All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox 4-2 win over the White Sox, complete with BSJ insight and analysis
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
The real White Sox turned up: Given Chicago's 1-0 victory in the opener of this three-game series on Friday night, you would have thought their 21-40 record was a bit misleading. Nope, after seeing more of them on Saturday, that's about right. Chicago made three errors on really routine balls — and probably could have stopped a few more that went for hits — that led to two unearned runs, which is a fairly big deal when it comes to a 4-2 ballgame. “To be honest, I thought we just didn’t help him defensively,” manager Rick Renteria said of starter Carlos Rodon. Naturally, the White Sox made an error (Jose Abreu) to put a runner on before J.D. Martinez gave the Sox the lead with a two-run shot in the fifth inning.
Price settles down: It looked like David Price, who entered the game having not allowed more than three earned runs in his previous five starts, might be running out of magic when the first three White Sox hitters went single, walk and hard-hit double to give Chicago an early 1-0 lead with runners on second and third. But Price settled down, giving up only an RBI groundout between strikeouts to escape without more damage. "(I'm just) throwing the baseball better, better strikes, throwing it better when I have two outs — that’s kind of been my Achilles heel this season," Price said of his recent string of success. He's won his last five starts, and the team has emerged victorious in his last six. "I do feel that knowing what was going on with him, he’s at ease now," Alex Cora said. "He knows there’s nothing with his shoulder, his elbow, he just prepares how he needs to do it."
TURNING POINT
A one-out, pinch-hit triple by Yolmer Sanchez off Matt Barnes in the eighth made things interesting, but Barnes struck out Jose Abreu and got Kevan Smith to fly out to right (after a two-out walk) to end Chicago's last threat.
THREE UP
Jackie Bradley Jr.: Tied the game with a 414-foot blast to dead center in the second inning. It was his first dinger off a left-handed pitcher in over a year (June 1, 2017) and his first at Fenway since Sept. 16, 2016.
Christian Vazquez: Joined J.D. Martinez as the only Sox to collect two hits. It was Vazquez's second multi-hit game in his last three, and he's now five for his last 11 (.455).
Red Sox bullpen: Pretty impressive work by Joe Kelly (seventh), Barnes (eighth) and Craig Kimbrel (ninth, 20th save) — a combined 3 IP, 11 batters faced, 26 pitches, one hit, one walk, no runs, five strikeouts. Red Sox relievers have allowed one earned in their last 18.0 IP (0.50 ERA). Since May 19, their 1.44 bullpen ERA (10 ER/62.1 IP) leads the majors
ONE DOWN
Sam Travis: The right-hander, who hit .381 vs. lefties last season, was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He's now 1 for 11 and hitless in his last seven at-bats.
QUOTE
"It would be cool to put a camera in the cage in between at-bats. There’s a lot of work there. There’s a few sore arms on the coaching staff from throwing down there. It's OK, we have a lot of ice."
— Cora, on Martinez's between at-bat preparation.
TOP PLAY
Andrew Benintendi kept the White Sox from getting the lead run on base in the ninth.
https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/1005599257955651584
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Sox have allowed just 14 runs (13 ER) in their last 6 games, posting a 2.17 club ERA (54.0 IP) and a .190 opponent average.
- Boston's 32 games with multiple HR are the most in the majors, most by a Red Sox team through 65 games, and most by any team through this point since the 2012 Yankees (33).
- Martinez leads the majors with eight game-winning HRs, the most by a Red Sox hitter before July since Jim Rice in 1978 (11). Three of his last four HRs have been game-winners.