The Red Sox had more pitchers available Wednesday night than they have ever had in their history, with 17 relievers in the bullpen.
Thanks to Eduardo Rodriguez, they didn't need most of them. Rodriguez threw seven shutout innings to win his 17th game while Mookie Betts had four hits and drove in five runs as the Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 6-2.
The Sox are now 22-5 in Rodriguez's last 27 starts. He allowed just five hits and struck out eight.
Betts his the first pitch he saw out of the ballpark in the first, and added a three-run shot in the second. He later added a run-scoring single.
WHO: Red Sox (74-64) vs. Minnesota Twins (86-52)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: Minnesota 1-0
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: 2-2
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (16-5, 3.97) vs. RHP Jose Berrios (11-7, 3.57)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI 93.7 FM
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
10:21 Seven shutout innings for Rodriguez, who allows just five hits, walks four and strikes out eight. If the Sox hold on, he'll improve to 17-5.
10:02 Run-scoring single to left for Betts, who now has four hits in four trips to the plate and has knocked in five of the six runs.
9:55 Christian Vazquez pool-cued a ball down the right field line that almost kicked up chalk, but was ruled foul (and upheld on a video review). Then, on the very next pitch, Vazquez bloops a ball just inside the left field line, scoring a run and sending Mitch Moreland to third.
9:42 ERod has helped himself in terms of pitch count with two quick innings in a row -- just six pitches needed in the fifth and another 12 in the sixth. He's at 94 and looks to be good for another inning. Although, there ARE 17 relievers available in the bullpen.
9:26 Rodriguez turns a nice double play on a comebacker, erasing leadoff walk to Max Kepler.
9:22 Fine running catch by Jake Cave, who tracks down a ball hit by Rafael Devers seemingly headed to the gap in left-center, stranding a runner.
8:34 Betts again -- this time, over everything in left, with two on. Third multi-homer game this season, 16th of his career.
8:06 Mookie Betts swings at the fist pitch he sees and drops the ball into the Monster Seats for a quick 1-0 lead. That's his 19th leadoff homer of his career and fourth this season.
8:02 Eduardo Rodriguez is a strike-throwing machine in the first inning, fanning the side on 13 pitches -- nine of them strikes.
LINEUPS:
RED SOX
Betts RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Benintendi LF
Holt 2B
Moreland 1B
Vazquez C
Bradley CF
TWINS
Kepler CF
Polanco SS
Cruz DD
Rosario LF
Sano 3b
Cave RF
Cron 1B
Schoop 2B
Astudillo C
WHAT's UP: The Sox are 11-5 in their last 16 after dropping the opener of their homestand Tuesday night...Tuesday night marked the fifth time this season that the Red Sox bullpen didn't allow a hit in five or more innings...Rafael Devers hit his 29th homer Tuesday. His next homer will give the Red Sox three players with 30 or more homers (J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts have already reached the milestone); only twice before have the Red Sox had three players with 30 or more homers: 1977 (Butch Hobson; Jim Rice and George Scott) and 2016 (David Ortiz, Mookie Betts and Hanley Ramirez)…The Sox have never had a season in which they've had three players hit .300 with 30 or more homers. Only nine teams in history have ever accomplished that, the last being the 2004 Cardinals...Bogaerts is four hits shy of 1,000 hits for his career. He would become the32nd player to reach that level with the Red Sox, but only the third to do so before turning 27; Tris Speaker and Bobby Doerr also did it....Devers and Bogaerts are ranked 1-2 in extra-base hits in the game with 81 and 79 respectively...Not far off are Betts (67) and Martinez (66)...No MLB team in history has ever had four players with as many as 75 extra-base hits...Devers needs one homer to become the 10th player in MLB history to hit 30 or more homers, knock in 100 or more runs and score 100 or more runs before reaching the age of 23. Miguel Cabrera was the last, in 2005...Over the last 37 games, Martinez leads the majors in OBP (.464); total bases (113), is second in slugging (.785), OPS (1.249) and hits (56) and third in average (.389), homers (15) and RBI (42)...Darwinzon Hernandez has a string of seven straight scoreless appearances, during which he's fanned 14 over the last seven innings with just four hits and two walks....His strikeout rate of 40.9 percent ranks him sixth in baseball for pitchers who have faced at least 100 batters...Eduardo Rodriguez is one of four starters with 16 or more wins....He's 7-1 with a 2.78 ERA in his last 11 starts....The Sox are 9-2 in his last 11...Nelson Cruz is 3-for-15 with one homer lifetime against Rodriguez while Jonathan Schoop is 7-for-28 and Eddie Rosario is 4-for-7....Mitch Moreland is 3-for-6 in his career against Jose Berrios while Bogaerts is 1-for-9.
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- The Sox added four more pitchers from Pawtucket: LHP Bobby Poyner, RHPs Trevor Kelly, Colten Brewer and Mike Shawaryn. That gives them 21 pitchers avaialable on the major league roster.