All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 5-1 win over the Indians, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Xander Bogaerts shows off power to carry Sox offense: The shortstop has been a bright spot all year long within a disappointing Red Sox season and he delivered again today with a pair of timely home runs. A solo shot in the third inning gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead while a 3-run bomb in the seventh gave the Sox a 5-1 cushion that led to an impressive road win against a stud Indians starter in Shane Bieber. Bogaerts also became the sixth shortstop in Red Sox history to pass the 100 HR threshold, joining an impressive list that includes Rico Petrocelli, Nomar Garciaparra and Joe Cronin.
Red Sox bullpen delivers a gem: Alex Cora had to patch together six different relievers to get through nine innings in this one after giving Brian Johnson a quick hook in a 2-1 game in the third inning with the Indians threatening early. The short leash paid off however as a combination of Walden, Hernandez, Taylor, Eovaldi, Cashner and Workman scattered just two hits and one walk over the final 6.1 innings for Boston. Eovaldi earned his first win of the year with two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh and everyone did their job in this one from the bullpen for one of the first times all year. With an off day looming on Thursday, Cora did everything he could to ensure the Sox would pull off a win in the series finale and the mixing and matching paid off for him.
TURNING POINT
The Indians had already scored a run in the third inning to pull within one run of Boston thanks to a pair of errors and they had two runners on when Franmil Reyes came to the plate with two outs. Instead of letting the righty power hitter get a chance against the southpaw spot starter Brian Johnson, Cora turned to Marcus Walden for the batter. Reyes grounded out to end the inning and that was the last serious threat of the game for Cleveland.
TWO UP
Rafael Devers: The third baseman had two hits in his first two at-bats after going 6-for-6 on Tuesday night, extending his streak to eight hits in eight plate appearances before making his first out in the fifth. That eight straight hits mark tied the MLB-best mark for most consecutive hits for a batter this season. Devers also leads the majors in hits with 160.
Alex Cora: He decided to go to the bullpen early in this one and it paid off. Every win matters at this point of the year and instead of risking an iffy starter (Johnson) putting the Sox in a hole early, he pulled him at the first sign of trouble and rode Eovaldi and Cashner after strong outings on Tuesday. His instincts worked well in this one.
TWO DOWN
JD Martinez: The slugger had his 12-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-of-5 performance that included three strikeouts.
Jackie Bradley Jr.: The center fielder saw his averaged drop back down to .219 after an 0-of-4 day with three strikeouts.
QUOTE OF NOTE
“There were some cool things today that happened…Tomorrow’s an off day and we will see what we do for Friday. We won the series. To come here and play here the way we did, it was cool.” — Alex Cora
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Rafael Devers leads the AL in RBI (94), multi-hit games (48) and is the only Red Sox ever along with Ted Williams with over 70 extra base hits in a season while under age 23.
- Bogaerts became the 31st player to reach 100 home runs as a member of the Red Sox. He ranks sixth among all-time Sox shortstops behind Petrocelli (210), Garciaparra (178), Stephens (122), Valentin (121) and Cronin (119)
- The Red Sox have recorded at least one extra-base hit in 138 straight games, the MLB’s longest active streak
- The series concluded the Indians-Red Sox matchups on the year with each team taking three games.
- The win ended a stretch with 34 games in 34 days for the Red Sox.