Before today's doubleheader, the Boston Red Sox made a roster move. 25 year old pitching prospect Eduard Bazardo was called up from the Alternate Training Site to be the 26th man. Bazardo was the Single A Salem Red Sox's best relief pitcher in 2019 before being called up to Portland to finish the season. Unfortunately his 2020 season was wiped out by COVID so it'll be interesting to see how he does without ever seeing Pawtucket....if he even plays.
As for the game, make it eight in a row for the surging Red Sox. In Game 1 of a 7 inning doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins, the Sox narrowly beat the Twins using shut down pitching and timely hitting. The Sox bolted out to a 3-0 lead due to some shoddy defense from Twins starter Kenta Maeda. Nathan Eovaldi (2-1, 2.08 ERA) allowed 2 runs in the bottom of the third but went 5 strong innings to pick up the win. Darwinzon Hernandez and Matt Barnes locked down the save thanks to a big assist from a diving catch to end the game by Alex Verdugo. It was a nail-biter but the Sox came out on top 3-2 at Target Field.
Things didn't start out well against Maeda when Christian Arroyo led off the bottom of the first by getting called out on a strike three that was clearly foul tipped into the ground. Alex Verdugo dropped a base hit to left and JD Martinez walked, but Xander Bogaerts popped up to third. Rafael Devers struck out swinging to end the inning. Eovaldi got the ball in the bottom of the first and Luis Arraez flies out to center to start. Jorge Polanco lined out to second but Nelson Cruz doubled to left. Max Kepler grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the second when Marwin Gonzalez dropped a base hit to left to start. A wild pitch moved Gonzalez to second and he scored on the Hunter Renfroe base hit to left, giving Boston the lead. Franchy Cordero also dropped a base hit to left and Kevin Plawecki dropped down a bunt....that Maeda threw away allowing Renfroe to score. Both runners moved over on the error and Arroyo dropped another base hit to left to score Cordero. Plawecki moved to third on the hit but was out at home on the grounder to second by Verdugo. The rally ended as Martinez struck out swinging and Bogaerts grounded out to first to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.
Eovaldi tried to keep the lead in the bottom of the second as Willians Astudillo grounded out to short to start. Twins rookie Alex Kirilloff made his first at-bat by flying out to the left field warning track and Jake Cave struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the third as Devers flied out to left to start. Gonzalez walked but was erased on the force by Renfroe. Cordero went down hacking to end the inning. Eovaldi ran into trouble when Ryan Jeffers and JT Riddle stroked back to back singles to start the bottom of the third. Arraez lined out to a running Cordero but a wild pitch moved both runners over. Polanco drove in both runners with a base hit to center and Eovaldi hit Cruz after having him down 1-2. Somehow Kepler struck out swinging and Astudillo grounded back to the mound to end the inning but it was 3-2 Sox.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the fourth as Plawecki flied out to left to begin. Arroyo somehow doubled to left but Verdugo grounded back to the mound. Martinez whiffed badly to end the inning. The Twins almost tied the game as Kirilloff grounded out to first to start the bottom of the fourth. Cave got a base hit to left but Cordero tried to kick the ball to second base for an error that allowed Jake to take second. Cave took third on the Jeffers fly out to right and Riddle grounded out to first to end the inning.
The Sox blew a rally in the top of the fifth as Bogaerts doubled to left to begin. Xander moved over to third on the Devers grounder and that was it for Maeda. Cody Stashak came in to pitch and naturally Gonzalez struck out swinging. Renfroe also whiffed to end the inning. Somehow Eovaldi cruised in the bottom of the fifth as Arraez grounded out to third to start. Polanco took strike three to start and Cruz grounded out to second to end the inning. That was it for Eovaldi who tossed 82 pitches in 5 innings to put the Sox in position to win.
Brandon Waddell came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Kike Hernandez pinch hit for Cordero. Hernandez popped up to third but Plawecki singled to left. Kirilloff made a great catch to rob Arroyo of extra bases but Verdugo singled Plawecki to third. Martinez flied out to right to end the inning, another rally wasted. Sox manager Alex Cora rolled the dice by sending the wild Darwinzon Hernandez to pitch the bottom of the sixth and Renfroe made a nice grab on a liner by Kepler to begin. Astudillo flied out to center and Garlick flied out to right to end the inning.
The Sox blew another rally in the top of the seventh when Bogaerts doubled to center to start. Devers dumped a base hit to right to put runners at the corners but all Gonzalez could do is move Devers to second on a grounder to third. Renfroe walked to load the bases but Hernandez popped up to second and Plawecki popped up to first to end the inning. The Sox managed to leave 12 men on base in a 7 inning game. Sox closer Matt Barnes came in to close out the bottom of the seventh and Cave walked to start. Jeffers struck out swinging and Miguel Sano pinch hit for Riddle. Cave swiped second and Sano missed a game tying double by about 2 feet foul, only to strike out swinging. Arraez hit a looped to left that Verdugo made a great diving catch to nab to end the game. Shades of Andrew Benintendi in the ALCS, the Sox had won it 3-2.
Hero of the Night is Alex Verdugo. His game saving catch won the game.
The Good:
Christian Arroyo was 2 for 4 with an rbi.
Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 4.
Marwin Gonzalez was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Hunter Renfroe was 1 for 3 with a walk, rbi and a run scored.
Franchy Cordero was 1 for 2 with a run scored.
Nathan Eovaldi earned the win with 5 innings of 2 run ball. He allowed 5 hits and struck out 3.
Darwinzon Hernandez pitched a scoreless sixth inning.
Matt Barnes earned the save with a scoreless seventh inning.
The Bad:
Kike Hernandez was 0 for 2.
The Ugly:
JD Martinez was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts but walked.
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Kevin Plawecki was just 1 for 4.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox look unbeatable right now and they're winning in every which way. They left 12 men on base in this one but they still pulled out the victory due to some great pitching. Eovaldi looked rattled in the third inning but battled to go five. Matt Barnes looked human for the first time all season but still settled down for the save (with a big assist from Verdugo). The encouraging sign was Arroyo getting it done and Darwinzon setting the bridge in the sixth inning. The Sox are gonna need those two in games where the starts are struggling, today was one of those days. The Sox set themselves up in great shape to take Game 2 with Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound. Winning eight in a row is nothing to sneeze at but the Sox get absolutely no time to enjoy it. In about 40 minutes the Sox play Game 2 with Eduardo Rodriguez (1-0, 5.40 ERA) taking on Jose Berrios at Target Field.
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