Say hell to the REAL Boston Red Sox offense. In a case of better late than never, the Boston Red Sox have won 7 of their last 8 games and 8 out of 10 mostly due to their offense. Tonight the Boston bats pounded Dallas Keuchel and the Chicago White Sox bullpen for 18 hits and SIXTEEN runs. Kike Hernandez hit his second leadoff home run of this series, Trevor Story hit yet another 3 run home run and even Kevin Plawecki homered off infielder Josh Harrison. Alex Verdugo busted out of his season long slump by getting four hits and Christian Vazquez continued his resurgence with 3 hits of his own to raise his batting average to .279. JD Martinez pushed his average to .380 with 3 more hits and everyone but Jackie Bradley Jr that went to bat got a hit. The only downside was the other side of the ball. Michael Wacha got lit up for 5 runs in just 4 1/3 innings and Matt Barnes faced five batters and walked four of them. The silver lining was John Schreiber (2-0, 0.00 ERA) continued his hot streak with Tyler Danish, Hiro Sawamura and Austin Davis in to limit the damage by the White Sox. The Red Sox still have a lot of work to do to get back into playoff contention but they should enjoy this 16-7 victory over the White Sox at Comiskey Park.
The BoSox ambushed Keuchel in the top of the first as Kike Hernandez struck the second pitch of the game for a home run to give the BoSox the lead. Rafael Devers doubled to left and JD Martinez got a base hit to left to move Devers to third. Xander Bogaerts popped up to second but Trevor Story slashed a base hit to left to score Devers. Alex Verdugo doubled to center to score Martinez but Christian Vazquez took strike three. Bobby Dalbec walked to load the bases but Christian Arroyo struck out swinging to end the inning with Boston ahead 3-0.
Wacha got the ball in the bottom of the first and Tim Anderson was retired on a squibber in front of the plate to start. Andrew Vaughn flied out to left and AJ Pollock lined out to center to end the inning.
Hernandez took strike three to start the top of the second inning but Devers doubled to right. Devers took third on a passed ball and Martinez walked to put runners at the corners. Bogaerts took strike three but Story hit yet another 3 run bomb to put the BoSox up big. Verdugo flied out to right to end the inning with Boston ahead 6-0.
Jose Abreu doubled to left to start the bottom of the second and moved to third on the grounder to short by Yasmani Grandal. Wacha got a big out when he got Gavin Sheets to pop up to first and Jake Burger struck out swinging to end the inning.
Reynaldo Lopez took over for the incompetent Keuchel in the top of the third and Vazquez greeted him with a base hit to right. Dalbec grounded back to the mound to move Vazquez to second and Christian moved to third on a grounder to second by Arroyo. Hernandez flied out to center to end the inning. The White Sox struck back in the bottom of the third when Leury Garcia and Adam Engel stroked back to back base hits to start. Anderson got a base hit to left to load the bases and Vaughn doubled to right to clear them. Pollock popped up to center and Abreu grounded out to first to move Vaughn to third. Grandal grounded out to first to end the inning with Chicago down 6-3.
Devers popped up to third to start the top of the fourth but Martinez beat out a roller to third. Bogaerts banged into a double play to end the inning. Sheets flied out to left to start the bottom of the fourth and Burger grounded out to second. Garcia grounded out to first to end the inning.
Jose Ruiz came in to pitch the top of the fifth and Story walked to start. Story stole second and he scored on the Verdugo double to center to increase the lead. Vazquez flied out to right Dalbec took strike three and Arroyo lined out to right to end the inning with Boston up 7-3.
The White Sox finished off Wacha in the bottom of the fifth as Engel singled to center to start. Anderson struck out swinging but Vaughn hit a home run all the way to Muskogee to chase Wacha. Wacha didn't have it tonight as he was shelled for 5 runs in 4 1/3 innings. John Schreiber came in and got Pollock to ground out to third before Abreu struck out swinging to end the inning with the White Sox down 7-5.
The Bosox did nothing in the top of the sixth with Matt Foster on the mound as Hernandez popped up to short to start. Devers struck out swinging and Martinez watched strike three go by to end the inning. Schreiber returned for the bottom of the sixth and Grandal grounded out to third to start. Sheets grounded out to third as well and Burger struck out swinging to end the inning.
Tanner Banks came in to take a beating in the top of the seventh as Bogaerts walked to start. Story struck out swinging but Verdugo got a base hit to right. Vazquez lined a base hit to left to score Bogaerts but Dalbec struck out swinging. Arroyo singled to center to score Verdugo but Hernandez forced Christian at second to end the inning with Boston ahead 9-5.
Tyler Danish came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh with Jackie Bradley Jr taking over for Arroyo. Garcia flied out to left and Engel struck out swinging, but Anderson singled in the hole at short. Vaughn grounded out to second to end the inning.
The BoSox iced the game in the top of the eighth although Devers went down hacking to start. Martinez ripped a base hit to left and Bogaerts singled to right to move JD to third. Story struck out swinging again but Verdugo slapped a base hit to center to score Martinez. Vazquez delivered an rbi single to center to score Bogaerts and chase Banks. Bennett Sousa came in and Dalbec got a base hit to right to score Verdugo. JBJ hit a routine grounder to Sousa who threw the ball away allowing both Vazquez and Dalbec to score. A wild pitch moved JBJ to third but Hernandez grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox up 14-5.
Kevin Plawecki took over behind the plate in Story's spot with Franchy Cordero in for Hernandez and Matt Barnes on the mound to start the bottom of the eighth. Pollock took strike three but Abreu walked. Grandal and Sheets both walked to load the bases and Burger walked to score Abreu. Sox manager Alex Cora finally yanked the incompetent Barnes for Hiro Sawamura and Garcia hit a sac fly to left to score Grandal. Engel struck out swinging to end the inning with the BoSox still up by a touchdown 14-7.
Burger walks in a run
White Sox manager Tony LaRussa threw in the towel and brought in Josh Harrison to pitch the top of the ninth and Devers walked to start. Martinez flied out to center and somehow Bogaerts was rung up for strike three. Plawecki struck his first home run of the season to wrap up the scoring and Verdugo flied out to center to end the inning with Boston ahead 16-7.
Austin Davis came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth and Anderson singled to right to begin. Vaughn lined out to first and Pollock popped up to first, but Abreu singled to right. Grandal walked to load the bases and Sheets lined out to right to end the game. The Red Sox had won it 16-7.
Hero of the Night is once again Trevor Story. His three run home run put Boston up big and they never looked back. He also drove in a run in the first inning.
Cart ride for the Hero
The Good:
Rafael Devers was 2 for 5 with a walk and 3 runs scored.
JD Martinez was 3 for 5 with a walk and 3 runs scored.
Kevin Plawecki hit a 2 run home run in his only at-bat.
Alex Verdugo was 4 for 6 with 3 rbis and 2 runs scored.
Christian Vazquez was 3 for 5 with 2 rbis and a run scored.
John Schreiber got the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Tyler Danish pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Austin Davis tossed a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Michael Wacha was hammered for 5 runs in just 4 1/3 innings off 7 hits.
Matt Barnes faced five batters and walked four of them.
The Ugly:
Kike Hernandez was just 1 for 6 with a strikeout but the one hit was a home run.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts but walked and scored 2 runs.
Bobby Dalbec was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked, drove in a run and scored a run.
Christian Arroyo was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but drove in a run.
Jackie Bradley Jr reached on an error in his only at-bat.
Hiro Sawamura allowed an inherited runner to score but got the final out of the eighth inning.
Honorable Mention:
Franchy Cordero played right field in the final innings.
Final Thoughts:
First let's get the bad news out of the way first. Wacha hasn't looked right since he came off the Injured List but hopefully that's just lingering effects that will go away by his next start. The only reason Matt Barnes hasn't been DFA'd yet is he signed that big contract extension last summer. He's completely lost on the mound and the Sox don't want any more dead money on the books after that sort of thing cost them Mookie Betts two years ago. But that's enough bad news, the good news is not just the bats woke up but WHO'S bats woke up. Story has become a one man wrecking crew this month while Alex Verdugo finally had a good game. Vazquez turned his average around from .200 to .279 and JD Martinez continues to stay hot. Kike Hernandez hit another leadoff home run and this is the kind of production they were getting last year. If the offense is here to stay, now Sox GM Chaim Bloom can fix the mess he created in the bullpen/rotation. Its been confirmed that Josh Winckowski will be starting one of the doubleheader games on Saturday and if he looks good, we may see him down the road sooner rather than later. The Sox need Garrett Whitlock back in the bullpen and Tanner Houck in the rotation because neither one of them are shining in their current roles. Whitlock could be the closer this team needs to shorten the game with the way Matt Strahm and John Schreiber have pitched so far. All in all the Red Sox have won 8 of their last 10 games and hopefully the hot bats can pull them out of the hole they're in. The win improved the Sox to 21-23, good for 4th place in the AL East. Speaking of Whitlock (1-1, 3.58 ERA), he starts tomorrow night when the BoSox come home to play the Baltimore Orioles. Kyle Brandish goes for Baltimore and the game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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