Red Sox @ Braves Game Thread/15th-16th June 2021

That play in the first by Dalbec saved at least two runs. Something to keep in mind when assessing his value.

Has he?  Has Verdugo really come that far?  Or are the writers simply starting to recognize the talent?  He's gotten better, but he has always been good to very good.

And I miss the writers writing about Graterol every day, and how he would fit perfectly.

And yes, Jon, I am beating a dead horse, but that's the only way dead horses learn a lesson.

Clutch Arroyo 'living in the moment' for Sox
2:10 AM ADT
Ian Browne

Ian Browne
@ianmbrowne


ATLANTA -- Christian Arroyo has turned into Mr. June for the Red Sox.

His latest clutch homer came with two outs in the top of the seventh and it was a grand slam -- the first of the season for Boston.

Backed by Arroyo, the Red Sox rallied back for an exciting 10-8 victory to sweep the two-game series in Atlanta. Boston won by the same score on Tuesday, the first time in franchise history it has recorded back-to-back wins by that unusual score.

This was quite a way for Mr. June to send the Sox to their first off-day of the month after a grueling schedule in which they played 17 straight days, with all but one of the contests coming against teams that made the playoffs last year. At 42-27, the Sox are one game back in the American League East.

“It wasn’t a perfect game, but we’ll take it again,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Reset tomorrow. We ended a tough stretch, we grinded through it. We had a positive record, 10-7, so for how ugly it looked, I know a lot of teams will take 10-7 in a 17-stretch against teams that made it to the playoffs last year.”

Arroyo was one of the key reasons the Sox got through this tough point of the schedule in such good shape. He leads Boston this month with four homers. All of them have either tied the game or put the Red Sox ahead. Three of them have come in the past week.


“This is why we play the game -- we play the game to win and we play the game to have fun. And when you're doing both of them, everything's great,” said Arroyo. “I'm not going to try to ride the highs too hard and I'm not going to try to ride the lows too low. I'm going to keep having fun. My motto has kind of become, 'I'm just livin',' and that's it. Living in the moment and just playing.”

The emergence of Arroyo, who was battling just to win a roster spot in Spring Training, continues to gain steam.

“It means everything,” said Arroyo. “But at the end of the day, it's all about just getting the opportunity and trying to run with it.”

This was a game the Red Sox led 4-1 and 6-3. Garrett Richards, who had a rough night on the mound, served up a game-tying, three-run homer to Dansby Swanson in the fifth. Freddie Freeman took Hirokazu Sawamura deep in the bottom of the sixth to put Atlanta in front, 7-6.


With the based loaded in the seventh and the pitcher’s spot due up, Cora had switch-hitter Danny Santana ready to pinch-hit. When Braves manager Brian Snitker took righty Shane Greene in favor of lefty A.J. Minter, Cora pulled Santana in favor of the right-handed-hitting Arroyo.

“We sent Danny for Greene and they decided to go with a lefty and we liked that matchup,” said Cora. “I like the fact he went out there swinging. Sometimes when you pinch-hit, you put yourself in a hole. But the first pitch even though it wasn’t a competitive one, he swung. Then he got a cutter, slider down in the zone and put a good swing on it. He’s been doing that the whole month.”

Minter got ahead 1-2 but Arroyo hammered his 1-2 cutter for a no-doubter that went a Statcast-projected 467 feet to left.


“He was short to the ball, didn’t open up and crushed that ball,” said Cora.

It was the fourth longest home run by a Boston player since Statcast started tracking them in 2015.

“I had been preparing all game,” said Arroyo. “I knew the potential of who I was going to face, which was going to be a lefty and I tried to look at as many lefties as I could just to see pitch shapes again. Just went in, tried to be as prepared as I could be and just grind out an at-bat and try to help the team.”

Christian Arroyo delivers decisive blow with seventh-inning slam in Red Sox comeback win
By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated June 17, 2021, 2 hours ago

Christian Arroyo weaved some more of his magic late Wednesday evening.

As if he needed more.

With the Red Sox trailing the host Atlanta Braves, 7-6, in the top of the seventh inning, Arroyo came on to pinch-hit for Danny Santana with two outs in the frame.

The count stood at 1-2 with the bases loaded when Arroyo lifted an A.J. Minter 89-mile-per-hour cutter over the left-field wall for a grand slam. It gave the Sox a three-run lead, 10-7, and ended in the Sox squeaking out yet another 10-8 win for the second night in a row, finishing off the two-game sweep.


“Going into the inning, it was supposed to be Danny if [Shane] Greene was still in the game,” Arroyo said afterward. “I kind of was sitting in the [dugout] and was looking in the bullpen just kind of mentally preparing myself. We saw their manager [Brian] Snitker come out there and make a motion to the pen and said, alright, you’re up kid. In those situations, I think that, for me, I had been preparing all game.”

For Arroyo, it represented his fourth homer of the season, third pivotal in less than a week, and first grand slam for the Red Sox this season. It also made a winner of righthanded reliever Yacksel Ríos, acquired Monday from the Seattle Mariners.

“I liked the fact he went out there swinging,’' said Sox manager Alex Cora. “Sometimes when you pinch-hit, you take the first pitch and you put yourself in a hole. But the first pitch, even though it wasn’t a competitive one, he swung, then he got a cutter, slider down in the zone and he put a good swing on it. He’s been doing that all month.”
Related: Abraham: For baseball, no more sticky situations could mean another offensive boost

But after falling behind in the count against Minter, 1-2, Arroyo had a conversation with himself in the batter’s box to reassess his situation.

“After that I was like, ‘Hey, you need to calm down here. It’s bases loaded, we’re down one and all we need is a single here,’’' Arroyo said.

When he was informed during his postgame NESN interview it had traveled 467 feet, Arroyo was taken aback. Way back.

“Whaaat?” he said. “Four-sixty-seven? Dang, I didn’t know I had that in me.”
Related: Red Sox notebook: NESN's Jerry Remy released from hospital after five-night stay

The Red Sox jumped on the board for the second night in a row during the first frame Wednesday evening. A one-out single by Alex Verdugo and a J.D. Martinez double set the scene for Hunter Renfroe, who punched a single through the right side, scoring the Sox’ first two runs off Braves starter Ian Anderson.

But much like the Sox’ 10-8 win against the Braves on Tuesday, this contest would feature fireworks on offense by both teams and some sloppy play by the Sox’ defense.

Red Sox starter Garrett Richards made it through two innings unscathed. But a Renfroe error on what should have been a Freddie Freeman flyout to right field ignited the Braves in the third. The dropped ball allowed Freeman to reach second. The Braves later negotiated their first run on a sharp sacrifice fly to center by Abraham Almonte.

Richards came into this start having escaped what should have been an onslaught against the Blue Jays last Friday. Twelve of Richards’s 23 pitches put in play registered at 100 miles per hour or more during that contest. On Wednesday, 10 of the Braves’ 19 balls in play against Richards were 100 m.p.h. or higher. The Sox scored twice in the fourth on a Bobby Dalbec RBI single and a Richards RBI double. Nevertheless, two runs by Atlanta in the bottom of the inning made it a one-run game.

The Sox added some insurance in the fifth with a Xander Bogaerts RBI double and a Rafael Devers RBI single. But Almonte led off the bottom of the inning with a double down the left-field line. A throwing error by Bogaerts that lifted Dalbec off the bag made it two on with no outs. Dansby Swanson’s three-run homer off Richards tied the game, ending the starter’s night.

Of the six runs scored off Richards, four were earned. Richards now has a 4.36 ERA. In Richards’s last three starts (14 innings pitched), the righthander has allowed 26 hits and allowed 11 earned runs. Richards didn’t throw his curveball for his entire outing, adding that he didn’t have much grip or feel for the pitch. Major League Baseball’s new ruling, which goes into effect Monday, prohibits use of any foreign substances on the ball, including sunscreen — a substance Richards said he used. Richards intimated that he will abide by the new rule but doesn’t agree with it.

“I think if you just watch baseball across the league, you’re going to see some interesting things,” Richards said. “Be prepared for four-hour long games and some interesting things. I don’t know. I’m just grateful that I got this far into my career before we are at this point.”



Reliever Hirokazu Sawamura allowed a Freeman solo homer in the sixth, giving the Braves their first lead of the game, 7-6. But not for long, as Arroyo’s homer lifted the Sox to another momentous win. The Sox will have an offday Thursday before opening up a three-game set Friday against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

“We hung in there,” Cora said after his team made it through a grueling 17-game stretch with a 10-7 record. “It wasn’t a perfect game, but we’ll take it again. We’ll reset tomorrow. We’ve had a tough stretch, but we grinded through it.”