* Text Features
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Boston Red Sox Sunday, May 23, 2021 * The Boston Globe Bullpen saves Nate Eovaldi, Red Sox Julian McWilliams Manager Alex Cora knows Darwinzon Hernandez can sometimes get wrapped up in an outing. But Cora doesn’t try to shut off the reliever from his emotions. The Sox manager, instead, wants Hernandez to channel them in a useful direction. So, with the bases loaded Saturday in the seventh, after Phillips Valdez hit the Phillies’ Jean Segura to load the bases, Hernandez’s emotions were put to the test. Cora called on his reliever with just one out in the frame to protect a 4-2 Sox lead. Hernandez struck out Bryce Harper on three pitches, but hit Rhys Hoskins, narrowing the Sox lead by just a run. The next batter, Brad Miller, who already had two hits, struck out on a 95 mile-per-hour heater above the zone. It helped fasten what ended in a 4-3 Sox win. Hernandez roared with elation. “It was a big moment,” Hernandez said afterward. “Big spot, obviously, you know, after I hit the previous batter and having the bases loaded. It just was a lot of emotions flowing through. So when I was able to get that out, it was an exciting moment.” The Red Sox’ fate fell on the club’s bullpen and it responded. Adam Ottavino worked a scoreless eighth, and Matt Barnes notched a save in the ninth. The Sox relievers pitched 3⅔ innings and collected nine strikeouts in the win. “It didn’t look easy, but they were amazing,” Cora said. “The pitching staff did an amazing job.” When Nate Eovaldi, who got the start Saturday, plunked Angels’ Anthony Rendon to begin the second inning of his previous appearance, it was the beginning of what ultimately ended in a forgettable start for the righthander. Eovaldi threw 38 pitches in that bottom frame, and even though he limited the hard contact, the Angels tagged Eovaldi for four runs and a 4-0 deficit. In the second inning Saturday night, Eovaldi walked the leadoff hitter, Odubel Herrera. But he responded in this outing by retiring the next three hitters he saw to end the inning. “The first two innings of tonight I was kind of battling mechanics, and then I was able to figure it out in that second inning,” Eovaldi said. “I was able to get out of it. And that’s always big.” In some sense, Saturday’s outing resembled how he looked in his first two starts of the season. Despite registering 99 on the gun, Eovaldi effectively worked in his five-pitch mix. He switched up his pace in his delivery which kept the Phillies off balance. “I think it just adds another thing in there that they have to worry about,” said Eovaldi regarding switching up the timing in his delivery. “Especially when you got certain guys who have the high leg kick or the toe tap and they’re trying to time you up.” There was finesse that powered his game, not necessarily velocity. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that a Herrera sac fly, following a Miller triple, scored the Phillies’ first run, shrinking the Sox’ lead, 2-1. The Red Sox established their offense and scored their first two runs of the contest in the third. Rafael Devers’s double dropped beneath the glove of the outstretched Bryce Harper, allowing Eovaldi, who negotiated a walk off starter Spencer Howard, to cross home. Then Xander Bogaerts’s sacrifice fly added on that second run. That wouldn’t be the end of Bogaerts, who jumped on reliever Sam Coonrod for his 10th homer of this season. Danny Santana followed Devers and hit his second home run in as many days. Prior to Saturday, Eovaldi held the longest active streak (63 innings) without allowing a homer. Yet that was snapped in the sixth when Hoskins belted a solo homer to left. Miller followed Hoskins with a sharp liner for a single, ending Eovaldi’s night at 5⅓ innings. The Sox are now 29-18 and still have a one-game lead over the Rays in the American League East. They will have a chance at a sweep Sunday, an opportunity spearheaded by Hernandez and the Sox bullpen. “I just went with the mind-set that I just have to go out there and attack the hitters,” Hernandez said. “That’s something we always try to do.” Rafael Devers’s gift of pitch recognition has led to the best start of his career Julian McWilliams In the top of the seventh inning Friday, one of Rafael Devers’s many gifts at the plate made its way to the surface. The Red Sox were leading the contest, 6-3, vs. the Phillies but Devers’s two-run homer off Phillies reliever Connor Brogdon extended the Sox’ lead in their eventual 11-3 win. The home run was Devers’s 12th of the year, which again tied with J.D. Martinez for the most homers on the Red Sox. The way Devers got to that 12t home run, however, tells a better story on just how gifted he is at the plate. On a 3-2 pitch, Brogdon attempted to pull the string on Devers with a changeup. Initially, it looked as if Brogdon achieved that. Devers’s body was out in front on the pitch, yet his hands remained back just enough for him to park Brogdon’s offering in the right field seats. Devers entered Saturday’s contest off to the best start of his career. He was hitting .281/.357/.588 with a .945 OPS and 37 RBIs. Within that, though, is Devers’s gift of recognizing spin, break, offspeed pitches, adjusting on the fly even when it looks like he’s fooled and still producing serious damage. “He sells out for the fastball, and he’s able to keep his ground,” manager Alex Cora said before the game. “He seems like he’s out in front, but the bat head stays back. There are guys that can do different things with their body. I always said that Mookie [Betts] and Francisco [Lindor] they’re so flexible and explosive that they’re able to gain ground and stay back and then from there, just explode and hit the ball hard. Raffy is very similar.” As of Saturday, Devers was hitting .364 on breaking pitches and .444 on offspeed pitches. This comes despite an approach that relies on aggressiveness, that can flirt with pitches outside the zone. Despite that, Devers still feasts. “I’ve always been able to see the way the ball breaks and things like that,” said Devers, who was 1 for 5 Saturday with an RBI during the Red Sox won, 4-3. “It just sometimes comes down to being able to hit them. Sometimes we can hit them. Sometimes we can’t hit them. But it’s all about just making adjustments, whether it’s breaking pitches, whether it’s fastballs, you just have to make the adjustments that are needed to be able to just make adjustments to do damage on these pitches.” To the point on fastballs, Devers has struggled against that pitch, hitting just .191 on the heater with a 37.9 whiff percentage before Saturday’s game. Nevertheless, Devers still has found ways to thrive, beginning with the offspeed and breaking pitches. “We would love him to just swing at strikes,” said Cora, noting that Devers can sometimes have an overzealous approach. “But at the same time, we understand that this is who he is, and he can do damage with pitches up and out of the strike zone and especially with offspeed pitches.” Marwin Gonzalez struggling against fastball Marwin Gonzalez has flashed an above-average glove on defense, particularly at second base. But the 32- year-old veteran has struggled mightily at the plate, batting .199 in 154 plate appearances to go along with just one homer in that span. He’s in the midst of an 0-for-15 skid, too. “The one that he’s fighting is actually catching up with the fastball,” Cora said. “He has a game plan. But it feels like he’s conscious that he’s not catching up with it. So he doesn’t want to buy into what he’s thinking or what he’s seeing.” Gonzalez, who played in 39 of the Red Sox’ 46 contests was supposed to get an off-day, but ended up pinch hitting in the eighth for Kevin Plawecki on Saturday and snapped his hitless streak with a single to right. “It’s been tough,” Cora said. “But one thing for sure, he’s such an asset in every other aspect of the game.” Chris Sale returns to mound Chris Sale threw a flat ground and got on the mound again Saturday ... Ryan Brasier (calf strain) threw a bullpen ... Red Sox pitching prospect Eduard Bazardo (lat strain) will be out for a while, per Cora. The Sox manager said he will have more information on the extent of the injury Sunday ... Alex Verdugo (left hamstring tightness) will likely sit the rest of this series ... Cora and the Sox want to take advantage of the upcoming off-day Monday by giving Verdugo three straight days of rest ... Jarren Duran was 5 for 5 for the WooSox Saturday with two singles a double and two homers. He’s now hitting .299 in 17 games and his seven homers are tied for the most home runs in Triple-A East. Danny Santana’s speed adds another dimension to Sox’ high-powered offense Peter Abraham PHILADELPHIA — The Red Sox arrived at Citizens Bank Park for Saturday night’s game against the Phillies averaging 5.28 runs per game, second in the majors.