The Red Sox bunched their runs early and late, while Nathan Eovaldi turned in his best start of the season as the Red Sox won their second straight, bashing the Baltimore Orioles 7-1.
The Sox took a 3-0 lead by the third inning and then didn't produce much offense again until the ninth when a run-scoring single from Xander Bogaerts and a three-run homer from Mitch Moreland put the game out of reach.
Eovaldi gave the Sox seven strong innings and didn't allow a run until his final inning of work when Pat Valaika led off with a homer.
WHO: Red Sox (7-8) vs. Baltimore Orioles (12-12)
WHEN: 7:35 p.m.
WHERE: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
SEASON SERIES: Baltimore 2-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 5.93) vs. RHP Asher Wojciechowski (1-2, 4.34)
TV/RADIO: NESN/ WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Verdugo LF
Devers 3B
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Moreland 1B
Vazquez C
Pillar RF
Bradley CF
Peraza 2B
ORIOLES
Alberto 2B
Santander RF
Nunez 1B
Severino C
Ruiz 3B
Valaika LF
Smith DH
Mullins CF
Velazquez SS
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
10:48 Moreland salts this one away by jumping on a sinker in his power zone -- down and in -- and blasting it over the fence in straight away center.
10:46 Big base hit from Bogaerts, who drives a ball through the left side on an 0-and-2 pitch, scoring Verdugo with an important
10:35 For the third straight game, Devers has a multi-hit game. His second hit tonight wasn't hit hard -- a blooper perfectly placed over the head of the shortstop -- but Devers will take it, and, with Verdugo moved to second with no out, the Sox again have a chance to keep padding the lead.
10:21 Red Sox miss a chance to tack on some insurance runs. They had first-and-second with no out and then second-and third with one out, but couldn't plate a run. Tacking on throughout the game was a key to the win Wednesday at Fenway; we'll see it if it comes back to bite them here.
10:00 Valaika snaps the shutout bid by leading off the seventh with a home run to left, lining a cutter that was up in the zone.
9:47 No Red Sox pitcher has gone past six innings this season, but at 79 pitches through six, it would appear that Eovaldi has a chance to do that.
9:11 After laboring through a rough first innings -- loaded the bases and needing 22 pitches -- Eovaldi has really settled in over the last three, with just one baserunner in that span, and that came on a bunt single.
8:57 Alex Verdugo extends his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games, singling through the shift to right and sending Jackie Bradley Jr. to third and chasing Wojciechowski.
8:35 Sox stretch the lead to 3-0 as Xander Bogaerts takes advantage of the cozy dimensions of Camden Yards and reaches the second row of the seats in left field.
8:13 Another Orioles misplay in the field helps the Sox. Hanser Alberto can't get the ball out of his glove for what looked like a potential inning-ending double play, allowing Kevin Pillar to score from third as the O's only get one out.
8:16 Jose Peraza reaches down and punches a soft liner into right, scoring Vazquez from second.
8:06 Christian Vazquez gets a break with a pop fly into left that the Orioles outfield responds slowly to. Ball should have been caught by left fielder Pat Valaika, but he pulled up short and the ball drops in.
8:02 Nathan Eovaldi bails himself out of a jam, but as if often the case with him, the pitch count gets ramped up early. He needed 22 pitches to get the first three outs.
7:48 Mitch Moreland hammers a changeup deep to right, but Anthony Santander makes a leaping catch at the wall, saving the Orioles a couple of runs.
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- The Red Sox reinstated LHP Darwinzon Hernandez from the IL and added him to their major league roster. To make room for him on the major league roster, the Red Sox designated INF Christian Arroyo for assignment. Arroyo, who had taken a number of days to go through the team's intake program, had been activated Wednesday. He is out of options and must clear waivers for the Sox to assign him to the alternate training site in Pawtucket.
- Ron Roenicke said he welcomes Hernandez back. "If he's back to where he was last year, that will be huge. He'll either get into a couple of innings tonight or (Friday), depending on how it goes,'' Roenicke said. "We'll kind of try to build the next time -- it could be two (innings), could be three. And then as we go, we'll see how what we feel like. If Chaim (Bloom) and the crew and us down here that we feel like we want to try to start him, or if we like him so much in the bullpen, keep him there and have someone with length with a guy you really like in that role.''
- The Sox added No. 1 prospect Tristan Casas to their player pool, though he would not be a candidate to join the major league team this season. "I think it's important for him to not only be seen by us but also for his development to get out there and actually play,'' said Roenicke, "and have live innings. Even though it's not a game, just to be in that atmosphere. That's the important thing for our higher picks that we've brought in -- to not lose a season, to still continue to develop and we can get a feel from what we see from them.''
- J.D. Martinez, who came out of Tuesday's game and wasn't in the lineup Wednesday, is the DH again tonight. "He's certainly better,'' said Roenicke. "I don't know that he's 100 percent yet, but talking to him earlier, he thought he was fine to play and hopefully get back into his normal routine.'' Roenicke said Martinez might play the outfield in the series if he continues to improve.
- WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 6-3 win at home Wednesday...The Sox are 1-12 against the Yankees and Rays and 6-6 against all other opponents...The Red Sox are just 6-6 against the Orioles in their last 12 meetings, but they're 19-4 in their last 23 games at Camden Yards...RHP Nathan Eovaldi has thrown at least five innings in each of his first five starts this season...Eovaldi also has a 27-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio....Alex Verdugo has an 11-game hitting streak and has at least one extra-base hit in his last seven games, the longest such streak for a Red Sox hitter since Dwight Evans in 1982...Verdugo leads the Sox in total bases (43), on-base percentage (.356), slugging percentage (.531) and OPS (.886)...He's also tied for the team lead in hits (23) and stolen bases (two)....Mitch Moreland has reached base in 10 straight games and is hitting .407 with four homers and six walks in that stretch....The Red Sox and Orioles are tied for the league lead in doubles with 54...In his last 13 games at Camden Yards, Jackie Bradley Jr. has five homers and 13 RBI....Bradley has four multi-homer games in his career and two of them have come in Baltimore...In his last 26 games at Camden Yards, J.D. Martinez has 12 homers and 28 RBI...Renato Nunez is 6-for-9 with two homers in his career against Eovaldi while Chris Davis is 4-for-16 with two homers and seven strikeouts....Rafael Devers is 1-for-9 lifetime against Wojciechowski with three strikeouts while Moreland is 0-for-6....Christian Vazquez has hit in three straight games.