All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 4-3 win over the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Devers gets locked in: Just as he did last year, Rafael Devers is making up for a slow start. In 2019, it took about six weeks for Devers to really get untracked at the plate, and the same pattern developed in the shortened 2020 schedule. On Thursday night, he had three more hits (including a two-run homer) and knocked in three runs. He's now tied Xander Bogaerts for the team leader in homers (10) and has knocked in 26 runs in his last 21 games. Devers always is an aggressive hitter at the plate with good plate coverage, so why is he now making hard contact while in the first four weeks he wasn't? "He's on time better right now,'' explained Ron Roenicke. "I don't know why that timing gets out of whack, but if he's on time for the fastball, he knows he's on time and doesn't have to cheat and he sees the breaking ball well. Before, he was late on the fastball and he doesn't pick up the spin because he's jumping at the fastball. Why, all of a sudden? I don't know. But that's the difference -- he's on time.''
Kickham exploits Rays: Coming into Thursday night, the Rays lineup had more strikeouts than any team in the league. The Sox noticed early on that Mike Kickham was able to get them out front on some breaking balls, and stuck with that until the Tampa Bay hitters were able to make a few adjustments. In his first 30 pitches, Kickham, making his first start in the big leagues since 2013 with the San Francisco Giants, threw only a handful of fastballs, relying more on a cutter-slider to mix in with a changeup and a split. "We were able to get ahead with the breaking ball early and kind of use the cutter off that,'' said Kickham. "For the most part, we just executed our game plan going in.'' Kickham registered eight strikeouts in four innings, and kept his mistakes limited to solo homers on consecutive pitches to Hunter Renfroe and Brandon Lowe to begin the fourth.
Injuries piling up: For much of the season, the Red Sox have been able to avoid the injury bug that has bitten so many major league pitching staffs (the Sox' real staff losses came before the schedule began). But as the season winds down, the Sox are coming up a number of injuries to their pitchers. Since Aug. 31 alone, the Sox have been forced to place five pitchers on the IL. First, it was power reliever Darwinzon Hernandez, who was diagnosed with a sprained SC joint. Next came Kyle Hart (hip impingement), followed by reliever/starter Colten Brewer. Earlier Thursday, the Sox added Austin Brice (lat strain) was added to the IL, and hours later, Zack Godley (elbow) became the latest pitcher to be sidelined. "We're starting to see some injuries now,'' said Roenicke. "So we're staying on top how we go about it and what we need to do. We want to make sure we're doing the right things to finish this out.''
TURNING POINT
It was a dicey ninth inning for reliever Matt Barnes, who for the second straight save situation, put the leadoff man on base. But Barnes was able to power his way out of the game. With the potential tying run in scoring position, Barnes finished with a flourish, fanning the final two hitters he faced to close it out.
TWO UP
Bobby Dalbec: Once again, the big slugger went deep, registering a homer for the fifth straight game. Dalbec now has six homers in 10 games.
Christian Arroyo: Getting another start at second base, Arroyo had two hits in four trips to the plate and ended up scoring the game-winning run.
ONE DOWN
J.D. Martinez: Some of Martinez's at-bats were actually embarrassing, as he chased sweeping breaking balls way out of the zone and failed to handle fastballs on the inner half. He was hitless in four trips with three strikeouts.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I think the big thing for me is that the guys are still getting after it. Even though we're where we are in the standings and we lost pieces that we like, and yet, these guys are continuing to go out and still playing hard. It shows me a lot.'' - Ron Roenicke.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The win was only the third in the last 15 tries for the Sox against the Rays.
- Manuel Margot had two hits and two steals and now has 12 hits in his last five games against Boston.
- The Sox have 16 homers in the last five games, with multiple homers in each of the five.