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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 2, 2022 8:55:01 GMT -5
Jeff Passan @jeffpassan · 5m The Houston Astros are finalizing a deal to acquire catcher Christian Vázquez from the Boston Red Sox, sources tell ESPN.
The Red Sox are playing in Houston tonight, so Vázquez presumably will just walk around the stadium to join his new teammates. And the Sox's sale begins.
I am not happy about this.
It was hard to watch Vazquez in the very brief interview he had before the game. I'm sure he will end up being happy with the Astros, but he was obviously in shock at the timing/suddenness of the move and very emotional. Sad to see him go. The way that it happened was classless and Vaz even stopping at the group of reporters, starting to speak and getting dragged off by a PR director was simply shameful and par for the course lately for this front office.
More Bloom Ball coming today
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Post by Kimmi on Aug 2, 2022 8:55:19 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 4m J.D. Martinez said Vazquez was one of favorite teammates in his career. Said it’s tough seeing the team broken up. I concur. This is not a happy time in my little corner of the baseball world.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 2, 2022 8:56:07 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 4m J.D. Martinez said Vazquez was one of favorite teammates in his career. Said it’s tough seeing the team broken up. I concur. This is not a happy time in my little corner of the baseball world. He will be gone today, Nate as well.
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Post by Kimmi on Aug 2, 2022 9:05:48 GMT -5
I think McGuire might be underrated. His stats with TO weren't awful with an OPS+ of 85. He plays defense. He's a lefty, so even if he doesn't hit much, he can platoon. I don't know much about him, but I'm more concerned with how good he is behind the plate than what he can do with the bat. I didn't realize that he had not yet reached arbitration status and that we have 3 more years of control remaining after this year. Is he good enough to be our starting catcher for the next several years?
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Post by Kimmi on Aug 2, 2022 9:08:03 GMT -5
Jarren Duran powers Boston Red Sox to 3-2 win over Astros on hectic day in Houston; Nathan Eovaldi pitches 6.1 innings On a bright note, there is this. Two wins in a row! The defense was still sketchy, but it was good to see our pitching hold the Astros to 2 (unearned) runs. Good day for Eovaldi and Duran.
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Post by Kimmi on Aug 2, 2022 9:10:21 GMT -5
The way that it happened was classless and Vaz even stopping at the group of reporters, starting to speak and getting dragged off by a PR director was simply shameful and par for the course lately for this front office.
More Bloom Ball coming today I don't think it was a good idea for Vazquez to speak to reporters in the frame of mind that he was in. He needs some time to process what happened.
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Post by Kimmi on Aug 2, 2022 9:11:05 GMT -5
I concur. This is not a happy time in my little corner of the baseball world. He will be gone today, Nate as well. You're most likely right.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 2, 2022 13:48:34 GMT -5
Game 105: Red Sox at Astros lineups and notesBy Andrew Mahoney Globe Staff,Updated August 2, 2022, 9:31 a.m. On a day when longtime catcher Christian Vázquez was traded shortly before the first pitch, the Red Sox went out and defeated the Astros, 3-2. More moves are expected ahead of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline. We’ll have updates here. Once the deadline passes, the Red Sox will take on the Astros for the second game of their series at Minute Maid Park. Kutter Crawford will be on the mound as the Sox have a chance to win the season series in Houston. Here is a preview. Lineups RED SOX (52-52):
1. Jarren Duran (L) CF 2. Tommy Pham (R) LF 3. Rafael Devers (L) 3B 4. J.D. Martinez (R) DH 5. Alex Verdugo (L) RF 6. Christian Arroyo (R) SS 7. Bobby Dalbec (R) 1B 8. Yolmer Sanchez (S) 2B 9. Kevin Plawecki (R) C Pitching: RHP Kutter Crawford (2-3, 4.15 ERA) ASTROS (67-37): 1. Jose Altuve (R) 2B 2. Yuli Gurriel (R) 1B 3. Yordan Alvarez (L) LF 4. Alex Bregman (R) 3B 5. Kyle Tucker (L) RF 6. Aledmys Diaz (R) DH 7. Jeremy Pena (R) SS 8. Jake Meyers (R) CF 9. Martin Maldonado (R) C Pitching: RHP Cristian Javier (6-6, 3.26 ERA) Time: 8:10 p.m. TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7 Red Sox vs. Javier: Christian Arroyo 0-3, Xander Bogaerts 1-4, Bobby Dalbec 0-1, J.D. Martinez 2-4, Kevin Plawecki 0-1, Rob Refsnyder 1-1, Alex Verdugo 0-0 Astros vs. Crawford: Has not faced any Houston batters Stat of the day: For the first time since July 9-10, the Red Sox have a two-game winning streak. Notes: Crawford is winless over his last four starts, going 0-1 despite a 3.18 ERA and a .626 opponent OPS. He has allowed more than three earned runs only once in six starts this season and is making his first career appearance against the Astros. … Javier is also winless over his last four starts, going 0-3 with a 5.79 ERA and .873 opponent OPS. He has one save and a 2.57 ERA in two career relief appearances against the Red Sox. Song of the Day: Soundgarden - Black Hole Sunwww.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 2, 2022 18:37:07 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 1m #RedSox moves:
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2022 3:05:03 GMT -5
Devers homers in return from IL as Boston downs Astros 2-1 AP
HOUSTON (AP) Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is feeling good about his team with Rafael Devers healthy and back in the lineup and the recent additions of Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham.
Devers homered with two RBIs in his return from the injured list to lead the Red Sox to a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros Tuesday night, hours after they acquired Hosmer in a trade with San Diego.
The victory improved Boston to 53-52 and leaves the team two games back for the third Wild Card playoff spot.
''We trust the team,'' Cora said. ''We trust this group. Been there, done that. And now we've just got to play good baseball for two and a half months.''
Devers didn't show any signs of rust in his return after sitting out since July 23 with inflammation in his right hamstring. He hit an RBI double in the fourth inning before hitting a tiebreaking solo homer with two outs in the sixth inning to help Boston to its third straight victory.
''It's very important to come to Houston and beat this team, which is one of the best teams in the league and give that... raised our confidence on a level that we need,'' Devers said in Spanish through a translator. ''And that's very good for us.''
Pham singled and scored on the double by Devers in his debut with the Red Sox after a trade from Cincinnati Monday.
''To have those guys in the lineup now we do believe we're better,'' Cora said.
The trade for Hosmer comes a day after they sent catcher Christian Vazquez to the Astros, a move that had some players worried the team was giving up on the season.
Hosmer was part of the deal with Washington for Juan Soto before he refused the trade and the Padres instead shipped him to Boston along with two minor leaguers and cash in exchange for minor league left-hander Jay Groome.
Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford (3-3) yielded seven hits and a run in six strong innings for his first win since July 4.
Yordan Alvarez doubled off the wall in left-center field to start Houston's eighth before Austin Davis walked Alex Bregman.
Davis struck out Kyle Tucker before he was replaced by Tanner Houck. He retired Aledmys Diaz and Jeremy Pena to end the threat.
Trey Mancini, traded from Baltimore Monday, made his Astros debut as a pinch-hitter to start the ninth and grounded out. Vazquez made his first appearance for Houston next when he pinch hit, and he also grounded out.
Houck then retired Jose Altuve on a long fly ball to center field to get his eighth save.
Manager Dusty Baker sent Vazquez out with the lineup card before the game and he tipped his cap to his teammates in the visitor's dugout.
Houston's Cristian Javier (6-7) gave up four hits and two runs with seven strikeouts in six innings to lose his fourth straight decision after winning the previous three.
''Javier was good,'' Baker said. ''He had good command of his fastball. It was just too much Devers. We were throwing him last year tons of fastballs and he caught up to some tonight.''
Javier didn't allow a hit until Pham singled with one out in the fourth. Devers then doubled on a liner to right field to score Pham and tie it at 1-all.
There were two outs in the sixth when Devers connected on his shot to right field to make it 2-1.
Jose Altuve hit a leadoff double and scored on a single by Yuli Gurriel to give Houston a 1-0 lead.
A day after trading for Vazquez and Mancini, the Astros bolstered their bullpen Tuesday by acquiring left-hander Will Smith from Atlanta for starter Jake Odorizzi. Smith arrived in the Astros dugout early in the game and greeted several of his new teammates before moving to the dugout where he exchanged hugs and handshakes with his fellow relievers.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: OF Rob Refsnyder was placed on the injured list with a sprained right knee. ... C Ronaldo Hernandez and OF/1B Franchy Cordero were optioned to Triple-A Worcester.
Astros: General manager James Click said Tuesday that C Jason Castro had knee surgery last week and would miss the remainder of the season. ... RHP Lance McCullers, who has been out all season with a strained right forearm, allowed three hits and three runs - two earned - in 3 1/3 innings in his third rehabilitation start for Triple-A Sugar Land. He threw 76 pitches.
OH BABY
Bregman returned to the lineup after spending just one day on the paternity list to be with his wife Reagan for the birth of their first child, a son named Knox Samuel Bregman.
UP NEXT
Brayan Bello (0-3, 6.82 ERA) will start for the Red Sox against Jose Urquidy (9-4, 3.86) when they try to complete the sweep Wednesday.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2022 3:38:14 GMT -5
Rafael Devers homers in return to Red Sox lineup, leads Boston to 2-1 win over Astros
Updated: Aug. 03, 2022, 12:49 a.m.|Published: Aug. 02, 2022, 11:14 p.m.
By
Matt Vautour | mvautour@masslive.com
With the stress and uncertainty of the trade deadline behind them, the Red Sox got two big hits from Rafael Devers and Kutter Crawford and the Boston bullpen made them stand up as they held off the Houston Astros, 2-1, at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday.
The teams complete their three-game set with a getaway-day 2:10 p.m. start on Wednesday.
Kutter Crawford had a rocky start to the game as Jose Altuve led off the bottom of the first with a double. Yuli Gurriel followed with an RBI single to put the Astros up 1-0. But Crawford settled down after that. He used six strikeouts to work around seven hits and a walk. He allowed just one run in six innings and left with a lead.
After Boston traded for him Monday, Tommy Pham got his first Red Sox hit and scored his first Red Sox run in the fourth inning. After striking out in the first, he stroked a one-out single to center after Cristian Javier kept Boston hitless through three.
Pham scored all the way from first on Rafael Devers double to right. He dove head first to beat the throw home tying the game at 1-1.
Pham nearly hit a home run in the sixth, but his shot down the right field line sailed just to the wrong side of the foul pole. He popped out moments later.
Devers’ shot to deep right did not miss. He crushed a 94-mph fastball for a 371-home run to give the Sox the lead in the sixth.
Hirokazu Sawamura threw 13 of his 16 pitches for strikes in an efficient and scoreless seventh.
Yordan Alvarez doubled and Alex Bregman walked to start the Astros eighth against Austin Davis, but Davis struck out Kyle Tucker before giving way to Tanner Houck, who induced a line out and a fly out to preserve Boston’s one-run lead.
Christian Vázquez came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth to pinch hit against his former team with one out and the bases empty. He gave Kevin Plawecki a one-armed half hug before digging in. He grounded out to second against Houck. The Red Sox closer got Altuve to fly out to clinch his eighth save and Crawford a win (3-3).
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2022 3:55:37 GMT -5
Devers does it all in return to lineup 2:15 AM ADT Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
HOUSTON -- It isn’t very often that Rafael Devers can fly under the radar. But with most of the pregame focus on Tuesday surrounding the Trade Deadline, Boston’s star third baseman made his return from the injured list almost under the cover of darkness.
That was, until the game started, and Devers started taking the type of lethal cuts the Red Sox missed during the 10 games he missed while nursing inflammation in his right hamstring.
The score at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night? Devers 2, Astros 1.
In actuality, it was Red Sox 2, Astros 1, but it was Devers who took the two swings that made the difference in a game that gave the Red Sox their first series win since June 24-26 at Cleveland.
With the Sox down 1-0 in the top of the fourth, Devers bashed a 113.3-mph drive down the line in right for a double that scored one of his new teammates, Tommy Pham, all the way from first.
And one at-bat later, with two outs in the sixth, Devers unloaded and ripped one high and deep to right for the solo shot against Cristian Javier that put the Red Sox ahead. Not only did Devers look in midseason form with his swing, he also looked back in rhythm with his bat flip and his prolonged trot around the bases. It was No. 23 on the season for the gifted left-handed hitter.
“That was a great at-bat,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Took a fastball, three changeups in a row. Then they went back with the fastball. He said he missed it. I don’t know.”
Yes, Devers claims he mishit the pitch that left his bat at 108.4-mph and traveled a projected distance of 371 feet. Everyone should miss a 94-mph fastball like that.
“Yeah, the ball beat me up a little bit so I didn’t hit it how I wanted to hit it,” said Devers. “But I got it pretty well.”
The timing of the third baseman’s return couldn’t have been better. On Monday, the Red Sox traded popular core veteran Christian Vázquez to the Astros while adding Tommy Pham and Reese McGuire in separate deals. And on Tuesday, Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was able to get a veteran first baseman with a World Series-winning pedigree in Eric Hosmer.
This is a bit of a reset period for the Red Sox, and Devers will be at the centerpiece of the team’s playoff push.
Though 53-52 Boston is in fifth place in the American League East, the team’s deficit in the Wild Card standings is just two games.
And if Tuesday was any indication, Devers isn’t going to need any time to get back in the groove he’s been in just about all season.
“Yeah, the timing never went away,” said Devers. “I kept my swing on time and just stayed hitting off the machine and hitting BP while I was down on the injury list.”
Though Devers spent the minimum amount of time on the injured list, it felt longer due to the Red Sox stumbling to the point where it looked like they could fall out of the race and lead Bloom to be an aggressive seller at the Trade Deadline.
Instead, Devers was back in the mix with the veteran core he has played with the last several years still intact, except for Vázquez.
“Yeah, it felt really long, it felt like one, two months there [on the injured list],” said Devers. “For me, it was a really long time and I couldn’t wait to be on the field and help the guys win some games.”
The best way to describe the return of Devers was two words: sudden impact.
“Yeah, it feels good,” Devers said. “It was very positive I was able to contribute right off the bat, and we have only a couple of months remaining in the regular season, so every game that we can win is very positive for us, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2022 3:56:36 GMT -5
Injuries & Moves: Devers returns; Pham joins roster 12:05 AM ADT
Keep track of the Red Sox’s recent transactions and injury updates throughout the season. LATEST NEWS
Aug. 2: 3B Rafael Devers reinstated from 10-day injured list Boston's star slugger missed the minimum 10 days on the injured list with right hamstring inflammation and returned to the roster and the lineup for Tuesday night's game against the Astros. His home run -- giving him 23 on the season -- put the Red Sox on top for good in the sixth inning.
Aug. 2: Acquired 1B Eric Hosmer, Minor League IF Max Ferguson, Minor League OF Corey Rosier and cash considerations from Padres for Minor League LHP Jay Groome Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom made an important move on Deadline day, getting a veteran with a championship pedigree in Hosmer, which should greatly improve Boston's situation at first base. Boston also gained Ferguson (now the Red Sox No. 30 prospect) and Rosier, who were ranked 11th and 26th respectively in San Diego's farm system by MLB Pipeline. The Sox sent Groome, their No. 11 prospect who was the 12th overall pick in the 2016 Draft, to the Padres to complete the deal.
Aug. 2: OF Tommy Pham and C Reese McGuire added to Major League roster A day after the Sox acquired Pham in a trade from the Reds and McGuire in a deal with the White Sox, both players were added to the 26-man roster. Pham got the start in left field and collected his first Red Sox hit in the top of the fourth inning. McGuire is expected to start Wednesday's series finale against the Astros.
Aug. 2: OF Rob Refsnyder placed on 10-day injured list (retroactive to July 30) with right knee sprain Refsnyder, who has done a nice job for the Red Sox this season hitting .309 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 109 plate appearances, injured his knee during the last homestand. The earliest he is eligible to return is Aug. 9.
Aug. 2: OF/1B Franchy Cordero and C Ronaldo Hernández optioned to Triple-A Worcester The additions of Hosmer and Pham lessened the need for Cordero, who has been inconsistent on both sides of the ball. Hernandez was on the roster for just one day as the Sox waited for McGuire to arrive. Though Hernandez has been called up twice this season, he has yet to make his MLB debut.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2022 4:13:17 GMT -5
J.P. Long @soxnotes · 6h Kutter Crawford since the start of July (all against winning teams):
5.1 IP, 0 R (vs. TB) 5.0 IP, 1 R (vs. NYY) 6.0 IP, 3 R (at TB) 6.0 IP, 3 R (vs. TOR) 5.2 IP, 1 R (vs. CLE) 6.0 IP, 1 R (at HOU)
2.38 ERA 0.94 WHIP .218 AVG 32 K, 5 BB 34.0 IP, 9 ER, 2 HR
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2022 4:14:11 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h
#RedSox are 53-52. They've started August with something that eluded them throughout July -- a series win. And it comes in an ALCS rematch against the Astros.
Good stuff from Kutter Crawford. Rafael Devers with a strong return off the IL.
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