The Red Sox finally got themselves another quality start from their rotation, and a win, too, with a standout performance from Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez pitched 6.2 innings and allowed just three hits as the Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4
It marked the first time this year that a Red Sox starter had pitched into the seventh. Rodriguez retired the first 14 hitters he faced before allowing Hanser Alberto's two-out single in the fifth.
The Sox, meanwhile, got a solo homer from Andrew Benintendi in the third, run-scoring hits from Xander Bogaerts (double) and Eduardo Nunez (single) in the fourth and another run in the seventh on a wild pitch. The Sox closed out the scoring in the eighth when J.D. Martinez doubled, took third on an infield hit and scored on another.
The Orioles finally broke through in the seventh when a one-out double by Trey Mancini and a two-run homer from Dwight Smith Jr.
WHO: Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: This is the first meeting of the year between the teams.
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (0-2, 12.38) vs. RHP David Hess (1-1, 2.70)
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
9:35 Bradley turns in his best catch of the season to date, scaling the CF wall with one foot and reaching up to take extra bases sway from Joey Rickard. In a two-run game, that could be huge.
8:58 Rodriguez leaves after 6.2 IP, having provided easily the best outing of the season by a Red Sox starter. But it didn't end particularly well: a two-run homer into the RF seats by Dwight Smith turns a 3-0 Red Sox lead to 3-2. Matt Barnes now in.
8:19 Hanser Alberto becomes the first Orioles baserunner with a two-out ground single to left with two out in the fifth.
8:12 This isn't the first time that Rodriguez has been gifted a 3-0 lead. He was handed one in Oakland and lost it. Let's see if tonight is any different.
8:11 Sharp single off The Wall from Nunez scores Bogaerts (double).
8:02 JD Martinez has had two at-bats...and has been robbed twice. In the first, he hit the ball about 415 feet, only to have Cedric Mullins make a catch right up against the garage door in the center field triangle. This inning, he hammers a shot to left center, which Dwight Smith snares with a leaping grab in front of The Wall.
7:54 Nice diving catch by Jackie Bradley Jr., who races in and snares a sinking liner by Jonathan Villar for the first out in the fourth.
7:48 First homer of the season for Benintendi, who does a nice job going the other way on a changeup down and away. Benintendi was very effective with that approach in the first half last year, then didn't do as much of it in the second half.
7:42 Nine up, nine down for Martinez, who has gone to a three-ball count on just one hitter through three innings, consistently staying ahead.
7:20 Torrid start by Mitch Moreland continues with a line double to the bullpen wall in RF. Of his 12 hits, 10 have gone for extra bases.
7:15 Aggressive first inning from Eduardo Rodriguez, pumping his fastball as high as 97 mph, filling up the strike zone and making quick work (11 pitches) of the O's. Let's see if it continues.
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Benintendi LF
Betts RF
Moreland 1B
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Nunez 2B
Bradley CF
Vazquez C
ORIOLES
Villar 2B
Rickard RF
Mancini 1B
Nunez DH
Smith LF
Alberto 3B
Sucre C
Martin SS
Mullins CF
WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox are coming off a walk-off win over Toronto, 7-6, with big contributions from Mitch Moreland. Moreland hit a game-tying homer in the seventh, then tied the game again with a ninth-inning double...Moreland has homered in each of his last four games with an at-bat, becoming the first Sox player since Adrian Gonzalez, who did so in 2011...The last Sox player to homer in five straight games with an at-bat was Jose Canseco in 1995...Nine of Moreland's 11 hits this season have gone for extra bases...Dating back to the World Series, six of his last 12 hits have been homers...The Sox are 1-6 when scoring first and 3-3 when the opponents score first....The eight relievers on the Red Sox roster have combined to post a 2.08 ERA while limiting opponents to a .188 batting average...The Sox were 16-3 in 19 games against the Orioles a year ago, matching their most wins in a season (16 in 2009)...After this series, the Orioles won't return to Fenway until August, with the next nine games in the series -- after this weekend -- played in Baltimore...Monday will mark the fourth time in the last six years that the Orioles will be the Patriots Day opponents for the Red Sox....J.D. Martinez hit 10 homers against the Orioles last season, becoming the second Sox player to hit double-figures in homers against the O's. The last to do so was Ted Williams, who hit 11 in 1947 when the team was the St. Louis Browns...Overall, Martinez has 16 homers in his last 32 games against the Orioles...Martinez had three multi-homer games in 2018 and all three came against the Orioles...Mookie Betts carries a 14-game hitting streak into tonight's game against Baltimore. In that span, Betts is hitting .400 (24-for-60) with eight doubles and five homers and an OPS of 1.254....Betts has 16 homers in his last 54 games against the O's and he's reached base against them in his last 24 games...Andrew Benintendi had 21 RBI in 17 games against Baltimore...Eduardo Rodriguez was 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA against Baltimore in 2018....In his career, Rodriguez is 6-5 with a 3.74 ERA against his former organization....Trey Mancini is 6-for-20 with a homer and RBI against Rodriguez while Chris Davis is just 5-for-27 (.185) with a homer and two RBI...The Red Sox don't have as much history against David Hess with Benintendi 2-for-5 with two homers and four RBI and Martinez 2-for-2 with two homers.
PRE-GAME NOTES
- More as a precaution, the Red Sox held Dustin Pedroia out of Friday's game, with Eduardo Nunez getting the start. Pedroia had a strong game Thursday, collecting a run-scoring single and taking part in three double plays in the middle of the infield. Alex Cora said Pedroia came out of the game find and wanted to play, but the Sox rested him to be on the safe side. "We'll stay away from him in the early part of the game today and if we need him late, we'll use him,'' said Cora. "He should be ready (Saturday). There's nothing wrong with him. He did a good job (Friday) being involved and we're very pleased with where he's at. He feels like he can play 162; we just have to be careful. It's smart from our end. We can't push him that hard. It's different. You can go to Double A or Triple A, but at this level, there's a lot of stuff going on. The game's faster and your moves are quicker. It's a lot different. So, we'll take care of him and see where it takes us. Hopefully, whenever, we can just say, 'Hey, go ahead.' But we still have to take care of him.''
- The Sox will use Hector Velazquez as a spot starter Monday, giving their starters an extra day to recover. That will push Chris Sale to Tuesday, the first game of the Yankees' series in New York. Cora emphasized that there's nothing wrong with Sale physically, but the Sox are coming up on a stretch that, after next Thursday, has them playing 20 games in 20 days and the staff thought this was a good time to provide an extra day to the rotation. "It was by design, nothing more than that,'' said Cora.