As for the game, the bad news was the Boston Red Sox only had three measly hits and were held to just two runs by Yusei Kikuchi and the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen. The good news was Nathan Eovaldi and the Red Sox bullpen held the high powered Jays to just a single run. Zack Collins homered in the top of the second and that was the last run allowed by Boston. A Trevor Story rbi double tied the game in the bottom of the fourth and a Connor Wong sac fly in the seventh put the Sox on tap. Matt Strahm, Hansel Robles, Jake Diekman and Garrett Whitlock slammed the door on the Jays as the Sox took the game 2-1 at Fenway Park.
Eovaldi took the mound in the top of the first and George Springer grounded out to short to start. Bo Bichette lined out to right but Vladimir Guerrero Jr ripped a base hit to center. Lourdes Gurriel Jr struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox blew a rally against Kikuchi in the bottom of the first as Kike Hernandez walked to start. Trevor Story walked but Rafael Devers banged into a double play. Xander Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning.
Zack Collins led off the top of the second with a home run all the way to China to put the Jays up 9 batters into the game. Matt Chapman struck out swinging but Alejandro Kirk beat out a roller to short.shirt. Raime Tapia struck out swinging and Santiago Espinal lined out to left to end the inning but the Jays were up 1-0.
Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez warned Kikuchi not to lick his fingers and when that threat was ignored, JD Martinez was given an intentional walk to start the bottom of the second for the violation. Alex Verdugo grounded back to the mound to advance JD to second but Bobby Dalbec struck out swinging. Christian Arroyo grounded out to short to end the inning.
Springer lined a base hit to right to start the top of the third but Bichette forced him at second. Guerrero Jr walked but Gurriel Jr lined out to left. Collins struck out swinging to end the inning. Connor Wong made his season debut with a ground out to second to start the bottom of the third but Hernandez doubled to left. Story smacked a line drive off the Monster to score Hernandez to tie the game before moving to third on a grounder to short by Devers. Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning with the game tied 1-1.
As usual the Jays got the first runner on as Chapman singled to center to start the top of the fourth. Kirk singled off the glove of Eovaldi but Tapia struck out looking. Espinal went down hacking and Springer lined out to right to end the inning. Martinez hit a routine grounder to Bichette to start the bottom of the fourth but No threw it away for an error. Verdugo lined a base hit to center to put runners at the corners but all Dalbec did was ground back to the mound to move Alex to second. Naturally Arroyo took strike three and Wong grounded back to the mound to end the inning. Another squander in a season full of them.
Bichette popped up to second to start the top of the fifth but Guerrero Jr singled to center. Gurriel Jr popped up to third and as usual Sox manager Alex Cora came to pull his starter early. Eovaldi was finished after getting just 14 outs although he allowed just 1 run. "Shaggy" Matt Strahm came in and Collins took strike three to end the inning.
Kikuchi cruised in the bottom of the fifth as Hernandez lined back to the mound to start. Story struck out swinging and Devers grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
Strahm made quick work of the Jays in the top of the sixth as Chapman flied out to left to start. Kirk flied out to right and Tapia grounded out to first to end the inning. David Phelps came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth and Bogaerts flied out to left to start. Martinez watched strike three go by and Verdugo struck out swinging to end the inning.
Hansel Robles came in to pitch the top of the seventh and the Jays beat the ball in the dirt. Espinal grounded out to short to start and Springer grounded out to third. Bichette grounded out to second to end the inning. The Sox rallied in the bottom of the seventh as Bichette threw a grounder by Dalbec away for an error with Yimi Garcia now on the mound. Dalbec moved to second on the error and Jackie Bradley Jr pinch hit for Arroyo. JBJ grounded out to short to move Dalbec to third and Bobby scored on the Wong sac fly to right. Hernandez grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-1.
Robles returned for the top of the eighth and Guerrero Jr took strike three to start. Gurriel Jr also was frozen for strike three and that was it for Robles. Jake Diekman came in to face Collins and Zack ripped a base hit to left. Cavan Biggio ran for Collins but Chapman popped up to short to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the eighth with Trevor Richards now on the mound. Story struck out swinging, Devers flied out to center and Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning.
Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in to close out the top of the ninth and Kirk grounded out to short to start. The Lock appeared to have hurt himself covering the bag on a grounder to first by Tapia but he recovered to get Espinal to fly out to right to end the game. The Sox somehow won the game 2-1.
Hero of the Night is Connor Wong. He hit the go-ahead sac fly to put the Sox up for good in the seventh.
The Good:
Kike Hernandez was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Trevor Story was 1 for 3 with a walk, rbi and a run scored.
Alex Verdugo was 1 for 3.
Nathan Eovaldi allowed just a single run in 4 2/3 innings while striking out 9.
Matt Strahm tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Hansel Robles tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Jake Diekman got the final out of the eighth inning.
Garrett Whitlock earned his first save of the year with a scoreless ninth.
The Bad:
Rafael Devers was 0 for 4.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 4.
Christian Arroyo was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 1 at the plate.
The Ugly:
JD Martinez was 0 for 2 with a strikeout but walked.
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but scored a run.
Final Thoughts:
There are going to be times when the Red Sox win 10-1 and there's going to be nights like this where they win by the skin of their teeth. The Sox had just 3 hits in the game and can normally do nothing with men on base. The offense is completely out of sync and too many guys are ice cold in key spots. Not only that but Alex Cora pulled Eovaldi too early AGAIN. I don't want to hear "but they didn't have Spring Training". Was last year not enough of a clue that making your bullpen toss 4 innings a game is a recipe for disaster? Still the positives were the defense played great and the Sox pitchers held a tough offense to just a solo home run. All four relievers used tonight have ERA's under 1.51 but that's not going to last if they keep having to be used every night. Still, to win a game on a night when the Sox only had 3 hits is big considering every win counts. The Covid bug has now taken both catchers and Jonathan Arauz in the last two days. Hopefully that's all that will get it because the Sox can't afford to have the Worcester Red Sox play the Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays coming up. The Sox look to make it two in a row over Toronto tomorrow night when Nick Pivetta (0-2, 9.39 ERA) takes on Jose Berrios of the Jays. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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