All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 4-1 win over the Astros, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Devers continues to shine: Rafael Devers has been one of the hottest hitters in the game for the past month, and that continued Sunday. Devers' homer to lead off the fourth inning snapped a 1-1 tie at the time and gave the Red Sox their first lead of the entire series, one which they would not relinquish. For Devers, it was his sixth homer in the last 14 games. After failing to homer at all in his first 32 games this season, Devers has turned on the power switch. But it's not all about homers -- over the last 36 games, covering the past five weeks, Devers is hitting .364 with an on-base percentage of .423. After sitting out Friday's game -- the first game this season in which he didn't get at least one at-bat -- Devers returned and picked up five hits in the final two games of the series. And adding to his day, Devers also made a standout play at third, coming in to barehand a slow roller from Carlos Correa with one out and a runner on third in the third inning.
Rodriguez turns in arguably his best start of the season: The challenge in front of Eduardo Rodriguez was not a simple one. First, he was charged with helping the Red Sox avoid a sweep and snap a two-game losing streak. And he also had to out-duel Justin Verlander. Rodriguez handled all of those challenges, going six innings and allowing just one run. And while he had seven shutout innings in a start against Seattle earlier this season, this constituted a more impressive outing, since he was tasked with facing a much tougher lineup and opposing one of the game's most dominant starting pitchers. Rodriguez had a rocky time of it in the first two innings, allowing a run in the first and bailing out of a first-and-second mess in the second. But he then established his fastball and mixed in his cutter and changeup the rest of the way and allowed only one hit over the final four innings, facing one batter over the minimum in that stretch.
Bullpen bounced back: In Saturday night's walk-off loss, the Red Sox rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth, but lost the game in the bottom of the inning when Matt Barnes failed to record an out in facing four hitters. That wasn't the case Sunday. With nine outs to get after Rodriguez left, three Red Sox relievers -- Brandon Workman, Barnes and Marcus Walden faced 10 hitters, didn't allow a hit and allowed only one baserunner. Workman retired the Astros 1-2-3 in the seventh with two strikeouts. Barnes worked around a one-out walk to record two strikeouts in the eighth and Walden picked up his first save of the season -- and just the second of his major league career -- by getting the Astros in order in the ninth.
TURNING POINT: In the third inning, already trailing 1-0 to the Astros, Rodriguez allowed a leadoff double to Alex Bregman. A groundout to the right side then moved Bregman to third. But Rodriguez then got a groundout and a flyout to strand Bregman at third. The Astros would not get another hit the rest of the way.
ONE UP
Eduardo Nunez: Xander Bogaerts got the day off and Nunez played a strong game while taking over at short, making all the plays in the field while adding a single, double and run scored.
ONE DOWN:
Michael Chavis: The Astros have their scouting report -- throw the rookie high, hard fastballs -- and to date, Chavis hasn't been able to do anything in response. He fanned three times against Verlander before drawing a walk off the bullpen.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"He's the best pitcher in the big leagues...but we did a good job today.'' Alex Cora on beating Justin Verlander.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The Red Sox improved to 8-1 in the last nine starts by Eduardo Rodriguez.
- Rafael Devers has multiple hits 13 times in 22 games in the month of May.
- A fourth-inning single by J.D. Martinez snapped an 0-for-15 skid at the plate for him.
- Mookie Betts extended his hitting streak to five games.