The good news was the Boston Red Sox finally won a road game against a good team. Chris Sale (5-2, 4.72 ERA) tossed 5 strong innings while holding the Arizona Diamondbacks to just one run. The real star of this one was Triston Casas who had three big hits and an rbi. A Kike Hernandez two run shot iced the game in the top of the fourth. Josh Winckowski and Brennan Bernardino shut the door in relief and the Sox had beaten Arizona 7-2 at Chase Field.
Brandon Pfaadt got the ball in the top of the first inning and Raimel Tapia grounded out to second to start. Alex Verdugo struck out swinging but Justin Turner doubled to left. Masataka Yoshida flied out to center to end the inning. Sale got the ball in the bottom of the first and Ketel Marte flied out to right to start. Emmanuel Rivera struck out swinging and Lourdes Gurriel Jr flied out to left to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the second as Rob Refsnyder got a base hit down the third base line to start. Triston Casas smacked a double to right to score Rob but Kike Hernandez struck out swinging. Enmanuel Valdez struck out swinging but Connor Wong hit a ground rule double down the left field line to score Casas. Tapia got a base hit to right to score Wong but Verdugo forced him at second to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.
Christian Walker popped up to first to start the bottom of the second before Evan Longoria lined out to third. Corbin Carroll singled to center but Nick Ahmed grounded out to short to end the inning.
Turner lined out to center to start the top of the third before Yoshida took strike three. Refsnyder flied out to right to end the inning. Jake McCarthy took strike three to start the bottom of the third before Jose Herrera got a base hit to right. Marte grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the fourth as Casas got a base hit to right and Hernandez blasted his fourth home run of the season to ice the game. Valdez grounded out to first and Wong hit one up the elevator shaft, but Tapia got a base hit to right to chase Pfaadt. Luis Frias came in to allow Verdugo to get a base hit to center to move Tapia to third, but Turner struck out swinging to end the inning with Boston ahead 5-0.
Home run Hernandez
Short but sweet for Sale
The Diamondbacks struck back in the bottom of the fourth as Rivera singled to right to start. Gurriel Jr tripled into the centerfield gap to score Rivera but Walker popped up to first. Longoria took strike three and Caroll grounded out to second to end the inning. Good work by Sale to strand Gurriel at third with nobody out and the Sox up 5-1.
Diamondbacks get a run back
Yoshida struck out swinging to start the top of the fifth before Refsnyder walked. Casas took strike three but Refsnyder stole second. Hernandez walked but Valdez lined out to center to end the inning. Sale returned for one final inning in the bottom of the fifth as Ahmed flied out to left to start. McCarthy walked and stole second but Herrera grounded out to short. A wild pitch moved McCarthy to third and Marte popped up to third to end the inning. That was it for Sale who threw just 73 pitches and allowed 4 hits, a run and a walk while striking out 3.
The Sox got another run in the top of the sixth as Wong struck out swinging to start. Tapia grounded out to second but Verdugo doubled to right. Turner got a base hit to center to score Alex and Yoshida struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox up 6-1.
With a 5 run lead, Sox manager Alex Cora didn't want to stretch Sale so Josh Winckowski came in to pitch the top of the sixth. Rivera grounded out to short to start and Gurriel Jr struck out swinging. Walker popped up to third to end the inning.
Kevin Ginkel came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Refsnyder struck out swinging to start. Casas popped up to third and Hernandez grounded out to second to end the inning. Pavin Smith pinch hit for Longoria and grounded out to short to start the bottom of the seventh. Carroll popped up to third and Geraldo Perdomo pinch hit for Ahmed. Perdomo flied out to left to end the inning.
The Sox got another run in the top of the eighth as Valdez struck out swinging to start. Wong doubled off the glove of Carroll but Tapia grounded out to short. Verdugo singled to left to score Wong but Turner grounded out to third to end the inning with Boston ahead 7-1.
The Diamondbacks fought back in the bottom of the eighth as McCarthy grounded out to second to start. Herrera and Marte stroked back to back base hits and Rivera singled off the glove of Hernandez to score Herrera. Gurriel Jr forced Rivera at second and Walker flied out to left to end the inning with the Sox ahead 7-2.
Arizona gets a run back
Jose Ruiz came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Yoshida grounded out to third to start. Refsnyder lined out to second but Casas doubled to center. Hernandez walked and Valdez flied out to center to end the inning. Brennan Bernardino came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Smith took strike three to start. Carroll popped up to second but Perdomo walked. Perdomo took second and third on defensive indifference and Gabriel Moreno pinch hit for McCarthy. Moreno popped up to Casas to end the game. The Red Sox had won it 7-2.
Hero of The Night is Triston Casas. His double in the second started the rally that propelled the Sox to victory.
The Good:
Raimel Tapia was 2 for 5 with an rbi.
Alex Verdugo was 3 for 5 with an rbi.
Justin Turner was 2 for 5 with an rbi.
Kike Hernandez was 1 for 3 with 2 walks and a 2 run home run.
Connor Wong was 2 for 4 with an rbi and 2 runs scored.
Chris Sale got the win with 5 innings of 1 run ball. He allowed 4 hits and a walk while striking out three.
Brennan Bernardino pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Masataka Yoshida was 0 for 5 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Enmanuel Valdez was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Rob Refsnyder was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but walked and scored a run.
Josh Winckowski allowed a run in 3 innings of work.
Final Thoughts:
I understand trying to handle Sale with kid gloves after his injury issues but you gotta let him off the leash soon. You don't want to burn out the bullpen early like they did in 2021 but still, a good win is a good win. Casas, Hernandez and Tapia were the stars of this one but the problem is two of them aren't the guys to carry a team. Still, with Trevor Story out and Rafael Devers getting the night off, scoring 7 runs without them is nothing to sneeze at. Winckowski ate up 3 innings so the bullpen should be ready to go tomorrow if needed. All in all the Sox needed to snap their four game losing streak against a good team and they did. The win improved the Sox to 27-24, 10 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to make it two in a row against Arizona tomorrow night when Garrett Whitlock (1-2) takes on Zach Davies of Arizona. The game begins at 7:15 PM Eastern time at Chase Field.
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