All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox" 14-1 win over the Mariners, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Rodriguez keeps rolling: For the sixth straight game, the Red Sox won a start made by Eduardo Rodriguez. In those six starts, Rodriguez has allowed more than three earned runs just once and in that span, he's fashioned a 2.78 ERA and has gone four straight starts without allowing a homer. Rodriguez gave up just five hits -- four of them singles -- and didn't issue a walk until the leadoff man in his final inning of work. He also continued to show some efficiency, getting through seven innings on 103 pitches. "I think that's the first time I've gone seven innings in two years,'' said Rodriguez. "That's something in the back of my mind every time I go out there.'' Alex Cora praised Rodriguez's outing as "great. He was getting people out in the zone, had a good changeup, good fastball command, good cutter. He's been very consistent, and in different ways, too.''
Moreland continues to mash: From the second game of the season, Mitch Moreland has been the Red Sox' top run producer and that continues, six weeks into the season. Moreland delivered the big blow Friday, smashing a three-run homer over the Red Sox bullpen in right-center in the third to push the Sox out to a 4-0 lead. He later added two more doubles -- both to left field, tellingly -- driving in another run and scoring two more. Of his 25 hits, 17 have been for extra bases, a development for which he has no logical explanation. "I don't think I've ever done that,'' said Moreland. "I don't have anything for you. I just go up there and try to put a good swing on a pitch. I'm good with it, but I wish I could get a few more (hits). But I'll take what I'm getting.'' Moreland's 11 homers are the most by a Red Sox first baseman before June since Mo Vaughn hit 15 in 1998.
https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/1127001220240027648
Ball starts to fly in warmer weather: It didn't feel like summer at Fenway, but it certainly was warmer than it's been most nights and you could tell that as balls flew all over the ballpark. The Sox pounded out 15 hits including three homers and five doubles. Then again, home or away, the Red Sox have been scoring runs in bunches of late. Friday's win marked the seventh time in the last 11 games that they've scored six or more runs in a game and the second time in the last six that they've scored in double digits. Of the first seven runs the Sox scored Friday, six came after two were out and a number of them came with two strikes, an indication that the lineup is having focused at-bats and sticking to a game plan. "It's hard to do, but good teams do that,'' said Cora.
TURNING POINT
Given how well Rodriguez was pitching early, it was obvious that the Red Sox weren't going to need much support, so with a 1-0 lead, when Moreland cranked a three-run homer to right in the bottom of the third inning, the game was essentially over.
TWO UP
Xander Bogaerts: After going hitless in his first two trips, Bogaerts singled in the fifth and doubled home a run in the seventh.
Steve Pearce: Pearce was hitting .111 and hitless in his last 11 at-bats when he pinch-hit for Moreland in the seventh and slammed a double off the wall in left.
TWO DOWN
Michael Chavis: Chavis remains in his first big league slump, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. He's now hitless in his last 16 at-bats.
Tyler Thornburg: The Sox trying to find spots for Thornburg to work through things, and he keeps getting hit hard. Pitching the eighth, he allowed a triple and double to two of the first three hitters he faced. He's allowed runs in seven of his last nine appearances.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"It feels like we're getting close to who we are.'' Alex Cora.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The Sox' streak of not allowing a walk came to an end at 18 innings when Eduardo Rodriguez walked Jay Bruce.
- The homer by Rafael Devers was his first at home this season.
- Andrew Benintendi has knocked in seven runs in his last eight games.
- Mitch Moreland has homered in each of his last three home games.