The Sox wasted no time getting to St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore in the top of the first inning as Jarren Duran struck out swinging to start. Rob Refsnyder struck out swinging but Tyler O'Neill FINALLY belted his 11th home run of the season to put Boston ahead. Rafael Devers popped up to first to end the inning with the Sox ahead 1-0.
Pivetta got the ball in the bottom of the first and Matt Carpenter struck out swinging. Lars Nootbaar popped up to short and Paul Goldschmidt struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the second as Connor Wong walked to start. Connor took second on a passed ball and scored on the Garrett Cooper double to left. Cooper moved to third on the Romy Gonzalez line out to right but Vaughn Grissom grounded out to short. Ceddanne Rafaela grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox up 2-0.
Nolan Arenado grounded out to short to start the bottom of the second and so did Alec Burleson. Brendan Donovan struck out swinging to end the inning.
Liberatore snuffed out Duran's bunt attempt to open the top of the third and Refsnyder singled in the hole at short. O'Neill got a base hit to left but Devers went down hacking. Wong flied out to center to end the inning. Brandon Crawford flied out to left to start the bottom of the third and Pedro Pages struck out swinging. Michael Siani struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the fourth as Cooper singled down the third base line to start. Gonzalez doubled to left to score Cooper and chase Liberatore. Chris Roycroft came in and Grissom lined out to right to move Gonzalez to third. Rafaela hit a grounder to the mound to force Gonzalez out at home then took off for second. Pages threw the ball away and Ceddanne took third on the error. Arenado misjudged a pop-up by Duran amd it turned into an rbi triple. Siani made a great catch to rob Refsnyder of a hit to end the inning with the Sox ahead 4-0.
The Cards struck back in the bottom of the fourth as Carpenter flied out to center to start. Nootbaar hit a home run all the way to Cuba then Goldschmidt lined out to left. Arenado popped up to short to end the inning with the Cardinals down 4-1.
The Sox iced the game in the top of the fifth as O'Neill and Devers drew back to back walks to start. Wong got a base hit down to third to load the bases and Wilyer Abreu pinch hit for Cooper. Abreu beat out a roller to first to score O'Neill and Dominic Smith pinch hit for Gonzalez. Smith got a base hit to left to score Devers and Wong, chasing Roycroft. Ryan Fernandez came in to pitch and Grissom grounded into a double play. Rafaela struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox up 7-1.
Smith ices it
Burleson struck out swinging to open the bottom of the fifth and Donovan lined out to center. Crawford grounded out to second to end the inning.
Duran struck out swinging to start the top of the sixth and Refsnyder also went down hacking. O'Neill walked and Devers tied a Sox record with his 5th consecutive home run. Wong struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 9-1.
Pivetta returned for one final inning in the bottom of the sixth as Pages took strike three to start. Siani struck out swinging and Carpenter popped up to short to end the inning. Rather than keep going in a now meaningless game, Cora yanked Pivetta after allowing just one hit in 6 innings, he was outstanding.
Old pal Nick Robertson came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Abreu flied out to center to start. Smith flied out to center and Grissom lined out to third to end the inning. Greg Weissert came in to get tagged in the bottom of the seventh as Nootbaar grounded out to third to start. Goldschmidt doubled to center and Arenado singled to short before Burleson dumped a base hit to center to load the bases. Donovan got a base hit to left to score Goldschmidt but Crawford struck out swinging. A wild pitch scored Arenado but Pages struck out swinging to end the inning with the Cards down 9-3.
Rafaela struck out swinging to start the top of the eighth before Duran went down hacking. Refsnyder also struck out swinging to end the inning. Cam Booser came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth with Dylan Carlson pinch hitting for Siani. Carlson got a base hit to center and Ivan Herrera pinch hit for Carpenter. Herrera and Nootbaar both struck out swinging and Goldschmidt grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Sox wrapped up the scoring in the top of the ninth as O'Neill popped up to short to start. David Hamilton pinch hit for Devers and clobbered his second home run of the season to increase the lead. Wong got a base hit to right, Abreu doubled to center and Connor scored on the Smith grounder to first. Grissom grounded out to short to end the inning with the Sox ahead 11-3.
Chris Martin came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Nolan Gorman pinch hit for Arenado. Gorman struck out swinging, Burleson went down hacking and Donovan completed the trifecta with a swinging strikeout to end the game. The Sox had won it 11-3.
Sox win
Hero of The Night is Nick Pivetta. He allowed just the one run off one hit in 6 innings while striking out 8.
Hero Pivetta
The Good:
Tyler O'Neill was 2 for 3 with 2 walks, a home run and 3 runs scored.
Rafael Devers was 1 for 3 with a walk, a 2 run home run and 2 total runs scored.
David Hamilton hit a pinch hit home run.
Connor Wong was 2 for 4 with a walk and 3 runs scored.
Garrett Cooper was 2 for 2 with an rbi and a run scored.
Wilyer Abreu was 2 for 3 with an rbi.
Romy Gonzalez was 1 for 2 with an rbi.
Dominic Smith was 1 for 3 with 3 total rbis.
Cam Booser pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Chris Martin tossed a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Vaughn Grissom was 0 for 5.
Greg Weissert allowed 2 runs in the seventh inning.
The Ugly:
Jarren Duran was just 1 for 5 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts but drove in a run.
Rob Refsnyder was just 1 for 3 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but stole a base and stole a run.
Final Thoughts:
Its about time the offense broke out and it came at a good time too. The Sox were losing ground in the AL East and in danger of basically being out of it before the season really starts. The performance by Pivetta was a low key reminder of when Rick Porcello one hit the Yankees back in 2018 only it was just for six innings. Still, he had an arm problem earlier this year so it makes sense not to send him out for the seventh with the game well in hand. The only blemishes on the game were Weissert allowing two runs and the continued incompetence of Vaughn Grissom. Cora has already said that he's not fully recovered from whatever plagued him in April so why don't they just bench him until he feels better? Hamilton has come on strong the last few games, why not give him a start? Still, the Sox snapped their four game losing streak and now head to Tampa for another battle with the Rays. The win improved the Sox to 23-24, 9.5 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa tomorrow night with Tanner Houck (3-5) taking on Taj Bradley. The game begins at 6:50 PM at Tropicana Field.
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