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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 21, 2021 15:40:45 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 11m Cora on not making a splashy deadline move in 2019 -- 'There was a lot of stuff missing that year. I think it started with health.' #RedSox
Cora on the deadline -- 'Sometimes the players have an idea, the coaching staff has another one and the front office has another one.' #RedSox
Cora on contenders adding at the deadline -- 'I've been at both ends. You're still going to play good baseball if you're a good team.'
'I don't think you need a savior to be honest with you. But sometimes you need a few things to help you get better.' #RedSox
Cora -- 'There have been questions about players. There have been names thrown around. Sometimes it's not the huge move that wins the World Series.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 21, 2021 15:41:08 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 12m Cora said Brasier has been cleared to increase his baseball activity.
'Finally he can move forward.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 21, 2021 15:42:07 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 18m Cora on what the #RedSox need at the trade deadline -- 'I have my feelings. They change on a daily basis.'
'We're going to be in good shape. Every team has question marks. Every team needs to add something to get better.'
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 2:15:33 GMT -5
Boston's 5-HR barrage beats Jays in Buffalo Red Sox club 11 homers in two-game sweep 12:34 AM ADT Jordan Horrobin
Jordan Horrobin
In a rain-shortened, two-game series in Buffalo, N.Y., the Red Sox made sure to get plenty of bang for their buck.
After a six-homer performance in Monday’s blowout win, they added five more long balls Wednesday to beat the Blue Jays, 7-4, in the final MLB game scheduled at Sahlen Field this season. That marked the first time Boston has hit at least five homers in multiple games within the same series since June 17-19, 1977, vs. the Yankees (they did it in all three games of that set).
At least some of that power surge ought to be credited to Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who made some alterations to his batting order ahead of Monday’s 13-4 romp of the Blue Jays. The impact he has on the team is obvious to his players.
“It’s obviously huge,” Kiké Hernández said. “He’s a great communicator. He always finds ways to make time for everybody, have everybody feeling comfortable [and] confident.” Cora on big bats in 7-4 win
Hernández, who entered the night with a .279/.410/.662 slash line over his previous 18 games, has been Boston’s hottest hitter. He stayed that way Wednesday, posting a home run, a double and a walk. He also homered twice on Monday, and Cora said a simplified approach has helped Hernández thrive.
“He’s working counts, he’s hunting pitches in certain spots and he’s putting good swings on it,” Cora said. “That [home run] was a great at-bat, 0-2 count, gets on top of the fastball and the ball goes out of the ballpark.”
Hernández put the Red Sox on the board in the third inning, hitting a screaming line drive for a 355-foot two-run homer that barely cleared the low left-field wall.
“Thank God for Buffalo,” Hernández said.
He nearly added another to the opposite field in the seventh, but right fielder Randal Grichuk was able to settle under it on the warning track.
Still, the Red Sox leadoff hitter is adding plenty of pop to the top of the order, and he’s on pace for a career-high 25 homers this season (his current high, 21, came with the Dodgers in 2018).
As a team, the Red Sox homered six times over three games in their first road series against the Blue Jays, which was played at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla. In this two-game set, Boston added 11 more. Both parks played as hitter-friendly, but that’s not the only factor at play with this potent Red Sox club.
“Yeah, we play in some good offensive parks in this division: Camden Yards; Fenway, when it’s hot; Rogers Centre is the same way,” Cora said. “But I think -- give us credit -- we put together some good at-bats.”
In addition to Hernández’s three home runs over two games against Toronto, Boston received two each from Rafael Devers and Hunter Renfroe, as well as one apiece from Jarren Duran, Danny Santana, Michael Chavis and J.D. Martinez.
Santana, who was just activated from the injured list (left quad strain) on Monday, exited Wednesday’s game in the seventh due to left groin tightness after chasing down a ball in the outfield. Cora said Sanatana’s injury “doesn’t seem too promising,” and another IL stint is likely.
What is promising, though, is the way the Red Sox responded -- particularly with the bats -- this series after dropping two of three in the Bronx. Cora believes the final game of the New York series was the kickstarter, even though his group scored only once in that loss.
“Controlling the strike zone,” Cora said, when asked to identify the catalyst for the success. “I know we didn’t score runs, but we were trying to stay within the zone. When we do that, like I always say, we become elite.”
Hoping to ride that wave of elite offense, the Red Sox head home for eight crucial divisional games against the Yankees and the Blue Jays -- two teams nipping at the heels of an AL Wild Card spot -- all with the Trade Deadline looming. If Boston’s bats are truly back, it’ll make the Red Sox awfully tough to beat.
“We went through a little bit of a rough patch offensively, and the pitching was the one keeping us in the game," Hernández said. "Hopefully, these two games, it means that our offense is back to normal.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 2:17:11 GMT -5
Injuries & Roster Moves: Santana exits 1:04 AM ADT
1B/OF Danny Santana (left groin tightness) Expected return: TBD Just two days after Santana was activated from the injured list, he was removed from Boston's July 21 game against Toronto due to left groin tightness. Santana was chasing a ball in the outfield and he fell hard when his leg tightened up. The issue appears to be similar to the left quad injury that recently sidelined him, and a return to the IL is likely. (Last updated: July 21)
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 2:51:12 GMT -5
Homer-happy Red Sox top Blue Jays to sweep series, Alex Cora notches 250th win By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated July 21, 2021, 10:03 p.m.
BUFFALO — The Red Sox found themselves in the midst of a ballgame when J.D. Martinez stepped to the plate in the top of the eighth inning Wednesday. They were protecting a one-run lead with a full crowd on hand at Sahlen Field that leaned heavily in the Red Sox’ favor.
The Sox had seen part of their four-run lead erased in the sixth when starter Garrett Richards relinquished two homers, cutting their lead to 5-4.
With two outs in the eighth, it was time for a Sox response against a Blue Jays squad that has one of the best offenses in baseball, and against whom no lead is safe.
So, when Martinez belted a 2-and-2 Jordan Romano fastball over the wall in right, it gave the Sox breathing room. Hunter Renfroe’s solo shot — back-to-back — gave them a bit more.
Renfroe pumped his fist, then looked toward his teammates in the dugout before reaching home plate. They could breathe. It was the Sox’ 11th homer in two games against the Jays (including five Wednesday), and stamped a 7-4 victory and a series win.
“We’re doing a good job — and I think it started last game in New York — of controlling the strike zone,” Cora said afterward. “When we do that, we become elite. Hopefully we can keep going over the weekend.”
The Sox and Jays still have one more contest in this series following Tuesday’s postponement because of rain. They won’t play it in Buffalo. Instead, it will be a part of a split doubleheader at the Rogers Centre on Aug. 7.
After more than a year away from their home ballpark because of Canada’s strict border policies due to COVID-19, the country will finally welcome its team home on July 30.
In these two games at Sahlen Field, the Red Sox made it their home.
The Red Sox stacked the deck with righties Wednesday evening. Up against Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray, who has carved up lefties to the tune of a .165 batting average this season, manager Alex Cora’s lineup featured just one lefty in Rafael Devers. Related: Chris Sale making next rehab start Sunday as Red Sox ace continues progress
After two scoreless frames, Kiké Hernández popped Ray for a two-run shot.
It marked a team-high nine homers in 25 games for Hernández.
“I got to two strikes and I was a little bit under the ball,” Hernández said. “He just kept challenging me and I was able to time it up. Thank God for Buffalo, the ball went out.”
Wind-aided homer or not, Ray didn’t pose much of a challenge for the Sox hitters.
In the top of the fourth, Devers stroked his 24th homer of the season, to left-center.
Following a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. solo shot off Richards, Michael Chavis made it 4-1 with a solo homer in the fifth. Christian Vázquez had an RBI single up the middle in the sixth, which extended the Sox’ margin, 5-1.
But that was short-lived. Richards was cruising, giving the Blue Jays a heavy dose of sliders, coupled with his changeup, to keep hitters off-balance. Richards induced weak contact, against an aggressively potent offense that couldn’t sit on his fastball.
He created plenty of late Jays swings, an indicator that they were sitting on his soft stuff. In fact, Richards chucked his slider 29 times, two more than his four-seamer. He flipped his changeup 20 times. Richards, who has had to adjust to MLB’s crackdown on foreign substances, said Wednesday was the first time he felt comfortable using his changeup as a weapon, a pitch he’s learned recently.
“I think that’s going to be a really big pitch for me as far as something going in toward righties, away to lefties,” Richards said. “Everything else I have is kind of going in toward lefties and away to righties. So it’s definitely a different look.”
Cora sent Richards back out for the sixth. Three pitches, two outs for the righthander. Cruising.
But it didn’t last. Richards surrendered a two-out walk to Guerrero, then a two-run homer to George Springer. Richards then left a slider over the heart of the plate to Teoscar Hernandez, who pummeled it over the wall in center, ending Richards’s night.
Nevertheless, Cora still thought his starter had it going.
“He was great,” Cora said. “He pounded the strike zone, changing speeds, using both sides of the play. That’s a tough lineup.”
The Red Sox recently lost two of three to the Yankees, and that’s when the noise started. What was going on with the Sox’ bats? How could they turn it around? Some lineup adjustments got the Sox back on track.
Now, they have their rivals for a four-game set, beginning Thursday.
“They’re doing a lot of things that they weren’t doing a few weeks ago or a month ago, as far as running and putting the ball in play,” Cora said of the Yankees. “It should be a fun weekend.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 2:56:06 GMT -5
Julian McWilliams @byjulianmack · 5h Tonight Garrett Richards threw more sliders (29) than four-seamers (27).
He also threw 20 changeups, a pitch he’s learned on a fly this year. He said this is the first game that he felt comfortable enough to throw his changeup and actually utilize it as a weapon.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 2:59:37 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h Danny Jansen limped into second base. Danny Santana is grabbing at that same left leg that had him on the IL recently.
Carnage on that double to left. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 3:01:54 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 5h Replying to @billkoch25 That's the 250th managerial win for Alex Cora. Just the 14th man to do so with the #RedSox and the first to reach that number at age 45 or younger.
Alex Cora -- 'We're doing a good job. I think it started the last game in New York controlling the strike zone. I know we didn't score runs, but we did a good job staying in the zone.' #RedSox
Cora on Hernandez -- 'He's not trying to do too much, actually. He's working counts. He's hunting pitches in certain spots.' #RedSox
Cora on Santana (left groin) possibly going to the IL -- 'It seems that way. We'll see.'
'It's left groin. He felt it.'
'It doesn't seem too promising.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 3:02:25 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 5h Cora said Marwin Gonzalez (right hamstring) isn't close to a return.
My thought -- could mean another chance for Franchy Cordero. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 3:06:15 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 7h Richards has not completed 6 IP since June 1. Had 2 outs in the 6th and went BB, HR, HR.
Garrett Whitlock: 1.34 ERA in 28 games and 47 IP. 52 Ks.
Sox would be 19-9 in games he has appeared in with a win tonight.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 3:07:46 GMT -5
Jared Carrabis @jared_Carrabis · 7h You know what? I’ll still take that outing from Garrett Richards against the Blue Jays lineup. Ending went south real quick, but it could’ve been a lot worse and it wasn’t. I’m good with it.
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 7h Low standards
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 3:12:47 GMT -5
Garrett Richards making it work without sticky stuff as Red Sox top Blue Jays, 7-4
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: July 21, 2021 at 10:13 p.m. | UPDATED: July 21, 2021 at 11:22 p.m.
In another time, on another team, Garrett Richards would’ve been demoted to the bullpen, at the very least.
But right now, on a high-powered Red Sox team that has now scored at least four runs in 60% of their games this season, Richards is good enough.
After going almost as far as declaring his career over after MLB introduced new rules banning foreign substances from the pitcher’s mound five weeks ago, Richards has figured something out.
He looked strong on Wednesday night, using more of his slider and cutter as opposed to the curveball that had worked so well for him before MLB’s ban, and it was enough to lead the Red Sox to a 7-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
“I’m starting to figure out hand position and figuring out some things mechanically right now that are really moving in the right direction,” he said. “I’ve been throwing a lot of strikes lately. Walks have gone down. I wouldn’t say I’m pitching to contact more. I’m trying to be in the zone more.”
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom hasn’t paid anyone a yearly salary as high as Richards’ $10 million in 2021, and Richards has largely disappointed. But he’s quietly won his last two starts. He’s gone at least five innings in four straight. And while he isn’t exactly blowing hitters away the way he was a month ago, when his high-90s fastball and wipeout breaking balls were spinning as well as they ever had, he’s done enough to keep his spot in the Sox’ starting rotation, one that is expanding to include six guys with the addition of Tanner Houck on Thursday.
“I’m trying to evolve,” he said. “I developed a changeup a few days ago, I guess you’d call it maybe with the All-Star break, a couple weeks ago, I guess. But this is the first game I’ve gone into it and I trusted it enough to throw it, I think I threw it 25% of the time. I think that’s going to be a real big pitch for me as something going into righties and away from lefties, because everything else I have is going into lefties and away to righties. It’s definitely a different look.”
Richards had allowed just one run into the sixth on Wednesday, entering the inning with a 5-1 lead. But he hung a fastball to George Springer and a slider to Teoscar Hernandez for a pair of back-to-back homers that cut the Sox’ lead to 5-4.
The Sox answered with back-to-back homers by J.D. Martinez and Hunter Renfroe in the eighth to make it easy for the bullpen to finish it out.
Richards struck out five, the most he’s struck out in a game since June 6, and allowed just four hits, fewest in a start of at least five innings since June 1.
“When his slider is competitive, it’s one of the best in baseball,” manager Alex Cora said.
His spin rate was down drastically again on Wednesday. His slider was down 207 rotations per minute compared to his season average, his fastball was down 300 RPM and his curveball was down 401 RPM, drastic drops. But Cora hasn’t been concerned.
“Garrett is making adjustments,” Cora said. “They keep paying off. As far as their stuff, we got the numbers and yeah, his spin rate is down, but if you compare where he’s at right now with other elite pitchers in the league and he’s right there with us. It’s not the 3,000 RPMs or whatever it was early in the season, but it’s still good enough to get people out at the big-league level.”
Garrett Whitlock, Adam Ottavino and Matt Barnes all looked strong out of relief as the Red Sox won both games vs. the Jays before heading home for a four-game series with the Yankees starting on Thursday.
Other takeaways:
1. Kiké Hernandez hasn’t cooled down. He yanked a pitch from Blue Jays lefty Robbie Ray down the left-field line for a line-drive home run in the third inning, his 14th of the year, and reached base three times in five plate appearances on Wednesday. He’s hit nine of his 14 homers since June 19. He has an on-base percentage over .400 and an OPS over 1.000 in the last month. 2. Barnes hasn’t been given a chance to close since nearly blowing the All-Star Game for the American League last Tuesday. Barnes needed almost 30 pitches to escape a jam in the eighth inning against the National League and hasn’t pitched since. But he made quick work of the Jays in this one, carving them up on 11 pitches for his first save since July 4. 3. Danny Santana is injured again. Santana was starting in left field as the Sox looked to take Alex Verdugo out of the lineup against lefties. Santana made a great play early on, leaping to his right to make a catch near the wall, but had to be removed late due to a tight groin in his left leg.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 3:26:04 GMT -5
Red Sox Notes @soxnotes · 8h Kiké Hernández has a team-high 9 HR in his last 25 games. This is the first time he has ever hit 9 HR in a 25-game span.
Tonight was Garrett Whitlock’s 17th scoreless appearance of more than 1.0 inning, the most by a Red Sox pitcher in a season since Derek Lowe had 17 in 2000.
In his last 17 games, Whitlock is 3-0 with a 0.68 ERA (26.1 IP, 2 ER, 31 K, 8 BB).
This is only the 5th time the Red Sox have hit 5+ HR in consecutive games (most recently June 13-14, 2019).
If they homer in the 9th inning, it would mark their first time ever hitting 6+ HR in back-to-back games.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jul 22, 2021 3:26:56 GMT -5
Red Sox Notes @soxnotes · 5h 18 of the Red Sox’ 23 hits in this series went for extra bases:
11 HR 7 doubles 5 singles
Adam Ottavino and Matt Barnes have each allowed 11 ER in 39.0 IP this season (2.54 ERA).
Ottavino: .199 AVG, 0 HR, 46 K, 21 BB, 7 SV
Barnes: .170 AVG, 4 HR, 64 K, 11 BB, 20 SV
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