For the second time in three days the Boston Red Sox used the Toronto Blue Jays pitchers as proverbial punching bags and the bullpen pitched shutout baseball. Rafael Devers, Kike Hernandez, JD Martinez, Michael Chavis and Hunter Renfroe all went yard for Boston and Garrett Richards (6-5, 4.99 ERA) left in the sixth inning after allowing back to back home runs. Sox manager Alex Cora called in the A-Team to close the game out and they did. Garrett Whitlock, Adam Ottavino and Matt Barnes didn't allow a run the rest of the game while the Sox delivered the knockout punches in the eighth inning. After the dust settled, the Sox had beaten the Blue Jays 7-4 at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York.
Robbie Ray got the ball in the top of the first inning and Kike Hernandez flied out to center to start. Danny Santana flied out to right and Xander Bogaerts grounded out to first to end the inning. Richards got the ball in the bottom of the first and Marcus Semien struck out swinging to start. Bo Bichette grounded out to second and Vladimir Guerrero Jr struck out swinging to end the inning.
Rafael Devers walked to start the top of the second inning and moved to second on the JD Martinez ground out to third. Hunter Renfroe took strike three and Christian Vazquez whiffed to end the inning. George Springer grounded out to short to begin the bottom of the second but Teoscar Hernandez singled to center. Hernandez moved to second on the Randal Grichuk grounder to second and Lourdes Gurriel Jr lined out to second to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the third as Bobby Dalbec doubled to left to start. Dalbec moved to third on the Michael Chavis fly out to center but Hernandez smashed his 14th home run of the year to put the Sox on top. Santana grounded back to the mound and Bogaerts popped up to first to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Cavan Biggio flied out to left to start the bottom of the third but Rafael Devers threw a ground ball by Danny Jansen all the way to Brooklyn for an error. Semien grounded out to short and Bichette was retired on a squibber in front of the plate to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the fourth inning as Devers crushed his 24th home run of the season to increase the lead. Martinez flied out to center, Renfroe struck out swinging and Vazquez went down hacking to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.
The Jays got a run back in the bottom of the fourth as Guerrero Jr hit a home run all the way to Montreal to cut the lead. Springer flied out to center, Hernandez struck out swinging and Grichuk went down hacking to end the inning with the Jays down 3-1.
The Sox struck again in the top of the fifth as Dalbec popped up to short to start. Chavis smashed his second home run of the season to increase the lead and Hernandez doubled to center. Santana grounded out to third and Bogaerts flied out to right to end the inning with the Sox ahead 4-1.
Richards cruised in the bottom of the fifth inning as Gurriel Jr struck out swinging to start. Biggio grounded out to first and Danny Jansen grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Sox got another run against Adam Cimber in the top of the sixth as Devers popped up to short to start. Martinez doubled to center but Renfroe grounded out to third. Vazquez dropped a base hit to left to score Martinez but Devers struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 5-1.
Richards fell apart in the bottom of the sixth as Semien grounded out to third to start. Bichette grounded out to short but Guerrero Jr walked on four pitches not even close. Springer then hit a home run all the way to Syracuse and Hernandez hit a home run all the way to Albany to chase Richards. Just like that he had allowed 4 runs in 5 2/3 innings. Sox manager Alex Cora turned to The A-Team and Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in to get Grichuk to pop up to second to end the inning with Boston still ahead 5-4.
Trevor Richards came in for the top of the seventh inning and Chavis went down hacking to start. Hernandez flied out to right and Santana went down swinging to end the inning. The Sox suffered an injury in the bottom of the seventh although The Lock struck out Gurriel Jr swinging to start. Biggio struck out swinging but Santana fell down trying to catch a ball hit by Jansen that turned into a double. Santana had to be carried out on a stretcher, loaded into an ambulance and rushed to Mercy Hospital's ICU. Alex Verdugo came in for Santana with Reese McGuire now running for Jansen. Semien lined out to right to end the inning but Santana was hurt again.
The Sox iced the game in the top of the eighth with Jordan Romano now on the mound. Bogaerts grounded out to short to start before Devers popped up to third. Martinez then clubbed his 20th home run of the season and Renfroe smashed his 15th for back to back jacks, putting the game away. Vazquez struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 7-4.
Back to back jacks
Adam Ottavino came in for the bottom of the eighth inning and Bichette struck out swinging to start. Guerrero Jr walked but Springer banged into a double play to end the inning.
Tim Mayza came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Dalbec took strike three to start. Chavis grounded out to second but Hernandez walked. Verdugo grounded out to first to end the inning. Matt Barnes came in to close out the bottom of the eighth and Hernandez struck out swinging to start. Grichuk grounded out to short and Gurriel Jr grounded out to third to end the game. The Sox had won it 7-4.
Sox win
JD Hero
Hero of the Night is a tough one with such a balanced offensive attack. I'll go with JD Martinez for scoring the fifth run and smashing the home run for the big insurance run.
The Good:
Kike Hernandez was 2 for 4 with a walk and a 2 run bomb.
Rafael Devers was 1 for 3 with a walk and a home run.
Garrett Whitlock tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Adam Ottavino pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Matt Barnes pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Danny Santana was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 1 at the plate.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 4.
The Ugly:
Hunter Renfroe was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but the one hit was a home run.
Christian Vazquez was just 1 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts but drove in a run.
Bobby Dalbec was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked.
Michael Chavis was just 1 for 4 but the one hit was a home run.
Garrett Richards got the win but allowed 4 runs in just 5 2/3 innings.
Final Thoughts:
Between the 6 home runs Monday night and the 5 tonight, either Buffalo has some pretty thin air or the Sox revamped lineup is for real. Its too bad the Sox can't keep up this pace of home runs because its been pretty fun to watch the last few games. Its a shame the Tuesday night game got rained out because its possible they could have swept the Jays out of Buffalo with the way the new look lineup has been clicking. The Sox offense can be absolutely deadly with Hernandez delivering at the leadoff and Martinez, Bogaerts and Devers being their usual selves. The keys moving forward are going to be Jarren Duran, Verdugo and Vazquez. Vazquez had his best season in 2019 and Verdugo looked damn good last year. Not that either have been terrible but they're going to need to elevate their games if the Sox want a real chance to win the AL East. Pitching wise the A-Team saved the day again when Richards faltered and its just a question of when Alex Cora pulls the plug on Richards. The Sox invested 10 million dollars in him to put up the same numbers former Sox pitcher Brian Johnson could for 500 grand. Still, if the biggest problem the Sox have is bench depth, that means they're a pretty good team. The win improved the Sox to 58-38, 1.5 games in front of the Rays for first place in the AL East. The Sox now take on the New York Yankees in an important 4 game set at Fenway Park. The Sox need to take at least 3 of the games if they hope to keep pace with the Rays. Tomorrow night Tanner Houck (0-1) makes his return to the rotation as he opposes Jordan Montgomery of the Yankees at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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