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The Boston Red Sox Saturday, May 1, 2021 * The Boston Globe Red Sox have a blast at Rangers’ expense, slam four homers in road rout Julian McWilliams The Red Sox pride themselves in stringing together runs in multiple ways. It could be by the homer, the single through the right side, or the double in the gap. Or, perhaps, a good at-bat that works a pitch count up. This year, they have honed in on hitting with men in scoring position, sometimes surrendering their own numbers at the expense of scoring a run. It’s how, in part, they’ve put together this productive start to the season. They have proven themselves to be complete hitters, accruing their runs in multiple ways. Nevertheless, manager Alex Cora and hitting coach Tim Hyers don’t want their players to lose an aggressive approach. When the homer is there, take it. In the 6-1 win over the Rangers on Friday, they flexed their homer muscles, with all six runs coming on the long ball. “We can do that, too,” Cora said. J.D. Martinez had four RBIs and two of Boston’s four home runs, and after scoring just a run in each of their last two games, the Red Sox established early offense. The Red Sox jumped on Rangers starter Kohei Arihara in the top of the first, leadoff walks to Christian Arroyo and Alex Verdugo followed by Martinez’s first home run and a Xander Bogaerts solo shot. Martinez, taken out of Thursday’s contest with migraine symptoms, belted an Arihara offering to dead center for a solo homer in the third, registering his MLB-leading ninth of the season. Martinez, who finished 3 for 4, became the fourth Red Sox to hit as many as nine homers before May, tying Manny Ramirez (2001) and falling one shy of the 10 from David Ortiz (2006, his franchise record 54- homer season) and Hanley Ramirez (2015). “I’ve been doing well. Been hitting, been producing, and we’ve been winning. It’s been a great month,” Martinez said. Two batters later, Rafael Devers hit a line drive, opposite field shot to left, the game’s scoring done in its first hour. “That was impressive,” Cora said of Devers. “His batting practice [Thursday], it was phenomenal. We were talking about it today. He’s been able to stay back and drive the ball to left.” Nate Eovaldi was fresh off his first underwhelming start of the season, when the righthander allowed five earned runs in five innings against the Mariners. Eovaldi is best when his fastball lives at the top of the zone, and he made that his point of attack Friday, striking out five in six innings with two walks. “I had a good feel for my curveball today,” Eovaldi said. “And the splitter. Well, um, with those two pitches going down in the zone, it just kind of complements the fastball up, so I was able to get a couple strikeouts that way and a couple quick outs later in the game.” The lone Texas run came in the second, on a Brock Holt single dumped into shallow right field. Holt’s hit scored Adolis García from second and helped lead to a 28-pitch inning, Eovaldi’s only rocky frame. “I kind of let the second inning get to me a little bit,” Eovaldi said. “I felt like I was getting squeezed a little and I got to do a better job of letting those things go. I wasn’t attacking the zone.” Josh Taylor allowed a lone single in relief of Eovaldi in the seventh. Darwinzon Hernandez continued his recent success by striking out three around an infield single in the eighth, and Austin Brice walked two before finishing it in the ninth. The Red Sox finished April at 17-10, still sitting in first in the American League East. “It was a great month,” Cora said. “A month that we struggled in a few things. We played well for a good period of time. But, knowing that this is just a start, we still have to keep working.” Red Sox not among first swath of teams to reach 85 percent vaccinated Julian McWilliams Major League Baseball and the players association announced four teams have reached the threshold of 85 percent of their Tier 1 individuals — players, coaches, and support staff — being fully vaccinated. Those four, which includes the Yankees and Tigers, are able to relax certain health and safety protocols, with five other teams set to join them within two weeks. Alex Cora said his Red Sox team isn’t there just yet. “There were four more guys that got the shot [after the last homestand],” the manager said before his team’s 6-1 win over the Rangers on Friday. “It’s trending up. As you know because of where we play, our process started a little bit later than other places. So we just have to be patient.” It wasn’t until April 19 that everyone in Massachusetts, age 16 and up, could receive the vaccination. That was a lot slower than other states. Cora, who received his second dose a little more than a week ago, noted that the majority of his coaching staff has received the vaccine. The team has had medical experts available to the team to talk about the importance of receiving the vaccine. Cora has intimated that to his players as well, including some of the realities that stand in the team’s way if they don’t reach 85 percent vaccination. “It’s not the [85 percent] mark, it’s for me, for the people close to us,” Cora said. “I know how it works, that they’re going to get more freedom to do stuff. I would love to have my family on the road, right. And if we don’t get to 85 percent, we’re not going to be able to do that regardless if my family is vaccinated or I’m vaccinated. “I would love everybody here to do it for the right reason. It is to protect each other.” As of Friday, according to MLB and the MLBPA, more than 81 percent of all Tier 1 individuals are considered partially or fully vaccinated. Garrett Whitlock’s up for whatever Garrett Whitlock is just happy to be a big leaguer. He doesn’t care about becoming a starter. Despite the Rule 5 draft pick — who was plucked from the Yankees system last offseason — putting up stellar numbers, he knows how it feels to be injured or on the backburner. “Like I told bench [coach Will Venable], I said, ‘I’ll be the janitor up here,’ ” Whitlock said. In his first 13⅓ MLB innings, his first year back since undergoing Tommy John surgery, Whitlock has 18 strikeouts and is yet to allow a run. Even though it seems inevitable he’ll earn a rotation spot at some point beyond this season, the Red Sox have brought Whitlock along slowly. The club has pitched him in spurts, often going days between outings in an effort to stretch him out. Whitlock’s gone at least two innings in all but one of his six outings. “The veterans and my teammates deserve all the credit,” Whitlock said. “They’ve given me confidence that like, ‘Hey, we know you’re a Rule 5 guy, but you got this stuff, go do it.’ And so I can’t thank them enough for that.” Needed day off Kiké Hérnandez was out of the lineup Friday after going 4-for-24 in his last six games. Perhaps a breather could do him well. For the season, Hérnandez has been a weak spot in the leadoff spot, hitting .230 and not getting on base (.271) in 107 plate appearances. Despite his early season woes, Cora isn’t thinking about dropping Hérnandez in the lineup, saying he’s been controlling the strike zone better the last few days despite not getting the results. “Just keep pushing,” Cora said. “I think we saw it in spring training, he was able to hit line drives and control the strike zone. And right now he’s been on and off, but we feel comfortable with [him]” . Rich Gedman, a Worcester native, will open the inaugural Worcester Red Sox season next week as its hitting coach, and couldn’t be happier to be back in his hometown. “I left home at 17 years old,” Gedman said. “So I’ve been away longer than I’ve been here, but I’ve never been too far away. I walked the streets. I certainly walk the streets around the ballpark. It’s nice to be back here. And so proud to say that I’m from here. And I never thought in our lifetime that we’d ever see this.” The WooSox open Tuesday, May 4, on the road; their Polar Park opener is scheduled for May 11 against the Syracuse Mets . Former Red Sox Brock Holt and his wife, Lakyn, have brought their philanthropy back to their home state of Texas. Holt, now with the Rangers, announced the #HoltOffCancer initiative to help raise awareness and fight against childhood cancer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Holt will be working closely with the pediatric oncology unit at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth. Holt was an active member in the Red Sox community and, more specifically, the Jimmy Fund throughout his tenure with the club. J.D. Martinez’s planned day off turns into another stellar night at the plate for the Sox Peter Abraham ARLINGTON, Texas — Red Sox manager Alex Cora fully embraces the idea of giving even his best players regular days off.

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