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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 14:44:48 GMT -5
marlins swap a run for an out 5-3 Red Sox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 14:56:57 GMT -5
brasier has 8th
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 15:12:10 GMT -5
9th barnes
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 15:21:10 GMT -5
sox win 5-3
Hey Marlns Booth
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 16:03:19 GMT -5
Red Sox 5, Marlins 3: A series win? On the road? In this economy?
It’s the first time they’ve won a series away from Fenway since July. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Sep 17, 2020, 4:23pm EDT
For the first time since the end of July when they went to New York to take on the Mets, the Red Sox have won a series away from Fenway. This one started as a pitchers’ duel, with Nathan Eovaldi taking a no-hitter into the fifth and eventually leaving after five shutout frames and José Ureña keeping Boston off the board until the sixth. The Red Sox were able to build up a five-run lead thanks to another three-hit day for Alex Verdugo (his second in a row) and a big three-run shot for Rafael Devers. The bullpen tried their best to blow it in the seventh, but the lead was substantial enough for a very rare series victory for this Red Sox club.
After Wednesday night’s slog of a game in which neither pitcher could get through anything resembling a clean inning and the two clubs used a combined 13 pitchers, it was nice to have a pair of solid major-leaguers on the mound for this one. And they worked their way through the first half of the game in basically the exact opposite fashion as Mike Kickham and Trevor Rogers the night before.
For the Red Sox, it was Nathan Eovaldi coming out for what could be — and this is total speculation on my part, to be clear — his final start of the year before being shut down. After working just a few innings last time out, they were ready to loosen the reins a bit here, but still put him on a limit. The righty made the most of it, though, cruising through much of his start. He did give up a baserunner in the first when he hit Starling Marte on the hand with a pitch, but that was all. He then followed that up with perfect innings in the second and third before giving up one more baserunner in the fourth. That one, however, was due to Xander Bogaerts butchering a transfer from the glove to his hand on a routine play, and thus was ruled an error.
Those of you astutely keeping track at home have put together that Eovaldi had a no-hitter going into the fourth. Generally speaking we (the collective we, as baseball fans) don’t really start watching that until a guy gets through five. That was not the case for Eovaldi, unfortunately, as he got into trouble almost immediately. The no-hit bid was broken up on a leadoff double from Garrett Cooper, who then moved up to third on a Miguel Rojas single. Suddenly, Eovaldi went from a no-hit bid to having runners on the corners with nobody out. He got through the jam, though, thanks to two massive strikeouts and then a very nice play by Bogaerts — making up for his error — up the middle to just barely get Corey Dickerson and end the inning without any runs. It was an impossible close play at first base, and if we’re being honest the review likely showed it was too close to overturn and if the call on the field had been safe, a run likely scores and the inning continues.
That would prove to be the end of Eovaldi’s day, but the offense wasn’t going to give him any support while he was on the mound in a performance reminiscent of Tuesday when Tanner Houck was on the mound. It was also reminiscent, early on at least, of Wednesday’s game with Alex Verdugo and Rafael Devers leading off the first with singles, but being stranded from there. The Red Sox then sent just three batters to the plate in each of the next three innings, managing just a J.D. Martinez walk in the fourth that was quickly cancelled out by an inning-ending double play.
Their best chance to this point in the game would come in the bottom half of the fifth after the Marlins squandered their opportunity, with Verdugo getting things going on a one-out base hit. Devers took his place at first after a fielder’s choice, and then a Xander Bogaerts single put runners on the corners with two outs for Martinez. He would draw his second walk of the day, loading things up for Kevin Plawecki. He continued his surprising solid season at the plate, working a great at bat in which he fouled off some tough pitches before ripping a base hit through the left side to give Boston a 2-0 lead. They’d load the bases once again after a Jackie Bradley Jr. walk, bringing Tzu-Wei Lin (who came into the game in the fifth after Yairo Muñoz left with back spasms) to the plate. He couldn’t add to the lead, going down swinging to end the inning instead.
With the lead now in hand, it was up to the bullpen to protect it, and Phillips Valdez got the first call. He did the job, allowing one baserunner but otherwise tossing a perfect sixth.
In the seventh, the Red Sox offense would get back to work, with Christian Arroyo smacking a one-out single that was followed by a base hit from Verdugo, his third hit of the day. That put two on for Devers, who just continues to cook. This time, he got a breaking ball that caught way too much of the zone, and he demolished it out to right-center field for a three-run shot, breaking this game open to a 5-0 score.
Valdez came back out to start the bottom half of the seventh, but that would prove to be a mistake. The righty gave up a leadoff single to Cooper before issuing a walk to Rojas, leaving two on with nobody out as he exited. Jeffrey Springs came in to try and handle the jam, and quickly failed at that. Jorge Alfaro stepped into the box as a pinch hitter, and after hitting a pair of homers on Wednesday he smacked a base hit this time around to give Miami their first run of the night. Chad Wallach was next up, and he continued the rally with a solid double out to left-center field, and just like that it was a three-run game with two in scoring position, nobody out and the top of the order coming back around. Springs finally got the first out with a strikeout of Dickerson, but that ended his night.
Now it was Ryan Weber coming on to try and keep this game in check. The good news is he got a ground out right off the bat. The bad news is it still resulted in a run coming home, cutting the lead down to two. He was able to limit the damage from there, though, coming back from a 3-0 count against Jesús Aguilar for a big strikeout to end the inning.
After the Red Sox failed to add any insurance in the eighth, Ryan Brasier came out for the eighth. He’s been pitching very well of late, but he started this one off by giving up a leadoff single. Fortunately, Brasier didn’t let that snowball and came back with three straight outs, including one K, to get out of the inning with the score still 5-3.
That was still the score when Matt Barnes came on for the ninth to try and close this one out. He didn’t make us sweat this one out, coming through with a clean 1-2-3 inning to give the Red Sox the series victory.
The Red Sox now head back to Fenway to take on a very hot Yankees team for their last meeting of the season. That series kicks off on Friday with Martín Pérez taking on TBD. First pitch is at 7:30 PM ET.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 16:05:32 GMT -5
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne · 1h NESN announces that David Ortiz will join the booth during Friday night's game against the Yankees.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 16:06:29 GMT -5
Julian McWilliams @byjulianmack · 1h Devers' Aug. 29 slash line: .220/.264/.398, a .662 OPS and four homers.
Today: .293/.345/.550, an .894 OPS and a team-leading 11 homers.
Special hitter.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 16:11:11 GMT -5
Guerin Austin @guerinaustin · 3m Ron Roenicke: -Muñoz is day-to-day, see how he feels tomorrow -no update on Eduardo Rodriguez test results yet
-Eovaldi was great -tough to be consistent offensively when you are the back-up catcher, Plawecki has been solid -Verdugo & Devers have been good
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 16:11:51 GMT -5
Guerin Austin @guerinaustin · 2m Nathan Eovaldi: -confirms he’ll make next start against Baltimore -said he felt great, Plawecki called a great game -feels like team is finally coming together, it’s unfortunate the season is almost over when they are starting to hit their stride
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 17, 2020 17:41:22 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe 7m Eovaldi: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 76/54. Looked great, hit 100. As I wrote earlier this week, now's the time to shut him down. Why? I don't get this. If he is not completely healthy, then shut him down. If he's healthy, then he should take his turn in the rotation.
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 17, 2020 17:44:08 GMT -5
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne · 1h NESN announces that David Ortiz will join the booth during Friday night's game against the Yankees. This is the first home game we're having against the Yankees this season. Seven games so far, all in NY. Not that is matters for us this season, but bogus.
Look forward to seeing Ortiz.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Sept 17, 2020 18:38:31 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe 7m Eovaldi: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 76/54. Looked great, hit 100. As I wrote earlier this week, now's the time to shut him down. Why? I don't get this. If he is not completely healthy, then shut him down. If he's healthy, then he should take his turn in the rotation.I don't like it either. There are physical limitations, of course, but if I am playing well, I want to continue and to push myself. To whatever extent muscle memory exists, I want my body to get use to the good Joe, not the old Joe. But that's not the fun part. The fun part is, had we shut Eovaldi down, every single writer in Boston would have accused us of tanking.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 18:58:50 GMT -5
Why? I don't get this. If he is not completely healthy, then shut him down. If he's healthy, then he should take his turn in the rotation. I don't like it either. There are physical limitations, of course, but if I am playing well, I want to continue and to push myself. To whatever extent muscle memory exists, I want my body to get use to the good Joe, not the old Joe. But that's not the fun part. The fun part is, had we shut Eovaldi down, every single writer in Boston would have accused us of tanking. hahaha hell, they started that well before the dead line then let the cat out of the bag with the "reset" tweet....
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 18, 2020 3:26:27 GMT -5
'Attacking the zone,' Eovaldi racks up 7 K's Devers extends hitting streak, ropes three-run, 423-foot homer
By Ian Browne @ianmbrowne September 17, 2020
Finish strong.
It has become a theme for the Red Sox in the home stretch of a disappointing season, and Nathan Eovaldi embodied it on Thursday afternoon at Marlins Park.
So, too, did Rafael Devers.
With Eovaldi firing five sparkling innings (two hits, no runs, no walks, seven strikeouts) and Devers extending his hitting streak to 10 games with two knocks -- including a mammoth three-run homer -- the Red Sox downed the Marlins, 5-3.
• Box score
It was a good way to end a nine-game road trip against three playoff contenders (Phillies, Rays and Marlins) in which the Red Sox finished 5-4.
"Yeah, I really like the effort. What they're doing, how they're preparing, I think, is outstanding," said Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke. "That means a lot to us, and the kind of effort they're putting out."
Boston now comes home for six games against the Yankees and Orioles, then it will finish the 2020 season with three games in Atlanta.
There will be individuals to watch with an eye towards 2021 as the season winds down.
Eovaldi, who has two years left on his contract, provides reason for encouragement. He has been lights-out in his two starts since coming off the injured list, allowing one run over eight innings.
"I feel like I'm attacking the zone a lot better these last couple outings," Eovaldi said. "Throwing the ball in, mixing in all my pitches. I'm not just relying on the fastball. I feel like I can throw the fastball in, away, up in the zone, and then I got my offspeed pitches following that.
"I feel like the curveball's been really good this year. It's been one of my most consistent pitches, and the splitter's the last couple games have been really good for me. So going into the offseason, it's just going to be -- main goal of course is staying healthy, but enjoying the offseason and being ready to go for next year as well."
The plan is for Eovaldi to make one more start in the regular season during next week's home series against the Orioles.
Despite the shortened 60-game season -- and the fact Eovaldi missed three weeks with the nagging right calf injury -- he feels he has gained the momentum he needed heading into an important 2021 season.
"I feel like this has been one of my better seasons," said Eovaldi. "My walks are down, I feel like I'm having a few more strikeouts than I normally do. I know I had that one bad start against the Yankees, but I feel like I've been able to go five, six innings out there every time."
As for Devers, there is no doubt how big a part of the future he is for the Red Sox. And he just keeps mashing, making his rough start to the season a distant memory. The left-handed-hitting slugger is 19-for-41 with five homers, 14 RBIs with a 1.441 OPS during his hitting streak.
"Raffy is just unbelievable," said Roenicke. "Gifted hands with tremendous power to all fields. We know he chases a lot. He is a good bad-ball hitter, but when he gets a little bit closer to that zone, he's a really scary hitter."
Alex Verdugo is another big bright spot for the Red Sox, both this season and going forward.
In his last 70 at-bats, the energetic outfielder is hitting .386 while scoring 17 times and proving that he is more than capable of leading off -- if that's where Boston wants to keep him. Verdugo had three hits in each of the last two games, and he forms a solid 1-2 punch at the top of the order with Devers.
"Alex is super selective, he doesn't chase much, he's inside the ball, he can slap it if he just needs to get a base hit," said Roenicke. "You saw today he kind of reached out one-handed it and hit the ball to center."
Over these last nine games, Roenicke can already tell his players won't short-change him from an effort or focus standpoint.
"That's what we appreciate the most," Roenicke said. "These guys are still playing as hard as they did on Opening Day. It tells a lot about the player, what's important to them. To be able to play the game just as hard now as when we played the first game, I think that's pretty impressive. It says a lot about the individuals and it says a lot about the group."
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 18, 2020 4:00:07 GMT -5
Red Sox finish up road trip with a win over the Marlins By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated September 17, 2020, 4:20 p.m.
The drastic difference at the plate between Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo was clearly evident Thursday afternoon in Miami.
Both capable of swinging the bat, each had a multi-hit game in a 5-3 win over the Marlins. Verdugo went 3 for 5 with three singles while Devers continued his hot streak, finishing 2 for 4 with a three-run homer in the sixth that extended the Sox' lead to 4-0 at the time.
The pair can get to their numbers, but how they get there is miles apart.
“They are about as opposite as you could get,” said manager Ron Roeicke after the Sox improved to 19-32 with the road win. “Except they’re both lefties.”
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In the first inning, Verdugo lead off the frame, roping a single to right field on a 94 mile-per-hour sinker from Marlins starter Jose Urena. Devers, the next hitter, laced a double on a high and tight 96-m.p.h. fastball off the bottom of the right field wall. Get 108 Stitches in your inboxEverything baseball every Monday-Friday during baseball season, and weekly in the offseason.
In the sixth, Verdugo singled to left-center on a slider after a seven-pitch at-bat. On his third pitch, Urena served up the same slider to Devers, who parked it in the stands.
There’s duality when you see the two hit, particularly when they are back-to-back in the lineup and it’s fascinating.
Devers is unapologetic when it comes to being a free swinger. Entering Thursday, Devers swung at pitches outside the zone 43.2 percent of the time. When he’s going bad, he’s missing those pitches. Nevertheless, he’ll continue to swing until he gets himself out his rut. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts celebrate after scoring during the sixth inning of Thursday's game. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts celebrate after scoring during the sixth inning of Thursday's game.Gaston De Cardenas/Associated Press
“Raffy just has unbelievably gifted hands with tremendous power to all fields,” Roenicke said. “We know he chases a lot. He is a good bad-ball hitter, but when he gets closer to that zone, he’s a really scary hitter.”
Conversely, Verdugo wants to see as many pitches as he can. His chase rate entering Thursday was 25.6. His approach is to hit the fastball the other way, and to pull breaking, off-speed pitches.
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“Alex is super-selective,” Roenicke said. “He doesn’t chase much. He can slap it if he needs to get a base hit. You saw today he kind of reached out one-handed, and hit it to center.”
Devers is currently slashing .293/.345/.550 with an .894 OPS to go along with a team-leading 11 homers. After getting off to a slow start, Devers is hitting .397 with five homers in September, while slugging .759 and registering a 1.212 OPS. Verdugo, meanwhile, has been consistent all season, slashing .326/.381/.511 with six homers and an .893 OPS. Alex Verdugo hits a single to right field during the first inning of Thursday's loss. Alex Verdugo hits a single to right field during the first inning of Thursday's loss.Gaston De Cardenas/Associated Press
The Sox got help from Kevin Plawecki, who hit a 2-RBI single in the sixth. Starter Nate Eovaldi, fresh off a 10-day stint on the injured list, threw five scoreless. Yet Verdugo and Devers' different approach at the plate helped to spark this win.
“Yesterday we were thinking about trying to split up those two lefties in a row,” Roenicke said. “But I guess I don’t have to worry about splitting them up.”
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