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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 9, 2023 19:24:24 GMT -5
Red Sox win: Masataka Yoshida’s game-winning homer seals sweep over A’s
Updated: Jul. 09, 2023, 5:59 p.m.|Published: Jul. 09, 2023, 4:42 p.m.
By
Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
BOSTON — Before Sunday’s game against the Athletics, Alex Cora said Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida deserved an “A” grade for the first half of his rookie season. Yoshida may have added a “plus” to that “A” in his final at-bat before the All-Star break.
Yoshida hit an opposite-field, game-winning homer in the eighth inning as the Red Sox rallied from an early deficit to finish off a sweep of the lowly A’s with a 4-3 win at Fenway Park. Boston finished its first half with a five-game win streak and eight victories in its final nine games and sits five games above .500 at 48-43. .
Yoshida’s blast, his 10th of the season, traveled 353 feet with an exit velocity of 96.6 mph against lefty Ken Waldichuk. All-Star closer Kenley Jansen then came in and retired the side in the ninth for his 19th save of the season.
The day started with the teams exchanging unearned runs in the first inning. Facing Sox opener Tayler Scott, Ryan Noda doubled then scored on a wild pitch and throwing error by catcher Jorge Alfaro. The Sox evened things up when Rob Refsnyder walked, advanced on an error and scored on an Adam Duvall sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning.
A wild Chris Murphy helped Oakland make it 2-1 in the second by walking three, including Noda with the bases loaded. In the fifth, Brent Rooker took Josh Winckowski deep to left field to make it a 3-1 game.
Duvall’s first Fenway home run since April made it 3-2 in to lead off the sixth. After Masataka Yoshida singled, stole second and advanced to third on an error, Christian Arroyo tied the game by smoking an RBI double to right field.
Oakland put two runners on in both the seventh and eighth but were unable to score as Joely Rodríguez and Chris Martin escaped jams. In the top of the ninth, Jansen walked the leadoff man, Rooker, but Connor Wong gunned down pinch-runner Nick Allen on a stolen base attempt for the first out of the inning.
The A’s outhit the Red Sox, 11-6. Yoshida had multiple hits for the seventh consecutive game, marking the longest streak in baseball this year. He’s tied for the AL lead in multi-hit games this season (34).
Sox stay hot
With the win, the Red Sox improved to 15-8 over their last 23 games, which is the best record in the American League in that stretch. They are five games over .500 for the first time since May 21, when they were 26-21. The sweep of Oakland was Boston’s second in its last three series after winning three in a row in Toronto a week ago.
Trip to Wrigley next after break
The Red Sox, like the rest of the league, will have the next four days off due to the All-Star break. Closer Kenley Jansen will represent them in Seattle on Tuesday night. After that, they’ll begin the second half of the season with a six-game road trip to Chicago and Athletics.
Here’s the schedule (and pitching probables) for the Red Sox-Cubs series that starts Friday night at Wrigley Field:
Friday, 8:05 p.m. ET — RHP Brayan Bello (6-5, 3.04 ERA) vs. TBD
Saturday, 2:20 p.m. ET — LHP James Paxton (5-1, 2.73 ERA) vs. TBD
Sunday, 2:20 p.m. ET — RHP Kutter Crawford (3-4, 4.11 ERA) vs. TBD
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 9, 2023 19:34:27 GMT -5
Jon Wallach @kengriffeyrules · 4h Sorry, @nesn, the cheerleading in the booth is killing me. We're up to 5 "Wow"s from Wakefield in this inning alone. Middlebrooks trails him at the moment, but is gaining quickly.
You charge a lot of money for this.
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 4h Eck is missed more than he’ll ever know
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 9, 2023 19:36:55 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 16m Kyle Teel was #7 on MLB and #10 on Baseball America
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 9, 2023 19:40:21 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK The time is near for the Red Sox to clear up a crowd of middle infielders By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated July 9, 2023, 36 minutes ago
The Red Sox are approaching a roster crunch. Pablo Reyes (oblique strain) was back at Fenway Sunday morning after the completion of his rehab assignment.
Manager Alex Cora said the team will have more clarity on which direction they it will turn after of the All-Star break. Reyes won’t be activated for the upcoming series in Chicago against the Cubs beginning Friday, according to a source familiar with the situation. Nevertheless, the Sox will have to make a decision on which middle infielder is out of the mix.
That list includes Reyes, whom the Red Sox acquired in a trade with Oakland as a placeholder at shortstop in May. He could be designated for assignment once he’s reinstated from the injured list. But two other names to look out for are Christian Arroyo and Kiké Hernández.
Hernández has yet to turn the corner this season and entered Sunday as the worst player in baseball, judging by Fangraphs’s wins-above-replacement metric, sporting a -1.2 WAR, the lowest among all qualified players. Hernández, who came into the season as the interim shortstop, a position he was confident he could handle, committed 14 errors at shortstop, including 12 throwing.
He’s committed 15 errors overall, his most recent coming Saturday on an errant throw from second base. Thirteen throwing errors. That’s hard to do.
Hernández’s bat is a concern, too. He got the start in center field on Sunday, finishing 0 for 2. His line at the All-Star break? .221/.278/.324 with a .602 OPS and six homers.
Arroyo’s injury bug continues to be an issue. He spent roughly a month on the injured list with a hamstring strain to begin the year. He struggled to get going, but has turned it up a notch. In Sunday’s 4-3 win over Oakland, Arroyo hit a tying RBI double into the gap in right-center. In his last seven games, Arroyo is hitting .360/.385/.480.
“He’s been putting good swings lately,” Cora said. “When he gets going it’s fun to watch.”
The Red Sox like the steadiness of Yu Chang as a reliable defender at shortstop. Reyes could play second base or shortstop. Offensively, he puts the ball in play, batting .303 in 27 games prior to going on the IL. The Red Sox outfield is crowded, leaving little to no playing time for Hernández.
His bat is a black hole in the lineup. The sample size is large enough (300 plate appearances)
Hernández’s time should be up. Duran sits against southpaw
After Jarren Duran’s 3-for-5 day at the plate Saturday, including a homer off of a lefthander, Cora said Duran was playing like one of the best players in the league. Yet despite his tear that had him up to .319/.365/.520 with an .885 OPS and five homers, Duran wasn’t in the lineup Sunday against Oakland lefthander JP Sears. Rob Refsnyder got the start in left field, Adam Duvall was in right field, and Hernández in center.
Cora said it’s all about getting the right matchups with Duran hitting .257 against lefthanders compared to .330 against righthanders entering Sunday. Nevertheless, Cora understands why people question why Duran isn’t an everyday player.
“I get it,” said Cora. ”I can’t imagine, back in 2007, people screaming for me to play over [Dustin] Pedroia. But this is part of the equation. I know the kid is doing amazing. He’s doing great. We love it. Obviously you know there’s other guys that are here to do their job against lefties. We got to find ways to get him at-bats. We will get him at-bats. Today there’s a lefthander on the mound, so we’ll go with the righties.
Duran entered the game in the bottom of the sixth inning against righthander Paul Blackburn, taking Hernández’s place. He finished 1 for 2 with an infield single. Postbreak plans
Story (elbow) said he will be ready for a rehab assignment shortly after the All-Star break, though he did not have a timetable. Story has continued to ramp up activity, taking ground balls at shortstop and making strong throws across the diamond.
“A lot of people are excited. Especially him,” said Cora. “He’s taking grounders and now he’s just reacting to plays. He’s not thinking about the throw, which is the most important thing. And his throws have carry and he’s doing it from different arm angles. We’re on the right track. We’re moving fast, to say the least. But we have to be smart about it.”
For the series against the Cubs, the team will go with Brayan Bello on the hill Friday followed by James Paxton Saturday and Kutter Crawford for Sunday’s series finale.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 10, 2023 6:37:06 GMT -5
The Red Sox head to the All-Star break finally carrying a sense of identity
By Rob Bradford WEEI 93.7
SEATTLE - The "maybes" are becoming a bit more certain just in the nick of time.
After months of not being able to shake off the uncertainty that lingered since Day 1 of spring training, the Red Sox are heading into the All-Star break with the kind of sense of identity they have been thirsting for.
The most definitive punctation of the season came Sunday, with the Red Sox managing a three-game sweep thanks to a 4-3 series finale win at Fenway Park. It put Alex Cora's club five games over .500 and two games out of the third Wild Card spot. ADVERTISING
But perhaps more telling was what the Red Sox continue to represent in the last few weeks, at a time it sure felt the boat was taking on too much water to stay afloat. They own the best record in the American League since June 14 (15-8), while claiming victories in eight of their last nine games.
Along the way, some much-needed definition has been uncovered.
Compared to the uneasy state of the team heading into last year's All-Star festivities, these Red Sox feel more of the trade deadline "buying" kind than in 2022. For starters, they can actually beat the good teams, carrying the third-best record of any big league club against opponents with a record of better than .500 record (31-25). The problem has come with teams worse than .500, which, even after the sweep of Oakland, stands at 17-18.
The Red Sox knew they needed to fix that over the weekend. And that they did.
But the true revelations have been at what had been at least somewhat uncertain positions.
With the understanding that his workload will have to be managed, mystery man Masa Yoshida has become less of a mystery. As Cora noted after the latest win, in which the outfielder launched the game-winning home run in the eighth inning, "I know grades are coming. He’s an A. Whoever gives him less, I don’t know what they’re watching."
Yoshida heads into the break hitting .314 (third-best in the American League) with an .874 OPS. Since May 1, Yoshida has hit .333 with an .891 OPS, and this month the batting average has been .480 with an OPS of 1.180. Good, for sure. But even the most astonishing revelation of late for the Red Sox lineup.
In July, Jarren Duran is second only to the Cardinals' Willson Contreras for the top OPS in baseball, totaling 1.708 to go along the majors' best July batting average (.583). The numbers have come as a result of Duran going 14-for-24 with 10 runs, six doubles, two triples and a home run.
In other words, a team that was desperate to find stars not named Rafael Devers have seemingly uncovered a couple.
There is also the bet Chaim Bloom put on Justin Turner being able replace All-Star J.D. Martinez. While Martinez will be living the life in Seattle the next couple of days as the National League's starting DH, the Red Sox can still rest easy that Turner's presence has been everything they could have hoped and then some.
During this key sprint to the All-Star break in July, Turner is 14-for-31 (.471) wiht a 1.127 OPS. He is also one of five Red Sox hitting .400 or better in July with runners in scoring position, joining Devers (6-for-11, .545), Christian Arroyo (4-for-8, .500), Yoshida (3-for-7, .429) and Duran (2-for-5). It is the Sox DH/first baseman who has the most hits of the bunch, going 7-for-17 (.412).
What the whole ball of wax has offered is an opportunity to identify who can be leaned on heading into the season's final months. Speaking of which, another somewhat unexpected piece of the foundation - both in the present and future - has become catcher Connor Wong.
Wong has powered through a June slump that came with his newly-acquired workload to manage a .350 clip in July. But it is his game-changing defense that has gone a long way to adding to this mid-July optimism. Sunday, it was Wong throwing out the potential game-tying run - Brent Rooker - trying to steal second with nobody out in the ninth.
Wong carries the third-best Defensive WAR (1.7) of all players in the big leagues, has the fifth-best Pop Time (1.89) and leads all catchers with above-average caught stealing (7).
As for the pitchers, there certainly can be more certainty to be had. They have found their ace (Brayan Bell), a solid No. 2 or 3 (James Paxton), and a promising middle of the rotation option (Kutter Crawford). After that, the hope is there can be some sort of addition, even with the likely early-August return of Chris Sale. The dynamic of Brennan Bernardino opening with Nick Pivetta serving as the bulk guy has worked, as has the multiple-inning outings from Chris Murphy and Brandon Walter. But all of it seems somewhat piecemeal until the end of the month.
What the Red Sox do possess that simply wasn't in the mix when trying to figure out their identity in the final weeks of last July is a no-doubt-about-it game-ending combination. The Sox paid for certainty with the duo, and that's exactly what they got. (As Jansen recently noted, even with John Schreiber coming back there might be a need for one more end-of-game arm.)
Some will point to the gift that has been the three-series stretch that includes two with Oakland and one with the floundering Cubs. Maybe that will be what ultimately gets the Red Sox to where their trade deadline intentions can't be up for debate. But it should be noted how it certainly feels like the pieces of the puzzle are finally starting to come into place, with Sale and Trevor Story representing a few more perfectly-timed fits.
This isn't the Atlanta Braves. And there are certainly American League teams that might feel more confident in their lot in life heading into the season's crunch-time. But, all things considered, the Red Sox have landed in the kind of spot they were hoping come this time of year.
They are in the conversation ... the kind of conversation that actually offers some late-summer hope.
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Post by Kimmi on Jul 10, 2023 7:43:03 GMT -5
Sears vs Scott and look at this a day after Duran went oppo vs a southpaw he sits
Analytic team are just sickening1. Rob Refsnyder (R) LF 2. Justin Turner (R) 1B 3. Rafael Devers (L) 3B 4. Adam Duvall (R) RF 5. Masataka Yoshida (L) DH 6. Jorge Alfaro (R) C 7. Enrique Hernandez (R) CF 8. Christian Arroyo (R) 2B 9. Yu Chang (R) SS I've mentioned before that I do not like our lineup against LHP, but it is what it is. Cora has to find some playing time for guys like Refsnyder and Hernandez.
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Post by Kimmi on Jul 10, 2023 7:47:49 GMT -5
Red Sox win: Masataka Yoshida’s game-winning homer seals sweep over A’s
Despite this coming against the lowly As, this was a great way to go into the All Star Break. The team should be feeling really good about themselves, and hopefully, the winning will continue after the break. We have 3 series against teams with losing records (Cubs, As, and Mets) out of the break, though no team should be taken lightly.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Jul 10, 2023 20:33:04 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK With the Red Sox’ rotation battered, Nate Eovaldi’s Fenway return is even harder to swallowBy Varun Shankar Globe Correspondent,Updated July 6, 2023, 7:19 p.m. Duran’s removal from the lineup is one of the downstream effects from Cora’s unwillingness to play Justin Turner at second base. Turner has primarily been the designated hitter or played first base. . Of course he is reluctant to play JT at 2nd. JT isn't a 2B. He has 3 starts at 2nd in the past 8.5 years. That's like one start every three years. That's how can can tell who the casual fans are-they think baseball players can play any position.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Jul 10, 2023 20:39:19 GMT -5
Red Sox can make a serious run if they can end head-scratching trend It's time for Boston to start taking care of business against baseball's worst teams.By John Tomase, Red Sox Insider • Published 24 mins ago • Updated 22 mins ago The Red Sox are not a last-place team, though. Their odds of reaching the playoffs are 16 percent, virtually the same as the Guardians. Writers need to stop reading casual reports by uneducated oddsmakers. Cleveland has probably at least a 50% chance of winning their division. They are in 1st place and playing well better than MN. Anyone thinking that they are 6-1 against winning the division is delusional, imo.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Jul 10, 2023 20:47:19 GMT -5
Jon Wallach @kengriffeyrules · 4h Sorry, @nesn, the cheerleading in the booth is killing me. We're up to 5 "Wow"s from Wakefield in this inning alone. Middlebrooks trails him at the moment, but is gaining quickly.
You charge a lot of money for this.
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 4h Eck is missed more than he’ll ever know Eck is an idiot. I won't easily forget him roasting PT and praising KC, even though PT has twice the program.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Jul 10, 2023 20:55:39 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK The time is near for the Red Sox to clear up a crowd of middle infieldersBy Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated July 9, 2023, 36 minutes ago . It's not really a crowd. Reyes has a 0.5 WAR and is on the IL. Chang has a 0.1. Arroyo is at 0.0 and Kiki is negative-something.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Jul 10, 2023 21:02:05 GMT -5
Red Sox win: Masataka Yoshida’s game-winning homer seals sweep over A’s
Despite this coming against the lowly As, this was a great way to go into the All Star Break. The team should be feeling really good about themselves, and hopefully, the winning will continue after the break. We have 3 series against teams with losing records (Cubs, As, and Mets) out of the break, though no team should be taken lightly. It feels like a really long time since we've beaten bad teams.
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Post by Kimmi on Jul 11, 2023 10:17:18 GMT -5
Jon Wallach @kengriffeyrules · 4h Sorry, @nesn, the cheerleading in the booth is killing me. We're up to 5 "Wow"s from Wakefield in this inning alone. Middlebrooks trails him at the moment, but is gaining quickly.
You charge a lot of money for this.
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 4h Eck is missed more than he’ll ever know Eck is an idiot. I won't easily forget him roasting PT and praising KC, even though PT has twice the program. I have no problems with the NESN booth, other than having non-baseball guests in the booth while the game is going on. Remy and Orsillo were the best, but even without them, I much prefer listening to NESN over any of the opponents' telecasts. They all say stupid things from time to time, except for perhaps the king himself, Vin Scully.
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