The Boston Red Sox Friday, May 21, 2021 * The Boston Globe J.D. Martinez’s last-ups blast highlights rally of the Red Sox season, beating Jays Peter Abraham DUNEDIN, Fla. — J.D. Martinez was perhaps another choice word or two from being ejected in the seventh inning, when he argued with umpire Mark Wegner following a called third strike on a close pitch. Martinez, who rarely bickers with the umps, returned to the dugout hoping he would get another chance. It came in the ninth inning with the game on the line, and he belted a two-out, two-run homer to lift the Red Sox to an 8-7 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays. Martinez didn’t miss his pitch, sending a hanging slider from Rafael Dolis deep into the Florida night. It was his 12th home run of the season and the 250th of his career. “I was just trying to go up there and hit it hard,” Martinez said. “It was a big win.” Martinez, who was released by the Astros in 2014, said he never imagined he’d hit 250 homers. The first-place Sox (27-18) took two of three from the Blue Jays and have won five of seven overall. It was their 17th comeback victory. Matt Barnes closed the Jays out for his 10th save in 11 chances. He struck out three, working around a two- out walk with an overpowering fastball as the Sox-centric crowd of 1,562 celebrated. “What an amazing win. What a great game. What a big-league ‘W,’” manager Alex Cora said. Dolis inherited a 7-5 lead. Bobby Dalbec and Michael Chavis started the inning with singles. Barnes immediately started throwing in the bullpen, knowing the game could change quickly in the small, wind- blown spring training ballpark where the Jays have been playing their home games. A wild pitch moved them up and Dalbec scored when Alex Verdugo grounded to first base for the second out. Martinez took a low slider for a strike, then hammered the next to right center. “Even on nights when he quote unquote struggles, he’s one at-bat away from changing the game,” Cora said. It was the first Red Sox go-ahead home run with two outs in the ninth inning of a road game since Sept. 2, 2018, when Brandon Phillips hit his only home run with the club to beat the Atlanta Braves. All eight runs by the Sox scored with two outs. Toronto pitchers had retired 10 in a row before the ninth. Trailing 2-0, the Sox made two quick outs in the top of the second inning. Christian Vázquez was nearly the third, but he fouled off a two-strike pitch before dropping a single into right field. It was the first of seven consecutive hits, as the Sox scored five runs against Steven Matz. After Vázquez singled, Hunter Renfroe singled to center. Dalbec then launched a curveball to right field that got caught in the wind, but hit the foul pole for a home run. Chavis kept the inning going with a double to the gap in right. Kiké Hernández singled into left field, the ball deflecting off the glove of shortstop Marcus Semien just enough for Chavis to score. Singles by Verdugo and Martinez drove in Hernández. Four of the seven hits in the inning came with two strikes. But the Sox did not score again off Matz, who went six innings and threw only 45 more pitches. And Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta, who has been strong all season, could not hold the 5-2 lead. Up 5-3, Pivetta walked Semien to start the fifth inning. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled with one out, chopping a single into right field against a shift as Semien took third. Teoscar Hernández followed with a slowly hit ball to third base that popped out of Rafael Devers’ glove for an error and Semien scored. Cavan Biggio then grounded a single to center to drive in Guerrero with the tying run. With Pivetta at 95 pitches, the Sox tried Hirokazu Sawamura in the sixth inning. He had not pitched in eight days, and it showed. Danny Jansen ripped a low fastball to the gap in right. Renfroe misplayed the ball and Jansen ended up on third. Jonathan Davis followed with a single to left to give the Jays the lead. With two outs and runners on first and second, Hernández hit a sharp grounder up the middle that Bogaerts dove to stop and flipped to second. But Chavis dropped the ball for another error, and it proved costly when Randal Grichuk singled to drive in Davis. That gave the Jays a 7-5 lead. The Sox weren’t sharp on the mound or defensively. But they overcame it. “It was a huge team win. It was massive,” Pivetta said. ‘Take three strikes if we have the lead’: Little expected when Red Sox pitchers grab the bats this weekend Peter Abraham DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Red Sox start a three-game interleague series at Philadelphia on Friday, which means they won’t have a designated hitter. The three pitchers lined up to start — Martín Pérez, Nate Eovaldi, and Eduardo Rodriguez — dutifully took batting practice and went half speed through base-running drills the last few days. “Absolutely awful,” manager Alex Cora said Thursday, followed by a little smile. Cora’s hope is for a pitcher to get a bunt down if needed, but otherwise to avoid injury. Every manager’s fear is a muscle strain of some kind that leads to a stint on the injured list. “Take three strikes if we have the lead and keep moving forward,” Cora said. Baseball had a universal DH last season as a safety measure, with players having little time to prepare for a shortened season, but Major League Baseball and the Players Association couldn’t come to an agreement on making it permanent. It’s a subject that will be addressed again in the negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. At a time when the game needs more offense, pitchers were hitting .106 with a .281 OPS through Wednesday, with strikeouts in 47 percent of their plate appearances. Cora, who came up as a player in the National League, is among the managers who would prefer the universal DH. “I didn’t mind it last year, to be honest with you, as a baseball fan,” he said. “Going into these games, it’s difficult. Right now this is where we’re at . it will be good for baseball in general to have one more hitter.” Perez is 1 for 23 in his career with 19 strikeouts, and Rodriguez 0 for 20 with 10 strikeouts. Eovaldi is Ted Williams by comparison, going 12 of 151 (.079) with two RBIs. David Price is the last Red Sox pitcher to collect a hit, an RBI single off Arizona’s Luke Weaver on April 6, 2019. Rodriguez has hit a few home runs in batting practice and fancies himself as quite a hitter, referencing long-ago softball exploits in Venezuela. Cora laughed when asked if he thought Rodriguez would collect that elusive first hit. “Not at all. Nada. No confidence,” he said. Cora does not allow players to wear earrings on the field, but granted an exception for Rodriguez to wear a dangling cross like Barry Bonds did during his career. “I’m going to give him a chance to do that, to see if he can get a hit,” Cora said. “But the chances are very slim.” Xander Bogaerts doesn’t like Rodriguez’s chances against Phillies starter Zach Wheeler, who has allowed only 7.0 hits per nine innings. “It’s looking a little dark,” Bogaerts said. “He’s my boy and all; I would be really happy if he gets one. But I would also be really surprised. “Wheeler’s a pretty good pitcher with a lot of velocity and Eddie’s bat speed is kind of not too fast. I would say he has a 1 percent chance, just because he has pop. “Listen, man. If he swings at the right time, at the right moment, at the right pitch, he can hit it far. But he needs a lot of things to go in his favor.” Bogaerts said he would “100 percent” be a better pitcher than Rodriguez is a hitter. Starting back up Triple A righthanders Tanner Houck and Connor Seabold have started post-injury throwing programs. Houck hasn’t pitched since May 4 because of a flexor muscle strain. Seabold has yet to pitch this season because of elbow inflammation. “They’re feeling good,” Cora said. Houck has started two games for the Sox this season. Seabold has not appeared in a game since 2019, but the Sox believe he could be a depth option. The Sox are getting more testing done on Triple A righthander Eduard Bazardo, who strained a lat muscle on Tuesday. He has pitched twice in the majors this season. On the way? Danny Santana was not in the Worcester lineup on Thursday and is likely to be promoted on Friday. The veteran utility man was signed to a minor league contract in March and played eight games in the minors after recovering from injuries. There are some moving parts to complete the transaction, as the Sox would need to open a spot on the 40-man roster as well . ESPN picked up the Sunday, June 6, game against the Yankees in the Bronx, which will move it from 1:05 p.m.