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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 3:47:34 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 2h That throw made tonight by Kiké Hernandez -- he's tried it a few times this season. The charge, the catch, the flip -- the whole process.
But to do it and hit the glove when it really counts is impressive stuff. He obviously helped save the game for the #RedSox in Oakland.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 3:49:52 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 3h Cora said he told 3B Carlos Febles "He's out" before Hernández made the throw.
25 OF assists for the Sox, most in the majors.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 3:51:02 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 5h Chapman has the most confident body language you'll see in a 3B. Ball comes his way and he knows exactly how to play it. No pause with his first step. Fun to watch.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 3:54:50 GMT -5
Eduardo Rodriguez throws a gem as Red Sox push winning streak to eight
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: July 3, 2021 at 12:51 a.m. | UPDATED: July 3, 2021 at 1:31 a.m.
In a season full of pleasant surprises, the Red Sox have only a few players who have disappointed.
Until Friday, Eduardo Rodriguez had been one of them.
Rodriguez submitted his best start in two years, holding a high-caliber Oakland A’s team scoreless on just one hit over six innings in the Red Sox’ 3-2 win in 10 innings.
“I’ve bee saying all along, even in New York, his stuff is there,” manager Alex Cora said. “It’s just about making adjustments and the pitch mix has been outstanding. You can see it and you can see him on the mound. There’s a lot of conviction, and I think that’s been the last step.”
It was the Sox’ eighth win in a row as they pushed their lead in the American League East to 4-1/2 games, their largest lead of the season.
With a healthy five-pitch mix, Rodriguez looked like a confident pitcher for the first time in a long time.
Home plate umpire Stu Scheurwater had a big zone in this one, and Rodriguez took advantage. He threw just 89 pitches, 57 for strikes as he attacked the A’s potent lineup and made them chase his fastballs, changeups and sliders along the edges.
One interesting note on Friday: Rodriguez’s changeup averaged just 84.7 mph, 1.6 mph lower than his season average.
“The big adjustment was the changeup,” Cora said. “He was actually throwing the sinker and the changeup were very similar. He took something off of it, it’s a slower pitch, better action, and his fastball has been really good the last few.”
The Sox’ ace two years ago, Rodriguez entered Friday with a disappointing 5.83 ERA on the year. He had a 6.79 ERA since the start of May. And just three quality starts all year.
But with six scoreless frames in this one, Rodriguez has gone back to back games with six innings and two runs or fewer.
He said he “learned the hard way” not to get too upset about his mid-season ERA.
“Probably three or four years ago, I was giving up a lot of runs every time and I was getting frustrated,” he said. “But I know it’s 30 starts, man. You have to make 30 starts in the season. You know you’re going to make good starts, bad starts all the time. You are never going to have starts where you perfect every time. You got to grind out there.
“The only thing i had on my mind in those starts was just, turn the page and go to the next one. Even if I have a good one, turn the page and go to the next one. This start happened already today, I already turned the page and get ready for the other one. That’s the way I see it.”
The Sox certainly need him to get going as the rest of their rotation has tried to pick up the slack.
They scored their first run on a Tony Kemp mistake in the fourth inning, when Rafael Devers hit a blooper to left and Kemp’s diving attempt missed by a large margin as the ball bounced by him, allowing Xander Bogaerts to score all the way from first.
They scored again on a two-out single by Alex Verdugo in the fifth.
Kiké Hernandez drove in a run from second with a single in the 10th.
The takeaways:
1. Garrett Whitlock is getting even better.
The Rule 5 pick who has been one of the surprises of the year thus far, Whitlock handled the seventh and eighth innings with ease, spotting his 96-mph two-seamer on the corner and fooling guys with his changeup and a newly-developed slider, a pitch he only recently added but has been electric for him thus far.
He entered the game with great numbers on his slider: batters had been just 2-for-16 with two singles and six strikeouts.
Whitlock made one mistake, a center-cut fastball at the top of the zone, and old friend Jed Lowrie turned it around and dropped it over the right-field wall. At the time, it cut the Sox’ lead to 2-1.
Whitlock handled two innings on just 26 pitches, 19 strikes.
2. Until Friday, Matt Barnes hadn’t allowed a home run since MLB changed the rules and stopped allowing foreign substances.
But Barnes made a mistake to Elvis Andrus, throwing him a dead-red fastball that Andrus demolished to straight-away center for a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth.
Barnes has allowed just four homers all year. It was just his fourth blown save. With All-Star selections for pitchers and reserves announced on Sunday, Barnes should still have a good case with a 2.75 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 36 innings.
3. Hernandez made the play of the game for the Red Sox in the bottom of the 10th, when he caught a fly ball from Sean Murphy and fired a bullet from medium depth in center field to nail Seth Brown at home plate.
It was a double play that cost the A’s a chance to tie things up and eventually a chance to win the game.
Adam Ottavino slammed the door for the save.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 3:56:19 GMT -5
Red Sox Notebook: Garrett Richards’ struggles ‘not about spin rates,’ Alex Cora says
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: July 2, 2021 at 9:09 p.m. | UPDATED: July 2, 2021 at 9:29 p.m.
Alex Cora is trying to pump up Garrett Richards.
Richards, who will take the ball against the Oakland A’s on Saturday, is getting hit harder than all but 3% of MLB pitchers this year.
Since MLB announced it would crack down on pitchers using foreign substances, Richards has made three starts and the numbers have been painful to look at: 11 1/3 innings, 13 earned runs, 21 hits, five walks, six strikeouts, five homers allowed, .375 average allowed and an 1.232 OPS allowed.
Cora’s approach: talk him up.
But instead of talking about Richards’ recent starts, it sounds like the Red Sox manager is showing him his curveball spin rate, which still ranks No. 1 in baseball, and his fastball spin rate, which ranks better than all but 4% of the league.
“We keep showing him his numbers and stuff, which is very important and we’re comparing it to some of the best pitchers in the league and the numbers are there,” Cora said.
Unfortunately, most of the other numbers have been awful. The StatCast data shows that Richards is getting hit harder than almost anyone else.
His last outing, he allowed five runs in the first two innings, though he settled down and managed to get through 5 2/3 innings overall while allowing 11 hits.
“For how bad it was early, he did a good job afterwards changing speed, using that changeup, speeding up with the velocity,” Cora said. “He was able to go to both sides of the plate. I’ve been saying all along that fastball has been cutting a lot, and if everything is going away from the righties, they’re going to start diving and going out there. The fact he was able to throw something the other way — he kept them honest.”
Richards has been honest about how difficult it’s been for him to pitch without any grip-enhancing substances. He taught himself how to throw a changeup, a pitch he had previously thrown just a handful of times in his 10-year big league career.
“This is not about spin rates,” Cora said. “There are certain days you have nothing and you’ve got to give us five innings, somehow some way, you have to find a way. And I do believe the last one, at least toward the end, he did that. So we’re looking forward for him to do the same here.”
Asked if Richards’ struggles were more mental than anything else, Cora said, “He’s been talking a lot about it, but I feel it has to be a combination of everything, him making adjustments and other stuff that’s going on mechanically, as far as pitch selection.” Reinforcements coming
The Red Sox are hoping to get a pair of their injured players back in the mix next week.
Christian Arroyo, who suffered a bruised knee in an outfield collision with Kiké Hernandez, will rehab with Triple-A Worcester this weekend and should return to the Red Sox on Monday, when they begin a three-game set with the Angels.
Hernandez, Marwin Gonzalez and Michael Chavis have been getting most of the at-bats at second base in Arroyo’s absence. The Red Sox have struggled to find consistency at the position. They rank 23rd in MLB with a .648 OPS from second base.
Kevin Plawecki, out with a hamstring injury, is with the team in Oakland as an emergency catcher. Cora said backup catchers don’t need rehab assignments, so Plawecki will be activated when he’s ready, or if one of Christian Vazquez or Connor Wong get hurt. Staying in the zone
Rafael Devers said Friday he thinks a big reason why he’s been so successful this year is because of his plate discipline.
He’s swinging at 40% of the pitches he sees outside the zone, the lowest rate since 2018, while he’s swinging at 81% of the strikes he sees, the highest rate of his career.
“I try to make my adjustments,” said Devers, who leads the majors with 69 RBI entering Friday. “I’m trying to improve my plate discipline and focus on the balls I actually want to hit that are in the zone. It’s an adjustment every single day but I feel like I’ve improved a lot in that. Obviously I’m an aggressive swinger. I don’t see that many pitches. When I get one I try to hit it as far as I can. At the same time I’m trying to improve my discipline.” Whitlock in the spotlight
MLB announced the winners for the Players of the Month for June, and Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock received some votes. The award was won by A’s closer Lou Trivino (12 2/3 innings, 0.71 ERA, 11 strikeouts, six saves in June) but Whitlock (3-0, 0.66 ERA, 13 2/3 innings, 15 strikeouts) would have been equally deserving. …
The Red Sox should have at least one pitcher, Matt Barnes, make the All-Star team. Pitchers and reserves will be announced Sunday at 5:30 p.m. …
The Sox have the fifth-best run-differential in the AL (plus-62) entering Friday, but the best record (51-31). …
The Sox are an MLB-best 46-4 (.920) when scoring four or more runs. They are 40-3 when scoring five or more runs, 34-1 when scoring six or more runs and 25-0 when scoring seven or more runs.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 3:57:31 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 6h Buy ERod stock now. Should have bought it 2 starts ago. He’s about to take off
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 4:00:17 GMT -5
Eduardo Rodriguez has 2.50 ERA in last 3 starts for Boston Red Sox: ‘There’s a lot of conviction,’ Alex Cora says Updated 3:39 AM; Today 3:31 AM
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
OAKLAND, Calif. -- After a brutal seven-start stretch, it looks like Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez has fully turned the corner.
Rodriguez tossed six scoreless innings in Boston’s 3-2, extra-innings win over the Athletics on Friday night, striking out six batters and allowing only one hit. In his three starts since June 22, Rodriguez has posted a 2.50 ERA (5 earned runs in 18 innings), allowing 13 hits and recording 21 strikeouts in three Sox wins. The Red Sox have now won his last six starts and are 11-5 when he pitches this season.
On Friday, he largely dominated the A’s lineup, needing just 89 pitches to get through six innings. To Sox manager Alex Cora, the outing looked like a turning point.
“His stuff is there,” Cora said. “It’s just about making adjustments. The pitch mix has been outstanding. And you can see him on the mound. There’s a lot of conviction. I think, probably, that was the last step.”
Rodriguez posted a 3.52 ERA in four April starts before tallying a brutal 7.28 ERA in May and carrying his struggles into June. In the last three outings, Cora said, Rodriguez has had a much better changeup that is -- importantly -- distinguishable from his sinker. His fastball has also been more effective against both lefties and righties.
“It’s just a matter of making pitches and having conviction,” Cora said. “He’s showing that and he’s doing an amazing job.”
After missing the entire 2020 season due to a heart condition (myocarditis), Rodriguez re-entered the rotation in April with a clean bill of health. Health has not been an issue, as he has taken his turn every five days since debuting April 8. Effectiveness, on the other hand, has been.
Despite his early season struggles, Rodriguez tried to stay focused on his next outing no matter how poorly the previous one had gone. In the last two weeks, he is finally beginning to see the fruits of his labor.
“You’ve got to make 30 starts on the season. You’re going to have good starts and bad starts all the time,” he said. “You never feel like you’re going to have starts where you feel perfect all the time so you’ve got to grind. Th only thing I had on my mind through those past starts is to turn the page and go to the next one.
“Location-wise, velocity-wise, my body has been feeling really good,” he said. “Every start I’m getting better and better.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 4:01:15 GMT -5
Kiké Hernández’s clutch throw helps Boston Red Sox win in extras: ‘The way we play defense in the outfield is elite,’ Alex Cora says Updated 4:04 AM; Today 4:02 AM
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
OAKLAND, Calif. -- As soon as Kiké Hernández caught the fly ball off Sean Murphy’s bat in the bottom of the 10th inning of Friday’s game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora thought his center-fielder was going to throw Seth Brown out at home plate. Cora turned to third base coach Carlos Febles, and said -- five times, in Spanish -- that Brown was going to be out.
Cora was right. Hernández gunned down Brown -- the would-be tying run in a 3-2 game -- for the second out of the 10th inning, and the Red Sox won a few pitches later. Hernández, who had looped a broken-bat single into right field to plate the go-ahead run a half-inning earlier, was the hero for the second time in the matter of minutes.
“I didn’t think that (A’s third base coach Mark Kotsay) was going to send him,” Hernández said. “I felt like I was -- in my mind and my baseball clock -- I felt like I came in a lot and I just wanted to make sure I made a good throw down to where the runner on first wouldn’t advance on the overthrow.”
Hernández’s clutch throw was the 25th outfield assist of the season for the Red Sox, who lead the majors in that category. Somewhat surprisingly, the transition from the star-studded outfield of Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts to the less heralded trio of Hernández, Alex Verdugo and Hunter Renfroe has been pretty seamless so far.
“The way we play defense in the outfield is elite,” said manager Alex Cora. “I know a lot of people had their doubts coming into the season because we didn’t have Mookie, Beni and Jackie, but these three guys are playing up there. They’re playing elite defense. They throw to the right bases, they keep their throws down, their routes are great and the communication is outstanding. Defensively, we’re one of the best outfields in the big leagues, if not the best.”
Entering the year, Cora was planning on mixing and matching outfield options but the emergence of Renfroe and struggles of Franchy Cordero caused some plans to change. Hernández, who was signed to be the everyday second baseman, has made 48 of his 63 starts in center. Verdugo is an everyday player, and Renfroe’s strong performance led to him seizing right field early in the year.
Verdugo and Hernández spent some time together in the Dodgers’ outfield from 2017 to 2019, but the trio had never played together before this season.
“I like playing defense,” Hernández said. “I take a lot of pride in it. Hunter’s really good, he does the same thing. We work really hard at it. Every day, we’re out there taking live reads off the bat in (batting practice). (Verdugo) is a gifted athlete as well. Everybody talks about our lineup but at the end of the day, pitching and defense is what wins ballgames.”
Hernández has never hit a walk-off home run before in his career, so Friday’s throw was just about as close as he has gotten to that type of feeling. The toss left his teammates impressed.
“That was a special throw, man,” said Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez. “That was something you don’t see that much.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 4:07:22 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 4h I have no idea if that automatic man at second base counts as an official inherited runner, but anyways... 21 inherited, 20 stranded by Ottavino now. BEAST.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 4:21:08 GMT -5
Red Sox @ A;s Saturday 3rd July 2021 7pm @ Oakland Coliseum
Richards 4-5/4.96
Garrett Richards yielded five runs and 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings Monday in a no-decision against the Royals. Richards was horrible without his sticky stuff last time out, and it was more of the same for two innings tonight. However, he was able to finish with 3 1/3 scoreless frames against the Royals after abandoning his curve and going to the changeup as his second pitch. It doesn't seem like something that will work against quality offenses with time to prepare for it, but at least he showed some ability to adapt.
Irvin 6-7/3.64
Cole Irvin struck out eight batters with three hits and two walks allowed over eight scoreless innings in a 6-2 win over the Giants on Sunday. After his best start of the season, the 27-year-old left-hander will take a 3.64 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and 68 strikeouts over 94 innings into his next start against the Red Sox in Oakland on Saturday.
Red Sox hope for encore after dramatic win over A's According to STATS
Two teams that saved their best for last in the series opener will try to get their bats going earlier Saturday night when the Boston Red Sox and the host Oakland Athletics continue their three-game set.
Red Sox center fielder Enrique Hernandez was the hero on offense and defense in the 10th inning Friday as Boston won 3-2, its eighth consecutive victory.
Playing for the first time since the announcement that they'd been voted All-Star starters by the fans, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers and shortstop Xander Bogaerts also contributed to the win as Boston opened a six-game trip.
Devers did his damage with the bat. He collected two hits, including Boston's only extra-base hit of the game, a double that drove in his club's first run.
Bogaerts helped send the game into extra innings with a run-saving diving stop in short left field on a Frank Schwindel single in the second inning. The A's had to hold Chad Pinder at third base, where he got stranded in a scoreless game.
"They feed off each other a lot," teammate Nathan Eovaldi said of Devers and Bogaerts. "They're always hanging around each other and giving each other a hard time but keeping each other on their toes.
"We have expectations of how we think guys should play, and they live up to it every day. It's great having them over there defensively, offensively. And it's a great thing for them to be able to make the All-Star Game."
Attempting to equal a season-best, nine-game winning streak, the Red Sox will send right-hander Garrett Richards (4-5, 4.96 ERA) up against Oakland lefty Cole Irvin (6-7, 3.64) in the rematch.
Richards hasn't won since May 19, a seven-game stretch during which he went 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA. Boston has won four of the past five times he's started, including 6-5 on Monday against the Kansas City Royals.
The former Los Angeles Angels mainstay is plenty familiar with the A's, having started against them 15 times in his career and faced them 19 times in all. He went 4-4 with a 3.99 ERA in those games.
Richards has thrown 51 2/3 innings in Oakland, which is more than he has pitched in any venue (including Fenway Park) other than Angel Stadium. He has gone 2-3 with a 4.35 ERA on the Athletics' home turf.
He will be facing an A's team that was held scoreless on just one hit by Eduardo Rodriguez over six innings in the series opener before scoring twice on solo homers by Jed Lowrie and Elvis Andrus in the eighth and ninth innings.
Lowrie added a second hit, a 10th-inning single. However, later in the inning, Oakland was denied a possible tying run when Hernandez threw out Seth Brown at the plate trying to score on a flyball.
A's manager Bob Melvin liked what he saw of his offense late with the game on the line.
"We haven't been swinging great, but we got some big hits when we needed to," he said. "I feel we're going to break out any day. We just need to sustain a big game, and it tends to get contagious."
Irvin has never faced the Red Sox as a starter. His only appearance against them in his three-year, major league career came in 2019 in relief for the Philadelphia Phillies, when he pitched two innings of shutout ball in a no-decision.
The 27-year-old is coming off his best outing of the season. Irvin threw eight shutout innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out eight, in a 6-2 road win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
--Field Level Media
Red Sox at A's Saturday, at 7:15 PM EST Clear According to Forecast.io, it's expected to be 63° F with a 0% chance of precipitation and 12 MPH wind blowing out in Oakland at 7:15 PM EST. Hourly Forecasts: Weather.com Forecast.io
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Post by Kimmi on Jul 3, 2021 7:35:13 GMT -5
Eduardo Rodriguez stuck out six batters with one hit and two walks allowed over six scoreless innings in a no-decision as the Red Sox won 3-2 against the A's on Friday.Rodriguez had his best start of the season on Friday, keeping Oakland off the scoreboard for six innings while striking out six batters. He allowed just three baserunners with two walks and one hit. Rodriguez needed just 89 pitches to log the quality start, throwing 57 for strikes and generating nine whiffs. The 28-year-old left-hander has been underwhelming this season, posting a 5.42 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and 99 strikeouts over 84 2/3 innings. Rodriguez is in line for a matchup against the Angels in Anaheim his next time out. ERod's ERA had been underwhelming. His advanced stats had been rather good. It was only a matter of time. Also, ERod was just over 40 pitches after 2 innings. The fact that he got through 6 innings with only 89 pitches is even more impressive.
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Post by Kimmi on Jul 3, 2021 7:38:28 GMT -5
OverTheMonster @overthemonster · 3h The Red Sox just keep finding ways to win, this time getting a great start from Eduardo Rodriguez, a huge play from Kiké Hernández, and just barely enough offense to squeak by in extras for their eighth consecutive win. Kike 'Freakin' Hernandez That is all.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Jul 3, 2021 9:31:50 GMT -5
Eduardo Rodriguez stuck out six batters with one hit and two walks allowed over six scoreless innings in a no-decision as the Red Sox won 3-2 against the A's on Friday.Rodriguez had his best start of the season on Friday, keeping Oakland off the scoreboard for six innings while striking out six batters. He allowed just three baserunners with two walks and one hit. Rodriguez needed just 89 pitches to log the quality start, throwing 57 for strikes and generating nine whiffs. The 28-year-old left-hander has been underwhelming this season, posting a 5.42 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and 99 strikeouts over 84 2/3 innings. Rodriguez is in line for a matchup against the Angels in Anaheim his next time out. ERod's ERA had been underwhelming. His advanced stats had been rather good. It was only a matter of time. Also, ERod was just over 40 pitches after 2 innings. The fact that he got through 6 innings with only 89 pitches is even more impressive. I always check the early pitch count, on both sides. We have a deep BP, so I am not as concerned as I once was, but our RP getting thru the 6th, instead of the 5th, does make a difference. That's one less Andriese/Workman/Rios appearance.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 10:07:26 GMT -5
Christopher Smith @smittyonmlb · 1h I’ve never seen anyone better at the janitor throw than Kiké Hernández. He should wear janitor on the back of his Players Weekend jersey. Everyone else on the Red Sox should just wear “Sandpaper”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 3, 2021 10:12:44 GMT -5
That was a fun game last night great pitching, both SP and pens good D timely hits.....crowd was into it....love it.
Expect the 2 games to be like that.....these 2 teams have some star power but they both are gritty and I love it
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