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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 5, 2021 15:39:48 GMT -5
Marc Topkin @tbtimes_Rays · 48m #Rays Glasnow said his back is fine and he is fully good to go for Tuesday's start vs. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 5, 2021 16:23:17 GMT -5
Yourrrrr 2021 Red Soooooxxxxx
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 3m Per the #RedSox via @eliassports :
Marwin Gonzalez will become the first major leaguer since at least 1900 to start a team’s first 4 games of the season at 4 different fielding positions: LF, 2B, 3B + 1B tonight.
Is that good or bad?
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 5, 2021 16:24:48 GMT -5
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 5, 2021 16:26:08 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 9m Folks who might be coming to Fenway Park tonight, bundle up. Wind blowing in at a good clip off the Charles and it's pretty dang unpleasant. Subtract at least 10 degrees off any temperature readings you might see. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 5, 2021 16:39:37 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 2m Ray are 13-1 at Fenway Park since Aug, 19, 2018, outscoring the Sox 95-48. They have won 8 in a row at Fenway.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 5, 2021 16:45:46 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 17m Per @eliassports and #RedSox media relations -- Marwin Gonzalez will become the first major leaguer since 1900 to start a team’s first 4 games of the season at 4 different fielding positions (LF, 2B, 3B, 1B). Which is basically admitting you're short on worthy everyday players.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 5, 2021 19:30:57 GMT -5
Brutal. We got two runs out of it, but with 1st & 2nd, no one out, Renfroe couldn't have hit it any harder, and Arozarena could not have made a better play.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 5, 2021 19:35:33 GMT -5
Anyone but me get a feeling of dread every time the ball is hit to Cordero?
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 5, 2021 19:37:34 GMT -5
Cannot walk Zunino there with a 3-0 lead and the top of the order coming up.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 5, 2021 19:45:54 GMT -5
Got out of that with a generous call by the ump. Big difference between 2-0 and 1-1. Pivetta looked like toast at the end, but gave us 5 good innings. Time for our offense to build a run or two.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 5, 2021 19:59:52 GMT -5
Good baserunning by the RS, leading to a throwing error by Zunino.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 5, 2021 21:14:11 GMT -5
Great off-speed by Ottavino with bases loaded, 2 out, 3-2 count. The batter couldn't do anything but hope for a bad umpire call, which he wasn't going to get.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 5, 2021 21:50:11 GMT -5
Nice shot by JD, right down the RF line. I remember him doing that a lot 2 and 3 years back, but not at all last year.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 6, 2021 2:30:53 GMT -5
Red Sox 11, Rays 2: Red Sox tee off on reigning AL champs
It feels good to laugh again. By Jake Kostik@legacyme3 Apr 5, 2021, 10:39pm EDT
For some reason, despite an all-time terrible start to the season by the Red Sox, who got swept by a team that nearly every outlet had figured for a 0.0% chance to make the playoffs, I am still here and willingly recapping a game between the Red Sox and a Rays team that has seemingly picked up where they left off. That is, of course, one game away from a World Series title.
The assignments tonight on the mound were Nick Pivetta for the Red Sox and Michael Wacha for the Rays. Both had strong springs that should encourage their respective fanbases, but both have had struggles in recent seasons that should temper expectations of the fanbases.
Nick Pivetta struggled with control early in this one, as it took him 29 pitches (approximately five of which were in the strike zone, and maybe three or four more that were too close to call either way) to get through the first inning. The main culprit was his fastball. Call it nerves or being really cold (the wind was also whipping around early on), but the fact remains that his new and improved velocity also led to wild control. Pivetta was hitting 93 with the fastball last season, and entered today with the pitch registering as high as 97 mph. Unfortunately most of these were nowhere near the zone. But baby steps and all that.
Franchy Cordero, meanwhile, provided first blood for the Red Sox. After Christian Vázquez started the inning with a single, he was pushed over to second on a ground out by Marwin Gonzalez, and then to third on a flyout by Hunter Renfore. Cordero hit a ball to left field that off the bat looked like it may have been a fly out, but had enough on it to get to the wall. The ball clanged off the Monster, and Cordero ended up at second base with Vázquez coming in to score and give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, their first of 2021.
Pivetta managed to calm down over the next couple of innings, as he showed a little more of why some Red Sox fans have high hopes for the righty. While his control remained suspect, even after he’d reigned in the pitch count, his stuff is nasty enough to get a swing on nearly anything close to the plate. Further, Pivetta is just a fun guy to watch because of the emotion he shows when he succeeds.
Speaking of emotional, high energy players that are fun to watch, Alex Verdugo got off the schneid, lacing a loud double into left field for his first hit of the season. For the Sox to be successful, Verdugo needs to be closer to what he was last year. If he’s in good shape, theoffense has a very strong catalyst near the top of the order.
A second run scored for Boston in the fourth inning, as both Vázquez and Gonzalez got on base to start the inning. Hunter Renfroe then launched a ball into right field that looked to be a double off the bat, but was caught by Randy Arozarena. Simply saying that much does him a disservice though, just look at this play:
Unreal pic.twitter.com/jnGgGIJ5y2 — Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) April 6, 2021
Cordero followed it up with an incredible at-bat against Wacha, It took nine pitches, but eventually he grounded out, bringing Gonzalez in from third for Cordero’s second RBI of the night. Cordero also made a good catch in foul territory earlier in the evening, and on the whole he had a very good night.
On the other side, Pivetta managed to turn around his game after a shaky first, and finished his evening with five scoreless innings of work with two hits and four walks allowed, and four strikeouts. After the first inning, in which he threw 29 pitches, he buckled down and threw 63 over the next four innings combined. While he had a little help from the umpire (who had a consistently bad zone), it was probably more than a little thanks to the framing of Christian Vázquez. The only negative I take from tonight was his poor command, especially with the fastball.
J.D. Martinez had a quietly great night as well, continuing his strong start to the season. Martinez added a strong single, and two walks to his ledger in this one. After his second walk, Xander Bogaerts got in on the action with a long shot that almost got out of the park. Martinez attempted to score from first, forcing a throw home. With the throw wide, Martinez would be easily safe, but on a heads-up play, Bogaerts attempted to keep on chugging over to third, which he did successfully. The throw to third was also wide, and gave Xander an easy trot home, allowing the Red Sox to take a 5-0 lead off of Wacha and the Rays.
Enrique Hernández blasted a one-run double of his own in the 6th inning off of former Red Sox reliever Chris Mazza to make it 6-0. He struck out the previous three times up to the plate, so it was nice to see him get a hold of one, and really give it a ride. Verdugo tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly to left field, to make it 7-0.
Matt Andriese made his second appearance of the season tonight, and looked pretty good. He had more command of his offspeed stuff, which allowed him to get through 2 1⁄3 innings. While nobody will mistake Andriese for an ace, if he can continue the performance he had tonight then he and Garrett Whitlock will make for a deadly combination as first men out of the bullpen.
Unfortunately for Andriese, an easy inning-ending double play ball caught the second base bag awkwardly, and exploded in the face of Hernández, who could not be expected to handle that ball. As a result, instead of the inning ending, the Rays got more chances. A batter later, the bases were loaded for Manuel Margot, with Darwinzon Hernandez now in to face him.
Hernandez avoided walks in his first outing, but was not so lucky tonight, as he couldn’t find the strike zone. He walked in two straight batters, both leading to earned runs for Andriese that he didn’t really deserve. He came back to strike out Willy Adames, and that would be it for him. The third pitcher of the inning would be Adam Ottavino, looking to close the door on the Rays rally, and earn himself a save. He made it interesting, drawing the count full, but ultimately froze Mike Brosseau with a slider to end the Rays threat.
Verdugo added another run for the Red Sox in the 8th to make it 8-2, but the scoring didn’t stop there as J.D. Martinez hit his second (and the Red Sox second) home run of the season to make it 11-2.
Every Red Sox got a hit today... except Rafael Devers, who is now 0-11 to start the season. It was an absolutely deconstruction of the Rays on both ends of the baseball, and is exactly the type of baseball everyone here is hoping the Red Sox can play going forward.
The Red Sox and the Rays will play again tomorrow, at 7:10 PM. It feels good to win again.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 6, 2021 2:33:42 GMT -5
Red Sox breathe easy, make first win a rout 1:22 AM ADT Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
BOSTON -- This first bit of stress relief from what proved to be a therapeutic Monday night at Fenway Park came early, and it rocked off Franchy Cordero’s bat. The lefty slugger’s 100.5-mph drive plunked atop the scoreboard of the Green Monster.
By that fairly simple act of an RBI double -- one that will likely become routine as the spring and summer evolve at Fenway Park -- the Red Sox had this thing called a lead.
It was the first one of 2021 after a frustrating first three games in which they were swept at home by the rebuilding Orioles.
Cordero put the first log on the fire, and the Sox played with enthusiasm en route to an 11-2 victory over the defending American League champion Rays.
“I think as an offense, we weren't doing as much in the last couple games, but I think him giving us that first RBI, I think that was one that we definitely needed to score first,” Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. “I really believe that that RBI that he got us was key for us just to get that momentum going on our side and just getting everything going in a positive direction. So huge props by him, and I feel like everyone fed off of that and continued to contribute.”
Nobody fed off it more than Bogaerts, the team leader, who had a 4-for-5 night that included a fifth-inning double in which he got to roar all the way around the bases, advancing to third on a throw home and to home himself on a throwing error to third base.
There were other moments to remember, such as when J.D. Martinez -- already looking like a top candidate for the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award -- smashed a three-run homer down the line in right.
After three joyless days in which the offense sputtered, sputtered and sputtered some more, the bats were timely, situationally effective and well-balanced.
Quite simply, this was needed. The Red Sox got off to sluggish and prolonged bad starts in each of the previous two seasons, and they can’t afford to do so again. By winning the opener against the Rays, Boston avoided losing its first four games for the first time since 2011.
You might have heard this, but the masses tend to panic in a place like Boston.
External panic can lead to internal pressing. And the Red Sox were able to avoid letting the snowball build too much. Bogaerts, the sage veteran leader of this team at just 28 years old, urged his team to stay in the moment.
“You know, there's 159 games left before today, and you’ve just got to take it one day at a time,” Bogaerts said. “Sometimes it's the same as hitting. You want five hits in one at-bat. It's not going to happen. You might get five hits in one day, but not five hits in one at-bat, you know, and sometimes you want to make up for those losses that we got all at once.”
This was an evening when the Red Sox were able to calm people down and get manager Alex Cora his first win since 2019.
“I don’t want to say there was a different vibe, but night game, it was a different schedule,” Cora said. “Obviously, the schedule is going to ask for us to make adjustments. But it felt like today the routine was normal, whatever that is. It just felt good. They were running the bases well. They played good defense. It was good.”
If the rejuvenation of the offense was the biggest development of the night, the well-balanced formula of the victory was equally nice.
A day after starting pitcher Garrett Richards gave the Sox just six outs, Nick Pivetta steadied things early with five shutout innings, minimizing the damage despite four walks. He became the first winning pitcher for Boston in 2021.
“You’ve just gotta keep it level the whole entire time,” Pivetta said. “You can’t be worried about what happened the day before that or the day before that. It’s 162 games, right? You still have 158 to go now. So it’s just going out there with the same energy, same attitude every single day, keeping a level head and really just going out there and competing.”
Sure, it is just one game. But it needed to start somewhere.
“Pressure? To be honest with you, there’s no pressure,” Cora said. “This is a game, and we’re playing baseball in the middle of a pandemic. Of course we have a job to do, and we have our goals, but whoever feels pressure should think about that because there’s more [to life]. And I understand where you’re coming from but at the same time ... you just play a game to entertain people and in the middle of a pandemic. You’re blessed.”
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