Red Sox @ Braves Game Thread/ 10th-11th May 2022

As I've been saying all along, during this drought, the offense is what it is.  I have little faith in Cordero, but the guy he is subbing for has been awful.  There are no troops coming to the rescue.

Red Sox 9, Braves 4: Finally

Even with Garrett Whitlock not at his best.
By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins May 10, 2022, 11:11pm EDT 14 Comments



In a lot of ways, Tuesday’s Red Sox game in Atlanta was a typical one for them. Their offense showed some life early, but then didn’t get it going for a long time after that. The starting pitcher, meanwhile, was able to mostly keep runs off the board but didn’t go very deep. The difference this time around was the inning with life ended up with six runs instead of the typical one or two, with Rafael Devers smacking a big grand slam, and then they actually added on more with a three-run ninth. It wasn’t the best night for Garrett Whitlock, but these are the nights when the offense is supposed to pick up the slack. Finally, they held up their end of the bargain.

More robust game notes below.

After a sweep over the weekend to the White Sox that included punch in the gut after punch in the gut, the Red Sox had a much-needed day off on Monday to clear their head and get ready to turn things around, especially at the plate. Waiting for them in Atlanta in their first game back? Kyle Wright, who had been one of the hottest pitchers on the planet to start the season. Not exactly the guy Boston wanted to see, but after getting shut down on Sunday against Dallas Keuchel, one of the coldest pitchers in the game, you never knew what could happen. This sport of baseball can be extremely dumb sometimes, after all.

It ended up being extremely stupid in exactly that way, with Wright not having it and the Red Sox offense scoring more runs in the second inning than they have in any entire game in about two weeks. The rally started after the big bats had come around, all three of Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, and J.D. Martinez getting out. Instead, it was Alex Verdugo getting things started with a base hit, and they were off to the races. Trevor Story had a single of his own before Franchy Cordero drew his first of three walks on the night, loading up the bases.


In a situation where typically this lineup would score one run at most, with the bases full and just one out, Christian Vázquez kept the line moving with an RBI single to give Boston the 1-0 lead. Jackie Bradley Jr. then drew a walk to make it 2-0 before, a couple batters later, Devers would step back up. The bases were still full, but now with two outs and it was a familiar scene. It seemed certain they’d waste their chance for a crooked inning. They didn’t Instead, Devers jumped all over a first-pitch fastball right over the heart of the plate. It’s not the location I’d recommend throwing to Devers personally, and obliterated it for a grand slam out to center field. All of a sudden the Red Sox had a six-run lead and were in a very unfamiliar position.

It’s a damn good thing they chose Tuesday for this little outburst, too, because Garrett Whitlock was about as shaky as we’ve seen him since joining the team last year. We know the young righty is typically in control in whatever role he finds himself, but he just couldn’t find the command for this game, even with a relatively big zone being called. Yet for how poorly he pitched relatively speaking, it was a weirdly encouraging outing because he still missed bats when he needed to and avoided a crooked number, even if it was a short outing and certainly not one he’ll want to remember.

It was pretty clearly early on that something was off as he walked two batters in the first inning, having to throw high-stress pitches almost from the start after Ronald Acuña Jr. drew a leadoff walk and ended up on third due to a stolen base and a throwing error from Vázquez. But Whitlock escaped the inning without allowing a run, and did the same in the second despite allowing a pair of singles.

The third wasn’t so fortunate, and that’s when it became crystal clear that it was not his night. There, he started off the inning by giving up a leadoff, wall-ball double to Matt Olson, then shortly thereafter threw a wild pitch way high to the backstop. He’d end up walking Austin Riley, and then giving up a sacrifice fly to give Atlanta their first run. A couple batters later, Travis d’Arnaud got a slider that didn’t quite break as far as Whitlock would’ve liked, and he got a barrel on it. Off the bat it didn’t look like too much trouble, especially given the way the ball has been flying this season, but it just kept carrying. Eventually it got into the seats, and the Braves had cut the deficit in half, making it a 6-3 game. To his credit, Whitlock did get out of it from there without anymore runs, but after coming in looking for a longer outing he lasted only three innings.

Now it was up to the bullpen to cover six innings, though they were at least handed a three-run lead from there. Of course, the offense didn’t add any insurance over the next few innings, but it didn’t matter for Tyler Danish, who looked good (I think; NESN+ crapped out for a chunk of his outing) and gave the Red Sox two scoreless innings in which he gave up a single but nothing more.

While the offense continued to be stymied after the second-inning rally, Ryan Brasier got the call for the sixth, retiring all three batters he faced, before Hansel Robles got into some trouble in the seventh. That inning started with a walk to Acuña, and after a single from Olson there were runners on the corners with nobody out. Robles got the first out on a fly ball that was just shallow enough for Acuña to (wisely) not challenge the arm of Jackie Bradley Jr., and then it looked like he’d escape the inning with a hard-hit double play ball. Instead it ended up taking a tough bounce on Bogaerts, one he couldn’t handle, and they’d settle for the one out and allowing the run to come across. It wasn’t an easy play, but it certainly should have been a double play. Robles did limit the damage for the inning to one run, but it was now a two-run game with the offense back to its old ways.

The offense seemed prime to get that run back in the eighth when Bobby Dalbec came up to pinch hit and came through with a single before moving up on a wild pitch. But even with the runner in scoring position and nobody out, they couldn’t score. Reminded them too much of extra innings, I suppose. It wouldn’t matter for John Schreiber in the eighth, as he continued to shine in a scoreless inning of work.

The offense finally got some more momentum in the ninth facing old friend Tyler Thornburg. Boston loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk, and a second straight walk brought home the team’s seventh run of the night. Story then came through with his second hit of the game, this one driving in two and all but putting the game away with the Red Sox now leading 9-4. That was no problem for Schreiber, who came back for the ninth and tossed another perfect inning, and the five-game losing streak was snapped.

The Red Sox now have a chance for a mini two-game sweep in Atlanta if they can win Wednesday night. It’d also give them just their second series win of the season. They’ll have Nathan Eovaldi on the mound to take on Ian Anderson, with first pitch at 7:20 PM ET.

LHP Josh Taylor (lower back strain)
Expected return: TBD
Taylor, Boston’s best left-on-left reliever last season, has had a tough time recovering from a back injury he came to Spring Training with. Red Sox manager Alex Cora said on May 10 that Taylor is getting better but not at the expected rate. Head athletic trainer Brad Pearson stayed back with Taylor to evaluate the 29-year-old, who isn't doing field work yet. Taylor had pitched three times on his rehab assignment, the last of those outings taking place on April 27.

"We have to discuss where we're at with him as far as baseball activities, and the treatment and all that," Cora said. "He's getting better, but not at the rate we expected.” -- Ethan Sands (Last updated: May 10)

Alex Cora’s beard went, and the Red Sox bats came back to life for a night
By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated May 11, 2022, 12:15 a.m.

ATLANTA — Alex Cora claims his brother Joey is the superstitious one in their family. But the manager of the Red Sox is no fool.

His team needed something to change its luck. So after Cora dropped his girlfriend and kids off at Logan Airport on Monday, he went home and shaved the salt-and-pepper beard he grew over the offseason.

The Red Sox promptly scored six runs in the second inning against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night and went on to a much-needed 9-4 victory.
Related: Red Sox get back in the swing at last, with Rafael Devers slamming Atlanta

“If our hitting depends on my beard, we’re in big, big trouble,” Cora said.

Maybe it did. The six runs matched their biggest inning of the season and they came against Kyle Wright, who had been Atlanta’s best starter this season.


The nine runs matched their biggest output of the year. The Sox also drew a season-high seven walks and snapped a five-game losing streak.


“I’m not discounting it. He shaves and we go crazy. Coincidence? Maybe not,” said Alex Verdugo, who was grinning a bit. “We needed to mix it up and maybe that helped us. We needed something.”

A rational person would say that their manager looking 10 years younger surely didn’t have anything to do with the Sox finally having a good night at the plate.

But superstitions are as much a part of baseball as peanuts and Cracker Jack. There are players who use the same glove season after season or wear a certain t-shirt under their uniform if they’re hitting well.

Watch sometime how many pitchers jump over the baseline on their way to or from the dugout.

Cora said his former Dodgers teammate Raúl Mondesí used to pick up used paper cups in the dugout during the game, that was his thing.
Related: Speier: Is it already too late for the 2022 Red Sox?

So while Cora’s girlfriend Angelica thought he looked rather dashing with his beard, it had to go. She told him that earlier this month and Cora came around to the idea on Sunday after a disheartening 3-2 loss against the White Sox at Fenway Park.


Of course he did. Baseball players tend to believe in mystical forces.

“I’ve seen guys who always put their socks on in a certain order,” Verdugo said. “Players will try anything. But if I have a good day I’ll try and repeat what I did the next day. When you find something that works you stick with it. I don’t get too crazy.”

Cora rightfully credited his team having better at-bats after scoring only five runs in their previous four games. The three players at the bottom of the order — Franchy Cordero, Christian Vázquez, and Jackie Bradley Jr. — got on base seven times. They scored two runs and drove in two.

Rafael Devers, who is locked in at the plate, landed the biggest blow, a grand slam to center field in the second inning that made it 6-0.

Was it because his manager was clean-shaven?

“I don’t know,” Devers said. “But if it was for that we’d tell him to shave every single day so he didn’t have hair on him.”

The Sox have had some hairy superstitions in their past. Most of the players on the 2013 championship team grew bushy beards over the course of the season. T-shirts were made, fans started wearing fake beards to Fenway Park, and by the playoffs the Sox looked like the Sons of Anarchy.


Most good teams have something that ties the players together over the course of a long season. Baseball is a grind and anything fun makes it a little easier.

“We haven’t found that yet but we will,” Verdugo said. “You need something to make it a little easier.”

It’s very unlikely Cora’s shaving schedule is going to be the tie that binds. But for a Tuesday night in Atlanta when they needed a victory, it worked.

I've been preaching the patience thing ad nauseum.  But, while I am happy with the walks, the 9th inning walks were more a matter of survival.  Thornburg was all over the place.  Even the RS batters don't swing at pitches under their chin or two feet outside.

This is how the Red Sox are supposed to look


By Rob Bradford
WEEI 93.7
4 hours ago

The conversation after the Red Sox' 9-4 win over the Braves Tuesday night was an Al Horford lay-up. Alex Cora finally shaved and, boom, his team started hitting.

"My brother (Joey), I’m going to throw him under the bus, but he was to the extreme,” Cora told reporters. "So I learned a little bit from him. But I was very routine-oriented. I played with some guys that were worse. Raúl Mondesi, for example. You know how they throw the cups in the dugout? He wanted no part of that. He will make sure he picks it up. And it’s not because he wanted the dugout to be clean. … He did it all the time. In this sport, everything goes. I think that’s the beauty of 162."

The manager later added, "I got a text from [my daughter] Angelica, and she's like, 'Well, you know, I told you 10 days ago, it's on you.’ But you know, like I said, if our offense depends on my facial hair, we're in big trouble."

Whether it was happenstance or legitimate impactful superstition, the end result - and Cora's face - seemed familiar.

This was supposed to be the kind of carry-over from 2021 that led to so much optimism heading into 2022.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the nine runs and 11 hits were somewhat of an aberration this season, marking the first time in the last five games they have scored more than two runs.

But, no matter. Page turned.

Sure, the Red Sox woke up Wednesday morning still living life 10 1/2 games in back of the first-place Yankees, as was the case when they started Tuesday. Still, this win offered the kind of spring in their step which has been hard to find.

Xander Bogaerts had three more hits to raise his batting average to an American League-best .354.

Rafael Devers did his Rafael Devers thing, rifling a 111.3 mph, 432-foot missile into center field for the game-changing grand slam.

The first base position got on base four times, with Franchy Cordero drawing three walks and Bobby Dalbec coming on to claim a hit.

Trevor Story showed signs of life with a pair of hits - his fourth multi-hit game of the season - while watching a 98.7 mph liner go for an out.

And the bullpen got two notable two-inning shutout stints from newcomers Tyler Danish and John Schreiber, who struck out three and hasn't allowed a run or walk over his 6 1/3 innings.

It was just one game and the Red Sox are still living life in a fairly significant-size hole. But it was something. Something that seemed really familiar.