The Boston Red Sox Sunday, August 19, 2018 * The Boston Globe Fast start helps Red Sox run away from Rays Julian Benbow The book on Rays starter Tyler Glasnow wasn’t necessarily a long read, but the Red Sox analytics team knew way more about the 24-year-old righthander than he knew about the Sox. Glasnow only had three major league seasons, 59 appearances, and 20 starts under his belt when he took the mound at Fenway on Saturday night. He had only made three starts in the American League after coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a trade at the deadline for Chris Archer. But he had a glaring Achilles’ heel: up to this point in his career, he hadn’t shown any overwhelming interest in keeping base runners in check. “Just doing research,” said Sox first base coach Tom Goodwin, who also coordinates base running. “Anything you can find that might help you figure out if he’s going home or coming over [to the base]. That’s really all we do. We just try to find something, and if we find it, we try to exploit it.” Runners had a 74 percent stolen base success rate against him. He had never picked off a runner in his career. The time it took for his 6-foot-8-inch frame to deliver the ball to the mound didn’t help matters. So the Sox spent the first inning of their 5-2 win over the Rays seeing how many bases they could squeeze out of Glasnow. “You do your homework and if you feel that there’s something going on that we can take advantage of, you do it,” said Sox manager Alex Cora. Things started fine for Glasnow. He struck out Mookie Betts to lead things off. Then Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland stroked back-to-back doubles to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Moreland was at second and J.D. Martinez was at the plate. On a 1-and-0 count, Cora gave Moreland the green light. Moreland had stolen one base already this season, which for the past seven years of his career had pretty much been the quota. He had never stolen third. But swiping it from Glasnow was like taking a lollipop from Tommy Pickles’s mouth. Moreland was already three strides to the bag when Glasnow finished his follow-through. “Mitch did a good job,” Cora said. Martinez worked a walk to make it first and third. With a base open and Xander Bogaerts at the plate, there was still room for the Sox to see how far they could push it. Martinez knew from his pregame prep that the opportunity would be there. But he wouldn’t say what tipped him. “Can’t tell you that, man,” Martinez said. On another 1-and-0 count, Martinez took off for second. He had four stolen bases this season, two shy of his single-season high. “Feeling good,” Martinez said. “The legs are fresh.” When Glasnow walked Bogaerts to load the bases, he reached for his rosin bag to try to gather himself. When he walked Ian Kinsler on four pitches, allowing Moreland to trot home, Glasnow’s hollow-eyed stare got Rays manager Kevin Cash on the phone to get an arm ready in the bullpen. Glasnow got Brock Holt to ground into what appeared to a double play that could have ended the Sox’ experiment with minimal damage. But Rays first baseman Jake Bauers launched his throw into the outfield, allowing Martinez and Bogaerts to score and push the Sox’ lead to 4-0. The Sox tried one more trick that ultimately got Glasnow off the hook. With runners on first and second and Sandy Leon at the plate, they tried a double steal. Glasnow finally caught on and made a throw to third that nearly sailed over the head of Matt Duffy. The Rays third baseman tagged out Kinsler, who was hung up between second and third, then chased down Holt to end the inning. “I don’t mind that one,” Cora said. “It looked bad, but it doesn’t matter. We’re still up two, we put pressure on him, and we scored four.” The two stolen bases moved the Sox into a tie with the Cleveland Indians for the most in the majors this season (98). They’re 49-18 when they steal at least one base and 17-5 when they steal two or more. Even if the double steal didn’t work out the way they planned it, they could see the payoff. “I don’t want to say we got greedy, but we just didn’t wait him out long enough on the ones where we did get picked off,” Goodwin said. “And those kinds of things happen when you’re being aggressive and trying to do some things to get yourself some runs on the board. But as far as the aggression, as far as the guys getting out there and running, obviously very pleased with how it’s gone this year.” Martinez stretched the lead in the third inning with his major-league leading 38th homer of the season. He also pushed his major-league-leading RBI total to 106, 11 more than anyone else. But being so close to a career-high in steals made his eyes light up. “For real? The career-high is six?” Martinez said. “I’ve got to get that. That might be the one I’m most proud of.” With a four-run lead, Sox starter David Price cruised, giving up two runs on five hits in seven innings while improving to 13-6. He gave up a two-run homer to C.J. Cron in the sixth inning but was able to stretch his run of starts since the All-Star break with two or fewer runs allowed to five. He threw 72 of his 103 pitchers for strikes. Glasnow managed to regroup from a difficult first frame and throw 6⅔ innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on three hits with four strikeouts. “That’s good stuff over there,” Cora said. “98-99 [m.p.h.]. It cuts. Good breaking ball. I got a phone call today from the Pirates staff, so I had a pretty good idea what we were going to see today, and [he’s] as advertised. His stuff is that good.” But on the way to picking up their ninth win in their last 11 games, the Sox were able to pinpoint a weakness and turn it into runs. A huge part of the reason — and one of Cora’s recurring themes this season — is time spent poring over data and video and then the players’ ability to process the information and use it to yield tangible results. “We just try to see it and we want to trust it and once the guys trust it and can apply it, that’s what makes these guys special,” Goodwin said. “Just to have those guys be able to see something and apply it and happen to have it work out, it definitely makes the research that much more special.” Red Sox put Chris Sale back on DL after feeling discomfort Julian Benbow Not even a week after returning from a stint on the 10-day disabled list, Red Sox ace Chris Sale was placed on the DL once again Saturday (retroactive to Aug. 15) after the lingering effects of mild left shoulder inflammation cropped up between starts. Sale threw five dominant scoreless innings Aug. 12 against the Orioles, piling up 12 strikeouts on just 68 pitches, and was set to start again Sunday. But in his throwing sessions between starts, he felt discomfort in his shoulder. “When I started throwing again [between starts], it just kind of didn’t respond the way we wanted it to,” Sale said. “Didn’t really bounce back like we wanted it to. So just kind of adjust and map things out and see where it takes us.” The obvious concern late in the season — with the Sox holding the best record in baseball and a 10½-game lead in the AL East entering Saturday — was how the injury would affect such an important piece of their rotation. “Obviously terrible timing,” Sale said. “Not the most ideal situation. To be honest, it’s quite miserable for me. But at the same time, I’m not going to sit down and pout. I’m going to keep my chin up. I’m on the best team that’s ever walked the planet. I’ve got 15 guys that got my back and I appreciate that.” Sale first went on the DL July 31 when he started to feel soreness after a stretch of starts. He was expected to miss just one start but ultimately missed two before returning against the Orioles. In this instance, Sale said the pain wasn’t to the same extent it was initially, but it was enough for the Sox to decide to take extra precautions. “I think it’s the smart move,” said manager Alex Cora. “This situation’s just a process — before the start, during the start, and after the start. It was taking him a while after the start and where we’re at right now, not only as an organization but with the individual, we have to take care of him. “This guy’s very important to what we’re trying to accomplish and if he needs to skip one, two, three, whatever, we’re willing to do that.