on Monday, gave up both of those runs in a rough fifth inning, but fixed the issue and struck out Marwin Gonzalez to put an end to the Twins rally.

Weber, meanwhile, faced the minimum six hitters and struck out half of them in an impressive seventh and eighth inning of relief.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was limited to just one run on seven hits by ace right-hander Jose Berrios and the rest of the Twins staff.

That one run came in the top of the first and it was provided by JD Martinez, who drove in Mookie Betts from third on a line drive RBI single off Berrios.

Despite leaping out to an early advantage, the Boston bats really failed to put anything else together for the remainder of the afternoon in Fort Myers.

Some notes from this loss:

Martinez went 2/2 with an RBI and a walk on Monday batting out of the cleanup spot.

Rafael Devers forget his regular jersey on the short trip, so he had to wear No. 84 before eventually making the switch back over to No. 11.

Weber was reassigned to minor league camp following Monday’s game, meaning the Red Sox now have 35 players at big league camp.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, they’ll welcome the Toronto Blue Jays into JetBlue Park for a Tuesday afternoon showdown.

Eduardo Rodriguez is scheduled to start for Boston, while right-hander Sean-Reid Foley, who is one of the only two major leaguers to be born in Guam, will be doing the same for Toronto.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 1:05 EDT at JetBlue. Boston 25 and NESN have it covered.

Expect More Regulars in #RedSox Lineup on Sunday

The Red Sox will host the Minnesota Twins in a Grapefruit League matchup on Sunday afternoon.

Two games into spring training, one against the Northeastern Huskies baseball team and one against the New York Yankees, we have yet to see many of the regulars who were consistently in Boston’s lineup during their 2018 World Series run.

That will all change tomorrow at JetBlue Park.

According to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, Sunday’s starting infield will consist of Rafael Devers at third, Xander Bogaerts at short, Brock Holt at second, and Sam Travis at first. In the outfield, it will be Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Cole Sturgeon from left to right while Christian Vazquez will catch Ryan Weber to start things off and Eduardo Nunez will serve as the designated hitter.

Meanwhile, reigning American League MVP Mookie Betts will make his 2019 spring debut on Wednesday against either the Baltimore Orioles or Tampa Bay Rays in some split-squad action. This is just a guess, but I would assume Betts’ debut will come against the Orioles since that game will be taking place at JetBlue Park.

Anyway, first pitch against the Twins on Sunday is scheduled for 1:05 ET. Martin Perez vs. Ryan Weber is the starting pitching matchup.

#RedSox Sign Former Tampa Bay Rays Right-Hander Ryan Weber to Minor League Deal.

On Friday night, the Boston Red Sox reached an agreement with free agent right-handed pitcher Ryan Weber on a minor league contract for the 2019 season that also includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Weber, 28, becomes the third right-hander to ink a minor league deal with Boston in the past week alone, as the club announced the signings of Erasmo Ramirez and Zach Putnam this past Tuesday.

Spending last season up and down in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, the Florida native only appeared in two games at the big league level while posting a 2.73 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over 25 outings (18 starts) and 115.1 innings pitched with Triple A Durham.

A former 22nd round pick of the Atlanta Braves back in 2009, Weber is without a doubt a sinkerball pitcher, as he relied on the pitch 73% of the time he was on a major league mound in 2018, per Statcast. Compare that to just one fastball thrown while up with Tampa Bay last year.

More pitching depth never seems to be a bad thing, and as things stand right now, the Red Sox have plenty of it heading into 2019.