Going on the road for the first time this season, the Red Sox got some revenge against the Orioles for last weekend, thumping Baltimore with a 7-3 victory for their fourth straight win.
The Sox pounded out 12 hits, providing support for Eduardo Rodriguez, who picked up a win in his first appearance in a regular season game since September of 2019.
Rodriguez allowed three runs in five innings -- all on homers -- but also struck out seven and didn't issue a walk.
The Sox got homers from Rafael Devers and Enrique Hernandez. Seven of the nine members of the starting lineup had at least one hit.
WHO: Red Sox (3-3) vs. Baltimore Orioles (4-2)
WHEN: 3:05 p.m.
WHERE: Orioles Park at Camden Yards
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: Baltimore 3-0
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Matt Harvey (0-0, 3.86)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Hernandez CF
Verdugo RF
Martinez DH
Devers 3B
Vazquez C
Gonzalez SS
Arroyo 2B
Cordero LF
Dalbec 1B
ORIOLES
Mullins CF
Mancini 1B
Santander RF
Mountcastle LF
Franco DH
Severino C
Galvis SS
Ruiz 3B
Valaika 2B
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B8: Matt Andriese catches a break when first base umpire Dan Iassogna rings up Mountcastle on a check swing. Sure didn't look like he swung fully, but Orioles leave two on.
T8: Hernandez joins the homer club with a two-out clout to left field.
T7: Cora said before the game that the Baltimore bullpen had been worked a lot in their series in New York and the goal would be to get to the Orioles relievers today. Sox have done that and have two runs off the pen in the seventh on a double by J.D. Martinez and a run-scoring single from Gonzalez.
B6: A real show of faith by Cora in rookie Garrett Whitlock, who gets the bottom of the sixth in a one-run game.
T6: Poor baserunning by Gonzalez, who broke for the plate on ball that didn't get very far from Severino, and is tagged out on a rundown.
T6: Really bad chase for Bobby Dalbec, who swings at a pitch way out of the zone.
T6: Mountacastle has helped the Sox here. Misplayed a blooper, then his throw to the infield was off the mark. Sox lead for the first time since the first.
T6: Not much muscle, but Christian Arroyo hits the ball about 65 feet, to the right of the mound, enough to knock in a run and tie things. Bases still loaded.
T6: Red Sox catch a break when a ball falls into no-man's land in left, giving them first-and-second with no out. That also forced Harvey from the game, with lefty Paul Fry on.
B5: Marwin Gonzalez has been an adventure all afternoon at shortstop. Committed an error in the first on a routine play, and just juggled another before making a poor throw to first.
T4: Rio Ruiz swings through a pitch that managed to hit him in the elbow. Third base umpire Scott Barry rules that Ruiz intended to swing. O's manager Brandon Hyde is irate at the call and is run.
T4: Rodriguez couldn't have served up that one better had he placed it on a tee for Pedro Severino -- four-seamer in the middle of the plate that Severino drives out to RF. Second homer of the day off Red Sox pitching after none allowed in the first 57 innings.
B3: Rodriguez has settled in and settled down, having retired seven straight, including four by strikeout. Showing more command and getting a lot of weak contact and ground balls.
T3: Christian Vazquez is on everything right now, with hits in five hits in his last eight at-bats including two homers and two doubles.
B1: Red Sox' 2-0 lead doesn't last long as Ryan Mountcastle drives a two-run shot out to RF. First homer allowed by the Sox this season.
B1: In the early going, velocity a bit off for Eduardo Rodriguez. Has topped out at 93 mph once, mostly 91-92 mph when he's usually 95-96 mph.
T1: Rafael Devers becomes the first Red Sox hitter not named Martinez or Vazquez to homer, driving a fastball over the heart of the plate to right-center.
PRE-GAME STATS: In the 20 seasons in which the Red Sox began the year 0-3, this is only the second time that they've quickly gotten back to .500 at 3-3. They also did so in 1951....When the Sox began 0-3, they scored just five runs in those games and hit .160 as a team with an OPS of .448. Over the next three, all wins, they hit a collective .339 with a .903 OPS and scored a total of 26 runs...In addition to improved offense, the Sox have also gone four straight games without committing an error....The Red Sox allowed 11 runs on Sunday, but in the other five games to date, have not allowed more than three earned runs and have an ERA of 2.25 in those contests...The Sox are only the third team since 2000 to go the first games of the season without allowing a single homer....The last team to open a season with a longer homerless streak was the Atlanta Braves in 1997, who didn't allow a homer in their first eight games....The longest such streak for a Red Sox team to begin a season in the last 75 years was 1964, when the Sox didn't allow a homer in their first seven games...Since the start of the 2018 season, the Red Sox have a winning percentage of .789 (45-12) in games started by Eduardo Rodriguez....J.D. Martinez leads the majors in extra-base hits (eight) and leads the AL in doubles (six), slugging percentage (.920), and total bases (23).. He's also in the top third in the AL in batting average, RBI, OPS and hits....The Sox are just 6-10 in their last 16 games against the Orioles...The Sox have won all seven of Rodriguez’s last seven starts against the Orioles...Since the start of the 2018 season, he is 6-0 with a 1.66 ERA vs. the O’s...In nine career starts at Camden Yards, Rodriguez is 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA...Trey Mancini is 10-for-31 with two homers in his career against Rodriguez while Pedro Severino is 3-for-8....Martinez is 3-for-3 lifetime against Matt Harvey while Marwin Gonzalez is 2-for-5.
NEWS AND NOTES:
- Today marks the return of Eduardo Rodriguez, who was placed on the IL last week and missed out on his chance to be the team's Opening Day starter when he developed a dead arm toward the end of spring training. Alex Cora said Rodriguez, who threw two bullpens in recent days, won't have a prescribed inning or pitch limit. "His body is going to let us know throughout the season where he's at.''
- The Sox have a five-man taxi squad traveling with the team as a precaution against a COVID outbreak on the road. With the Sox are INF Michael Chavis, RHP Colten Brewer, OF Cesar Puello, C Chris Herrmann and pitcher Ryan Weber. The taxi squad players are allowed to work out pre-game, but must all vacate the clubhouse except for the catcher, who must remain out of uniform. The rest of the players are allowed to watch the game from a suite within the ballpark, or can go back to the hotel and watch the game from there.
- Rafael Devers welcomes the chance to for teams to be all together in their clubhouse this season, a contrast to last year, when the team had most of the players dressing and utilizing unused private suites at Fenway. "Being able to be with the guys and to have those conversations, it changes everything. It changes the dynamic.''
- After giving Xander Bogaerts a day off, Cora explained the thought process had had in having Marwin Gonzalez -- and not Enrique Hernandez or Christian Arroyo -- fill in at shortstop. Instead, Hernandez was in center and Arroyo at second base. "It was more about having Enrique in the outfield because Hunter (Renfroe) isn't playing,'' said Cora. "I do believe that Marwin plays a good shortstop in spring training, although he didn't play there much in spring training. But I saw it firsthand (in Houston in 2017) and saw that he makes sound decisions. And Christian is becoming a good defender at second. I think (this) is the way we'll do it, although we feel Enrique can play short, too. Whenever we have to make a decision in the infield, most likely we'll use Enrique at second and stick Marwin at short.''