Mariners @ Red Sox Game Thread/ 19th-22nd May 2022

In two nights, Red Sox show what they’re capable of at an opportune time
With a soft schedule the next two weeks, a team warming up can undo some early-season damage.



By Jon Couture
May 20, 2022 | 10:52 AM

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On Wednesday, a Nick Pivetta two-hitter. On Thursday, a Trevor Story three-homer game. Hope ain’t just the state motto of Rhode Island, a reminder arriving not a moment too soon.

Were it not as sweet as an Olneyville hot weiner on its own, choose two guys who felt like they needed it more as the Sox foundered through April. Pivetta had an uninspiring spring and an ERA north of 6.00 two weeks ago. Story didn’t really have a spring and wasn’t hitting .200 as recently as Sunday.

Now, they have something to build on. They all do.

“Us as a team, we struggled early, but I think everyone now has truly picked it up,” Thursday’s winning pitcher, Tanner Houck, told reporters after he threw four shutout innings to save Rich Hill, who barely got out of the second.

It had been a year since J.D. Martinez hit three homers at Baltimore’s less-maligned Camden Yards last April, but nearly four since Rick Porcello spun the last Red Sox complete game at Fenway Park — Aug. 3, 2018, a game where he only needed 86 pitches for a one-hitter, and where Alex Cora never got to even toy with yanking the righty because Cora got ejected in the first inning.

“The way [Pivetta] was looking at me, I was like, ‘I’m going to stay away. He might kill me,’ ” quipped Cora to reporters Thursday about letting him go 112 against the Astros. “He had that look. He had it.”

If only this were the 2018 rotation, where the presumed No. 3 guy when the year began had a Cy Young already. If only their near matching of Boston’s double the last 48 hours — Steve Pearce had a three-homer game the day before Porcello’s gem in 2018 — was some grand sign.

Ah well. Even if the 2022 team is never going to feel like a plan coming together, we’re starting to see a reasonable facsimile of a contender in the modern game.

Since getting swept by the White Sox, the Red Sox have won six of nine. Rafael Devers (16-for-38, 11 extra-base hits), Story, and J.D. Martinez (4 for 5 Thursday a day after his 18-game hitting streak was snapped) have been the best offensive trio not named Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Josh Donaldson.

Pivetta has a sub-2.00 ERA and FIP this month, helping cover for a tougher few starts from Nate Eovaldi even before whatever the heck happened Tuesday. The bullpen is now free of Ryan Brasier — he’s been optioned to Worcester to make room for the returning Michael Wacha — and sidearming John Schreiber is spinning his slider (and suddenly mid-90s fastball) into a real role.

All in time for a soft portion of the schedule. After three more with the Mariners, a visit to the White Sox (below .500 since their Fenway sweep), five against Baltimore, a pair with Cincinnati (also 6-3 since an, um, auspicious start) and a visit to Oakland to begin the year’s West Coast trip.

Thirteen games that look good on paper, when confidence is beginning to bubble, and the breaks are starting to feel like they’re falling their way.

To be clear, a lot of the fundamental issues with this team remain. Even during this little nine-game surge, they’re still swinging at more pitches than any team in the majors, and their chase rate is fourth. (The White Sox and Baltimore are 1-2.)

Boston pitchers have given up the highest rate of barrels — the best contact against, based on exit velocity and launch angle — even while winning six of nine thanks to all those home runs allowed. Have we mentioned the continued lack of a closer?

Hill, without his fastball, put Boston in a 4-0 hole just two innings in. It was gone by the end of third thanks to Story’s first two blasts, and at night’s end, the Sox had set season highs in runs, hits, and homers. Seven extra-base hits, a stolen base (by Story, whose five are top 20 in the American League), solid defense, and voila.

It can do that. We had to keep telling ourselves that for five weeks, but the proof is developing.

These are not the world-beaters of four years ago. I still think the highest percentage landing spot for this team is the mediocre bunch we thought they’d be a year ago, with bedlam coming in the offseason as its most recognizable parts begin landing elsewhere.

But a couple days like the last two, and a couple weeks like what they could be beginning to produce, make that an offseason problem again.

That’s good for our collective nerves. And you can rest assured it’s good for theirs as well.

Yup, he should've hammered Braiser on the way out the door and called him horrible.

Red Sox 7, Mariners 3: Trevor Story Cannot Stop Mashing

Trevor Story hit another homer and the bullpen was nails in Boston’s series-clinching win vs. Seattle.
By Stephen-Thompson May 20, 2022, 10:27pm EDT 7 Comments


The past couple of nights, the Red Sox have won thanks in large part due to some otherworldly performances. On Wednesday, Nick Pivetta went where no pitcher really goes anymore, tying down an excellent Houston Astros lineup for nine full innings in a 5-1, series-clinching win. On Thursday, Trevor Story went supernova, accounting for more than 1,200 feet of homers across three different bombs and seven RBI in 12-6 win over the Mariners.

By comparison, this game was relatively boring. Close, but ordinary.

Trevor Story hit a grand slam and JBJ launched a three-run homer after entering the game in the eighth. Alex Cora hit the right buttons and the bullpen kept things tranquil despite some heavy traffic from the Mariners as the Red Sox won 7-3 over the Mariners on Friday night.

Wacha wasn’t super sharp in the first but still kept the Mariners off of the board. He gave up a one-out double to Ty France and walked J.P. Crawford but induced a fielder's choice and pop up from the next two batters, ending the inning. After that he got into a nice groove, retiring the Mariners on 37 pitches in each of the next three innings.

Offensively, the Red Sox built and added pressure on Mariners starter Robbie Ray until he burst.

In the first inning, they hit Ray hard but couldn’t parlay hard contact into runs. Enrique Hernández took Ray’s first pitch off the far right end of the Green Monster for a double. After a Devers strikeout, J.D. Martinez grounded a single into left. Hernandez seemed intent on scoring when he rounded third base, but Carlos Febles had to put up the stop sign because of how hard left fielder Jesse Winkler charged the ball. The Sox couldn’t take advantage of their first scoring opportunity — Bogaerts struck out and Trevor Story popped out to end the threat. In the second, they went quietly and in order, but the flood gates opened in the third.

Christian Vazquez singled to left — the first hit of his career off Ray — and Hernandez walked to put runners on first and second with one out. After Martinez went down swinging on a devastating, vintage Ray slider, Xander Bogaerts walked to set up Story with the bases loaded and two down.

Boy, did that guy deliver again. Story hit a 106-mph laser that just snuck over the top of the Green Monster for a grand slam, his fourth home run and 11th RBI of the last two games. 4-0, Red Sox thanks to another two-out, run-scoring hit. As if the absolute bullet that skimmed the top of the wall wasn’t enough, Story completed his Dustin Pedroia impression by beating his chest and yelling in celebration as he rounded first base.

Afterward, the NESN broadcast showed an incredible shot of Jonny Gomes, who caught the ball.

With that homer, Trevor put himself into rare Red Sox company. He became just the second second baseman in franchise history to ever homer four times over a two-game span. Bobby Doer did it first in 1950.

It looked like the Red Sox were on their way to an easy win, but the Mariners made them sweat a little bit.

An uneventful fourth inning gave way to the sudden end of Wacha’s night in the fifth. To kick things off in the top half, Christian Arroyo tried — unsuccessfully — to dive after a Eugenio Suarez line drive and Suarez trotted casually into second. The next batter, Abraham Toro, yanked a two-run shot way over the right field wall to cut Boston’s lead in half. That was enough to get Austin Davis and Hirokazu Sawamura up in the bullpen. Wacha couldn’t reclaim his rhythm and the ensuing walk and single both put runners on the corners and forced Alex Cora to call for Davis.

Davis and his nerves of steel calmly struck out Crawford on a slider to close the top of the fifth and hold the score at 4-2. Wacha was responsible for those runners but with that strikeout, his line closed at 4.2 innings and two runs on four hits and three walks.

The Red Sox squandered a chance to reclaim part of their lead in the bottom of the fifth, but with Devers on second — after stealing a base, no less — Martinez struck out looking and a fly ball from Bogaerts fell harmlessly to Julio Rodríguez in center.

With a three-run lead, the consistently unreliable and unpredictable bullpen was really, really good on Friday night.

Davis also pitched the sixth and retired the Mariners without making a big deal of it — Seattle went down on two weakly hit balls and a strikeout.

Jake Diekman handled the seventh and despite struggling with his command, worked around a two-out walk to escape without any damage done. JBJ also made an appearance in right field as a defensive replacement for Arroyo at the start of the seventh.

Then things got hairy in the eighth.

For a second it looked like Bogaerts was hurt and hurt badly. He was backpedaling for a pop fly that drifted into left field and the charging Alex Verdugo slid in to try and make the catch as well. He undercut Bogaerts, who fell awkwardly on his back. After writhing on the ground in pain and speaking briefly with the training staff, Bogearts remained in the game and the collective sigh of relief from Fenway was almost audible on the NESN broadcast.

He did, however, exit the game in the bottom half. Franchy Cordero hit for him (and singled to raise his average to .233, btw). By the time I published this, there was no word about whether that was just precautionary or if something is actually wrong.

But back to the top of the eighth quickly. Bogaerts wasn’t able to hang on to that ball and as it hit the ground, Crawford took advantage. He took second, then scored on a bloop single to left from Winkler. John Schreiber, who had taken over for Deikman, held the damage there, striking out Rodríguez on a sneaky sidearm slider up in the zone.

Alex Cora made what I thought were some weird substitutions in the bottom of the eighth and it quickly became evident why I am not an MLB manager. Not only did Cordero come through for the Sox offense, but so did Jackie Bradley Jr., who hit for Arroyo with two outs in the eighth. With Cordero and Martinez on, Bradley launched his first homer of the season off of a lefty pitcher and over the Monster to give Boston a 7-3 cushion entering the ninth. Hernandez filled in at short, as Cordero took right and Bradley center, and he fielded the game’s closing ground out.

Matt Strahm made quick work of the Mariners in the ninth, retiring them in order to put a neat bow on the win.

Who are these Red Sox? Where did they come from? Clutch hits with two outs and a bullpen that can pitch late innings in close games without drama?

Boston’s played really well in these past two series, both wins, against the Astros and Mariners. They’ve now won seven of 10 and three series in a row. At 17-22, they are rapidly getting themselves back in the playoff AL picture.

Trevor Story’s grand slam powers Boston Red Sox to 7-3 win, first 3-game winning streak of season
Published: May. 20, 2022, 10:06 p.m.

By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com

BOSTON -- For the second straight night, Trevor Story was, well, the story at Fenway Park.

Story blasted a third-inning grand slam -- his fourth home run in two games -- and Jackie Bradley Jr. added a late three-run shot to power the Red Sox to a 7-3 win over the Mariners on Friday night. Boston has won three games in a row for the first time this season and is now 17-22 on the year.
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With Michael Wacha shutting down the Mariners early in his return from the injured list, Boston’s bats rallied against reigning AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray in the third. After Christian Vázquez singled and Kiké Hernández walked to lead off the inning, Ray retired two straight batters before loading the bases by walking Xander Bogaerts. Story, who hit three home runs in the series opener Thursday, then launched a 1-2 fastball into the Monster seats for his sixth blast of the year.

Seattle then made it interesting, getting within a single run. Abraham Toro made it a two-run game with a two-run blast in the fifth for Seattle. The Mariners had a chance to cut the deficit even more -- or tie the game -- but Austin Davis struck out J.P. Crawford with runners on the corners to end the sixth. In the eighth, a Jesse Winker RBI single made it 4-3.

In the eighth, Bradley -- who did not start with a lefty on the mound for Seattle -- broke things open with an opposite field, three-run blast. Matt Strahm then came in and pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the win.

Boston’s bullpen did an admirable job in relief of Wacha, who lowered his season ERA to 1.76 by allowing two runs on four hits in 4 ⅔ innings. Davis, Jake Diekman, John Schreiber and Strahm held Seattle in check for 4 ⅓ innings.

Hernández (2-for-3, R, BB) and J.D. Martinez (2-for-4, K) each had two hits for the Red Sox.

Bogaerts leaves after collision

In the eighth inning, Crawford lifted a pop-up into shallow left field that both Bogaerts and left fielder Alex Verdugo pursued. As Bogaerts reached to make the catch, he tripped over a sliding Verdugo and landed awkwardly on his left arm. The ball popped loose and the play was ruled an error on Verdugo as Bogaerts remained on the ground in pain. He sprung to his feet as manager Alex Cora and trainers went out to visit him and remained in the game for the end of the inning, but was then lifted for pinch-hitter Franchy Cordero in the bottom of the frame.

Red Sox trending up

The Red Sox have now won three in a row, four of their last five and seven of their last 10, marking -- by far -- their best stretch of baseball in 2022. Their last three-game winning streak came from Oct. 1-3, when they ended the season with a sweep of the Nationals.

Whitlock on tap to start Saturday

Garrett Whitlock (1-1, 2.43 ERA) will be on the mound as the Red Sox try to extend their winning streak to four games Saturday afternoon. First pitch is at 4:10 p.m. ET. Righty Chris Flexen (1-6, 4.35 ERA) will start for the Mariners.