All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 6-5 win over the New York Mets, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Workman walks a tightrope: Closer Brandon Workman ultimately secured the save in the ninth, but it was far from easy. Inheriting a two-run lead, it was soon clear Workman didn't have much command of his curveball and quickly walked the first two hitters he faced. A jam shot by Pete Alonso kicked up chalk down the right-field line to load the bases. Workman had to navigate through a bases-loaded, no-out mess with no command of his curve and unable to spot his fastball where he wanted. Catcher Christian Vazquez called for Workman to work in his cutter more. But with the bases loaded and one out, he got Yoenis Cespedes swinging and retired Robinson Cano on a soft liner. "He made some good pitches when he needed to,'' said Ron Roenicke. "Command of his curveball, command of his fastball -- he didn't do either one of those until the end and then he made some really good pitches.''
Vazquez delivers with the bat, twice: With the Sox trailing by a run in the seventh, Vazquez homered on a curveball off Seth Lugo to tie the game. Then, an inning later and facing lefty Justin Wilson, Vazquez looked for a cutter in and drove it the other way to score two runs and send the Red Sox on their way. "It feels good,'' he said of his offensive contributions. In 2019, Vazquez took a major step forward as a hitter, especially in the second half, and this year, he seems to have picked up where he left off with two homers and five RBI in the first six games. "As a catcher, really, he's got to be up there at the top in the offense part (for catchers). Vasky has put himself in the category of the best catchers. Offensively last year, I thought he really stepped it up and showed us what he could do and he's looking right now like he's going to be that kind of player again. It's really good to see when guys work hard and it shows up in their game.'' If Vazquez can replicate what he did a year ago, that lengthen the Red Sox lineup and presents another hitter who can produce run in the bottom half of the order.
Eovaldi provides another strong start: In the first five games, only Nathan Eovaldi supplied anything close to a good start for the Sox and Wednesday night was more of the same as Eovaldi nearly went pitch-for-pitch with Mets ace Jacob deGrom over five innings. Eovaldi, as often is the case, allowed some baserunners (eight hits in five innings), but for the most part was able to stay out of trouble and avoided big innings. The Mets loaded the bases in the first inning with one out, and for a time, it looked like the Red Sox were staring at another big deficit in the early part of the game. But Eovaldi dug in and limited the Mets to a single run, then didn't give up another one until the fifth, his final inning of work. Eovaldi had trouble with being efficient -- 89 pitches in just five innings -- but he kept the Sox in a game they had to win.
TURNING POINT
The Red Sox had used the solo homer by Vazquez to tie the game in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom of the inning, the Mets threatened to go ahead after a hit batman by Josh Osich and an infield single gave them runners at first and second with two outs. In came Heath Hembree, who fanned pinch-hitter J.D. Davis on three straight pitches, stranding two.
TWO UP
Mitch Moreland. Moreland delivered a big run-scoring double to account for the first run, the kind of at-bat you'd expect. But he then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on another, which is something you definitely don't expect from him. Then, in the three-run eighth, he delivered another run, this time with a bases-loaded slow roller that eluded New York third baseman Jeff McNeil.
Tzu-Wei Lin: Getting a start at short as Xander Bogaerts was given the night off, Lin twice pulled off inning-ending double plays against Michael Conforto. Both times, with the infield shifted around to the right, he gloved a ball to the right of second base, dashed back to second to step on the bag and made strong throws to first to record the double play.
ONE DOWN
Jackie Bradley Jr.: Though he extended his hitting streak with another base hit, he also struck out twice and uncharacteristically turned the wrong way on a ball hit over his head, resulting in a run-scoring triple by Brandon Nimmo.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"This was a huge win for us. Having a win against deGrom was a big deal for us.'' Nathan Eovaldi.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The game was the 10th straight between the Red Sox and Mets to be decided by either one or two runs.
- Rafael Devers extended his doubles streak to four straight games.
- Andrew Benintendi collected his 500th career hit.
- Mitch Moreland's double was the 200th of his career.