Slump? What slump?
After scoring just six runs in their previous three games combined, the Red Sox' offense broke out in a big way, scoring 11 runs in the first two innings and cruising to a 13-4 mauling of the Toronto Blue Jays. The explosion came on the same day that manager Alex Cora re-arranged the Red Sox' batting order in order to spur some offense.
The Sox belted six homers -- including three in the first inning alone - and snapped a two-game losing streak. Five different players belted homers, and Kike Hernandez had two.
Nick Pivetta had a rocky fourth in which he allowed four runs, but pitched into the seventh.
WHO: Red Sox (56-38) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (48-42)
WHEN: 7:07 p.m.
WHERE: Sahlen Field, Buffalo
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: BOS 5-4
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Nick Pivetta (7-4, 4.30) vs. RHP Ross Stripling (3-5, 4.34)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM, 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Hernandez 2B
Duran 2B
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Martinez DH
Verdugo LF
Renfroe RF
Santana 1B
Plawecki C
BLUE JAYS
Semien 2B
Bichette SS
Guerrero Jr. 1B
Springer CF
Hernandez RF
Grichuk DH
Biggio 3B
Gurriel Jr. LF
McGuire C
IN-GAME OBSERVATION:
T6: Another homer for Kike Hernandez, who now has three extra-base hits and 10 total bases tonight.
B5: After needing 27 pitches in the previous inning, Pivetta turns back the Jays on just seven pitches in the fifth.
B4: Finally, Pivetta works his way through the inning. But it takes 27 pitches.
B4: Blue Jays claw back a bit against Pivetta. Walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. , double by George Springer, groundout and a sac fly produce two and Cavan Biggio cranks a long solo shot to RF.
T4: It's early, but Duran will have to cut down on swinging at fastballs up in the zone. It's clear that's the book on him already and teams are exploiting it.
B2: Alex Verdugo with a nice sliding catch to take a hit away from Randal Grichuk. Pivetta has mastered that play -- coming in, sliding on his knees to make a shoestring catch -- almost routine.
T2: Two-run double from Danny Santana, following a solo shot by Rafael Devers, and the rout is on.
B1: After allowing two singles to start the inning, Nick Pivetta digs in and fans Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before ending the inning with a double-play off the bat of George Springer.
T1: Hernandez with his second extra-base hit of the inning -- this one a homer, to left, with Kevin Plawecki aboard. It/s 8-0. What a beating.
T1: Hunter Renfroe goes deep with the second grand slam of the season for the Red Sox. That's six runs for the Sox, or as many as they scored in their entire series in New York. It would appear the new batting order has worked out.
T1: Jarren Duran goes oppo on a fastball away for his first career homers - a two-run shot to jumpstart the Sox.
T1: Kike Hernandez takes advantage of a casual George Springer and legs out a hustle double to start things.
WHAT'S UP: At 56-38 (.596), the Red Sox are tied with the Astros for the AL’s second-best record. The Sox are 24-15 (.615) in their last 39 games, but just 2-6 in their last eight. ...This is the fourth time in nine years the Red Sox were in first place at the All-Star break...They won the AL East in each of the previous three nstances (2013, ‘17, ‘18). The Sox are 22-12 (.647) vs. AL East teams. The Sox are 30-23 (.566) vs. teams that entered today with a winning record...They are 11-16 vs. AL West teams and 45-22 (.672) vs. all others...The Red Sox are 10-9 against the Blue Jays since the start of 2020, including 5-4 this season...Twelve of the last 19 meetings have been decided by one or two runs. The Sox and Blue Jays split their two games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo last year....In their last 20 games, Red Sox starters have posted a 3.51 ERA ....Red Sox starters have thrown five or more innings 72 times, fourth-most in the majors.....The Sox are 47-25 (.653) in those games....The Red Sox have the AL’s best road record (28-19, .596)...They have a 3.82 ERA on the road (eight in MLB) and a 4.40 ERA at home (24th). The Red Sox are 28-19 (.596) at home, the fourth-best record in the AL (11th-best in MLB)...They are 13-6 (.684) at home since Fenway opened to full capacity on May 29...: Since losing their first three games of the season to the Orioles, the Red Sox have not been swept in a series of any length...The Sox have swept nine series, including one four-game set and four three-game series. The Sox are one of two eams without a losing streak of longer than three games (also NYM)..... The Red Sox open the season’s second half by playing a game on 17 consecutive days from July 16 to Aug. 1, all against AL East opponents (NYY-7, TOR-7, TB-3). The Sox will play 23 games in 24 days out of the break...After that, they will play 48 games in their remaining 56 days....Alex Cora has won 248 games as manager of the Red Sox...Cora would become the 14th manager to win 250 games with the Red Sox, but only the 6th to do so at the age of 45 or younger...The other five to do that are Bill Carrigan, Jimmy Collins, Joe Cronin, Eddie Kasko, and Dick Williams....: Among rookies with 20.0+ innings pitched this season, Garrett Whitlock owns the lowest ERA (1.38)...He has a 0.54 ERA and .183 opponent AVG in his last 10 outings... Whitlock has made 16 scoreless appearances of more than an inning, most in MLB...Prior to Whitlock, the last Red Sox pitcher with at least 16 scoreless appearances of more than an inning in a season was Burke Badenhop in 2014 (16)...The last Sox pitcher with 17 or more in a season was Derek Lowe in 2000 (17)....The Red Sox rank in the Top 5 n the majors in runs scored (fourth, 470), SLG (third, .436), doubles (first, 199), and extra-base hits (first, 326). The Red Sox have hit 20 three-run homers, most in the AL and tied with the Giants for most in the majors. The Sox have hit four or more homers in a game an MLB-best eight times. The Sox own MLB’s best records when scoring four or more runs (49-7, .875) and five or more runs (42-4, .913).....: Nick Pivetta has thrown 6.2 innings or more and allowed no runs in each of his last two road starts. Has thrown six or more innings in eight of his 18 starts, and five or more innings pitched in 14 of them.....Pivetta leads Sox starters in opponent AVG (.221), strikeouts (113), and ranks second in WHIP (1.28) and SO/9.0 IP (10.57)....Ranks seventh among qualified AL pitchers in SO/9.0 IP (10.57). Among AL RHP who have faced at least 150 left-handed batters, his .204 opponent AVG vs. LHB ranks third behind Zack Greinke (.200) and Lucas Giolito (.201)....Bo Bichette is 4-for-6 with a homer against Pivetta lifetime while Cavan Biggio is 3-for-5 with a homer...Xander Bogaerts has reached base in 35 of his last 36 games while J.D. Martinez has reached in 30 of his last 31..
NOTES:
* The Red Sox placed INF Christian Arroyo (left hamstring) on the IL while recalling Danny Santana from the IL.
* Alex Cora made a number of changes with the batting order, dropping Alex Verdugo from second to sixth while reshuffling the 3-4-5 spots, moving Xander Bogaerts from fourth to third, dropping J.D. Martinez from third to fifth and elevating Rafael Devers from fifth to fourth. The Sox have been scuffling for the last 10 days or so and Cora is hopeful that the changes could help. "Trying to maximize JD, get some traffic in front of him,'' said Cora. "There was an at-bat (Sunday) that caught my attention with Raffy. He had traffic and they didn't attack him. I've been thinking about this for a while now -- how we can re-arrange JD, Xander and Raffy to maximize them. We haven't been hot since Oakland, so why not? It gives Dugie (Verdugo) a breather, too. Maybe it's a different at-bat for him and he feels better about himself. We'll run with it. You're going to go through stretches like this. Today just felt like, 'Let's try this and see what happens.' It's still the same group of guys; we just reshuffled it for the time being and see where it takes us.''
* Cora was convinced that Duran can handle the added attention that comes with hitting near the top of the lineup. "He seems like he belongs. (He had) competitive at-bats. YOu can see the energy, the confidence and obviously you see the athlete. The feedback I got from (the Yankees) was like, 'This kid belongs.' Now, we just have to keep finding good matchups for him, keep giving him confidence and he's going to be a big part of what we're trying to accomplish.''
* Christian Vazquez took a foul tip off his left knee Sunday night and was given a breather, with Kevin Plawecki getting the start.
* The Sox were uncertain about whether Chris Sale will throw three or four innings for Double A Portland Tuesday night.