Rebounding from a doubleheader sweep and a quiet day with the bats, the Red Sox erupted for six runs in the first inning of Chicago ace Lucas Giolito and romped to an 11-4 victory over the White Sox, earning a split of the four-game series.
The Sox pounded out 17 hits, including homers from Kiké Hernández, J.D. Martinez and Alex Verdugo in the win.
Nate Eovaldi tied a career-best with 10 strikeouts and improved to 3-1.
WHO: Red Sox (10-6) vs. Chicago White Sox (8-8)
WHEN: 11:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: CHI 2-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (2-1, 2.08) vs. RHP Lucas Giolito (1-0, 2.55)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM
LINEUPS
WHITE SOX
Anderson SS
Eaton RF
Robert CF
Abreu 1B
Grandal C
Mercedes DH
Lamb 3B
Garcia LF
Madrigal 2B
RED SOX
Hernandez 2B
Verdugo CF
Martinez DH
Devers 3B
Vazquez C
Gonzalez SS
Renfro RF
Cordero LF
Dalbec 1B
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B8:; White Sox infielder Danny Mendick out here throwing knuckleballs in the eighth inning
T7: This will likely be Eovaldi's last inning as his pitch count hits 90. He just picked up his 10th strikeout, which ties his single-game high as a member of the Red Sox.
T5: Back-to-back doubles from Tim Anderson and Adam Eaton produce a run for the White Sox.
B3: Alex Verdugo gets a four-seamer inside and just above the knees, and drives it over the home bullpen. Third homer of the year for Verdugo and third homer of the day for the Sox.
T2: First pitch of the second from Giolito is clobbered by Martinez off one of the signs above the Monster Seats. That's six homers for Martinez; he hit seven all of last season.
T2: After sitting for a long time in the bottom of the first inning, Nathan Eovaldi rebounds with a strong second inning, striking out the side.
B1: Bobby Dalbec with a thing of beauty -- a 14 pitch walk. Giolito is at nearly 40 pitches with just one out.
B1: The parade of baserunners continues for the Red Sox, who have six hits and and six runs so far. Giolito has retired one of the first eight batters he's faced and the Sox have more runs today in the first than they did in 14 innings Sunday.
B1: Sox go ahead on the fourth straight hit of the inning -- a line single to RF by JD Martinez.
B1: Kiké Hernández nearly gets a very long single, with a line drive high off The Wall, but with replay, it's deemed a homer, his seventh leadoff homer of his career.
T1: For the fourth time in this series, the White Sox have scored in the first inning -- Luis Robert doubles into the left field corner, scoring Tim Anderson (infield single).
PRE-GAME STATS: The Red Sox are 10-0 this season when holding a lead at any point in the game....There have been four games in which the Sox have relinquished the lead, but each time, they came back to win those games...The Sox are 4-6 when the opponent scores first...They've come from behind in seven of their 10 wins...In the last seven games, the Sox bullpen has posted an ERA of 1.59 with just four runs allowed in 22.2 innings...Six different relievers have an ERA under 2.50 for the season...As a staff, the Sox have allowed the fewest homers per nine innings (0.58) in the big leagues...The Sox are 70-53 (.569) all-time on Patriots' Day...This is the fifth time the Sox have hosted the White Sox on Patriots Day...The Red Sox (+21) and White Sox (+18) are the top two AL teams in run differential...The Sox lead the league in runs cored, while the White Sox third in ERA at 3.28....The Red Sox are just 12-13 against the White Sox in the last 25 games played at Fenway....Yasmani Grandal is 2-for-5 lifetime against Nathan Eovaldi while Yoan Moncada is 1-for-1 with a homer...J.D. Martinez is 3-for-8 lifetime against Giolito while Xander Bogaerts is 2-for-8.
NOTES:
- Some members of the Red Sox will receive their first vaccinations after the game, with others scheduled to get theirs on Wednesday. The Red Sox wanted to split up the group in case some players, as has been the case elsewhere, get reactions to the shot. Cora declined to provide specific numbers of how many players were choosing to get their shots. "There's a group of guys getting vaccinated,'' he said. "We've got two groups going. I can't get go into details, but that's how we're going to do it,.'' MLB has told teams that some health and safety protocols can be relaxed if as many as 85 percent of a traveling party is vaccinated, "I'm confident (we'll reach that threshold),'' said Cora. "It's a hard one. You go through the details. You talk about it, you explain it, we have doctors. But in the end, it's what you want to do. Like I told them, it was my choice and I decided that I wanted to (get vaccinated) and I did it. And that's the way we've got to see here. I did it, not only because I wanted to protect myself but the people around you. I've been open about it and I've been having conversations with some of them. Hopefully we're doing it for all the right reasons. Sometimes get people caught up in the whole baseball side of it. But this is more than baseball, so hopefully, the decision they make is the right one for them and their families and let's see where it takes us.''
- Xander Bogaerts got a scheduled off-day and was out of the lineup.
- The Red Sox have been playing an unusual schedule, with four weekday afternoon start times in Minnesota last week, plus Sunday's split doubleheader and today's traditional 11 a.m. start for Patriots' Day. But starting Tuesday, they'll get back into a more regular rhythm, with most weekday games at night and some afternoon games on the weekend. "If we're going to have a lot of day games,'' said Cora, "I'd rather have them early in the season because we're coming from Florida and you're used to getting up at 6 in the morning. You get see it yesterday, we're grinding now. That's part of the equation. I actually mentioned it to some of the guys yesterday. I told them, 'Just grind it out one more day.' Then Tuesday, you reset and everything falls into place as far as your routine. Looking forward to it.''
- Cora said the Sox intend to have Garrett Whitlock available today if the Sox need any length out of the bullpen. Whitlock has pitched just once in the last 10 days.
- INF Christian Arroyo, who fouled a ball off his foot Sunday, is banged up and Cora said the team will make every effort to stay away from him today with an eye toward having him in the lineup Tuesday night against Toronto.