The Boston Red Sox Sunday, May 30, 2021 * The Boston Globe Nate Eovaldi, bullpen stellar as Red Sox take second straight win over Marlins Peter Abraham Adam Ottavino punched his fist into his glove and let out a yell as he marched off the mound in the seventh inning Saturday. The righthander even flexed on his way to the dugout, the veins popping in his neck as the fans at Fenway Park roared. Ottavino uncharacteristically went the full Hulk Hogan for a few seconds after striking out Miami Marlins cleanup hitter Garrett Cooper to leave the bases loaded. “Kind of an out-of-body experience there. Glad I was able to make the pitch and just kind of blacked out,” Ottavino said after the Red Sox finished off a 3-1 victory. Credit an assist to the crowd of 25,089, the largest at Fenway Park since the final game of the 2019 season. “That was awesome. The crowd brought it today. That’s what’s been missing at those two-strike moments at home,” Ottavino said. “Feels like that puts a lot of pressure on the hitter.” On the day Massachusetts rescinded its pandemic protocols, the ballpark was abuzz despite the cold, wet, and windy weather. “A lot of energy out there, a lot of excitement. I know the guys were really feeding off that,” said bench coach Will Venable, who managed the team with Alex Cora attending his daughter’s high school graduation. “A couple of guys came into the dugout and we’re talking about how electric it was.” They have a team worth supporting. The Sox have won three straight and seven of nine. At 32-20, they are 12 games over .500 for the first time this season. Nate Eovaldi (6-2) and five relievers allowed 10 hits. But the Marlins were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position, striking out six times. Outside of needing 101 pitches to go 5⅓ innings, Eovaldi (6-2) had one of his best starts of the season. He allowed four hits, walked one, and struck out seven. Eovaldi felt the same kind of surge Ottavino did as the fans got into the game at pivotal moments. “The fans, they basically tell you what they want,” he said. “They’re encouraging you to try and get a strikeout in a big situation. When we’ve got runners in scoring position they want to get that knock across and score some runs. “That’s part of having a home-field advantage.” The Sox had nine hits — four of them doubles — over six innings against Marlins lefthander Trevor Rogers but scored only two runs as they left six runners on base. Rafael Devers singled with one out in the second inning, took second on a single by Hunter Renfroe, and scored on a single to shallow left field by Bobby Dalbec. The game plan was clearly to challenge left fielder Corey Dickerson and his throw was high and off the mark. With Christian Arroyo singled to left, Renfroe tried to score on Dickerson but this time his throw was accurate and Sandy Leon slapped a quick tag down. The Sox made it 2-0 in the fourth inning when Renfroe doubled to left and scored on a two-out single by backup catcher Kevin Plawecki. It was his third RBI of the season. But Rogers (6-3) was otherwise solid. He struck out six without a walk. After Eovaldi departed, Josh Taylor got the final two outs of the sixth inning to leave two runners stranded. Miami’s Jose Devers doubled with one out in the seventh and went to third on a single by Magneuris Sierra. Ottavino came on and walked Starling Marte to load the bases before striking out Jesús Aguilar and Cooper to end the inning. Aguilar saw nine pitches before going down swinging at a slider. The Marlins also threatened in the eighth inning. Darwinzon Hernandez walked Isan Díaz with two outs. Hirokazu Sawamura came in face righthanded-hitting pinch hitter Jorge Alfaro. He grounded to third, but Rafael Devers made his second throwing error of the game to continue the inning. Sawamura then struck out Jose Devers. Rafael Devers (3 for 4) doubled with two outs in the eighth and scored on a single by Renfroe. Matt Barnes finished the Marlins off for his 12th save in 13 chances, although he did allow a run. Will Venable pinch hits for Alex Cora as Red Sox manager against Marlins Peter Abraham Will Venable played played baseball and basketball at Princeton before spending parts of nine seasons in the majors. He then worked in the front office of the Cubs before coaching first base and third base. Venable then joined the Red Sox as their bench coach. On Saturday, he took on managing for the first time. With Alex Cora in Puerto Rico to see his daughter Camila graduate from high school, Venable guided the Sox to 3-1 victory against the Miami Marlins. It was a first for the 38-year-old. His only prior managerial experience was an inning in Minnesota on April 15 when Cora was ejected. Venable was busy. He made five pitching changes over the final 3⅔ innings to preserve the win. “The way baseball is, you knew it was going to challenge us and put us in some situations where we had to make some calls,” Venable said. Cora discussed the lineup and the status of the bullpen with Venable before he left. Quality control coach Ramón Vázquez took on a few more in-game responsibilities. “It was great,” Venable said. “High stress levels, but what we expected.” Within the game, Venable is seen as a managerial candidate. He interviewed with the Sox last fall before the team decided to bring back Cora. Brighter day Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, threw out the first pitch before the game. She said Fenway Park being back at full capacity was a “bright moment” for the nation as it emerges from the pandemic. Walensky was chief of the division of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital when the pandemic started last year. “It was so hard as we thought through the things that needed to be closed, the conventions at Hynes Center that might not happen or didn’t happen, school systems that needed to close,” she said. “It’s been a really long year. We’ve seen some really, really dark times. The future is so bright. I’m super excited to be here. It was truly an honor to be here and thrilled that we are back where we are right now.” Walensky is encouraged by the rising vaccination rates around the country. The CDC’s goal is to get to 70 percent by July 4. “Still a lot of work to do,” she said. Miami’s vice The Sox are 18-6 against Miami and have won nine consecutive games at home against the Marlins. Sox are 7-2 in interleague games this season . Hunter Renfroe was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. After hitting .167 with a .485 OPS in April, he has hit .307 with an .879 in May with 12 extra-base hits and 14 RBIs in 23 games . Eduardo Rodriguez, who starts the series finale Sunday, is 1-3 with a 6.48 earned run average in five starts this month. He took the loss at Philadelphia last Sunday but pitched three scoreless innings with five strikeouts after giving up four runs in the first inning and felt he had turned a corner with his command. Rodriguez hasn’t faced the Marlins since 2015 . Double A Portland righthander Josh Winckowski pitched seven shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out nine in a 4-3 victory against Hartford. Winckowski, one of the prospects obtained in the Andrew Benintendi trade, is 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA in five starts . Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said the Red Sox retained 85-90 percent of their season ticket-holders since 2019 despite the pandemic. “We’ve got among the strongest renewal rates in all of baseball,” Kennedy said. Fenway Park being allowed to be full once again feels like a big step Peter Abraham Massachusetts lifted its COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday and for the first time since the final game of the 2019 season, Fenway Park was allowed to have full capacity. Ideally, this paragraph would have been about a sun-splashed crowd of 37,000 cheering loudly as Nate Eovaldi fired the first pitch. That will have to wait. The Red Sox had a paid attendance of 25,089 for the game with somewhat fewer actually in the stands because of the cold, wind and rain. It was 50 degrees at first pitch and people walked into the park carrying blankets and wearing winter hats. They were rewarded with a 3-1 victory against the Miami Marlins. Sox CEO Sam Kennedy would have preferred a sellout but actually welcomed a smaller crowd. After 20 months without a full house, the game-day staff got a chance to ease into being back to normal. “It’s kind of nice, to be honest with you, to have a bit of a dry run,” Kennedy said. “Although not dry, a wet run.” The weather wasn’t the only factor. Kennedy has gotten a sense that some fans didn’t want to venture out into large crowds quite yet. His mother, Joanna, is one of them. “Yes, have heard some reluctance from different demographics,” Kennedy said.