Eduardo Rodriguez delivered six shutout innings and newly converted reliever Garrett Richards took it from there as the Red Sox shut out the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-0, gaining a split of the four-game series and improbably, returning home with a winning record on their seven-game road trip.
Bobby Dalbec, who earlier in the day was named American League Rookie of the Month for August, continued his hot stretch with two run-scoring singles. Hunter Renfroe and J.D. Martinez also supplied RBI singles.
Despite losing eight players to COVID since the start of the road trip, the Sox finished 4-3 and now return home for a six-game homestand.
WHO: Red Sox (76-59) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (84-49)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Tropicana Field
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: TPA 9-6
SERIES TO DATE: 1-1
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (10-7, 5.12) vs. LHP Shane McLanahan (9-4, 3.59)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Renfroe RF
Schwarber DH
Martinez LF
Devers 3B
Dalbec 1B
Vazquez C
Santana CF
Lopez 2B
Arauz SS
RAYS
Arozarena RF
Cruz DH
Franco SS
Diaz 1B
Margot CF
Lowe 2B
Zunino C
Luplow LF
Walls 3B
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B7: Garrett Richards with another strong outing in relief. Comes on for Rodriguez with two on and no out and strikes out the first two hitters before getting Mike Zunino to fly out to center.
B6: For the first time this season, Rodriguez will pitch into the seventh in consecutive outings.
T5 Nice hitting on the part of J.D. Martinez, who drops the head on a breaking ball down and in and lines a run-scoring single to left, delivering Arauz from second. How important, in retrospect, was that leadoff walk by Arauz?
T5: Leading off the inning, Jonathan Arauz works a walk after 11 pitches, running McClanahan's pitch count up.
B4: Eduardo Rodriguiez is cruising through four innings, needing just 52 pitches. He's throwing his fastball consistently in the mid-90s and is commanding welll.
B3: Just like Chris Sale last night, Rodriguez benefits from some strong infield defense, as a double play gets turned behind him by the new combination of Jonathan Arauz and Jack Lopez. That's four double plays in the last 12 innings.
T2: Sox continue to enjoy good at-bats against McLanahan, with a sharp single to left by Hunter Renfroe scoring Danny Santana from second.
T1: Red Sox being aggressive and hunting fastballs off Shane McClanahan and making hard contact,
WHAT'S UP...The Red Sox snapped a 3-game losing streak last night...They are 4-3 in their last 7 games, 6-4 in their last 10, and 11-9 in their last 20. The Sox are 20-24 since the All-Star break...They are 13- 19 since 7/29, after starting the season 63-40 (.612). . Last night was the Sox’ 39th come-from-behind win of the season, 2nd-most in the majors (TB-41).... The Red Sox are 6-9 against the Rays this season, including 2-7 at Tropicana Field...Last night, the Sox snapped a 7-game losing streak at the venue, their longest since a 7-game skid from 2007-0-8.... The Red Sox are in a stretch of playing a game on 17 consecutive days from 8/23-9/8 (6-4 so far). Each of the Sox’ next 13 games are against teams that entered today with a winning record (TB-1, CLE-3, TB3, CWS-3, SEA-3)...The Sox’ 6 games prior to tonight were also against teams that entered today with a winning record (CLE-3, TB-3). MONSTER MASH: The Red Sox have homered in each of their last 10 games (21 HR total), their longest streak of the season...The Sox last homered in at least 10 consecutive games during August of 2019 (19 games, 8/7-30). ...The Red Sox feature 5 players who have at least 50 XBH this season, most in the majors: Rafael Devers (67), J.D. Martinez (62), Xander Bogaerts (53), Hunter Renfroe (51), and Kiké Hernández (50). Each of those players has at least an .800 OPS...Only 3 others teams feature at least 5 qualified players with at least an .800 OPS (HOU-6, CIN-5, LAD-5). ...Among AL players with at least 50 PA in August, Bobby Dalbec ranked 1st in OPS (1.205), 2nd in OBP (.431), 2nd in SLG (.774), and 2nd in AVG (.339)...He tied for the team lead in RBI (21), ranking 2nd in HR (7) and XBH (12). In 132 career games, Dalbec has 26 HR and 77 RBI with a .243/.307/.493/.799 batting line...In his 16 games with the Red Sox, Kyle Schwarber has posted a .333/.478/.574/1.052 batting line (18-for-54, 15 BB, 4 2B, 3 HR). Schwarber has reached base 33 times with Boston, the most by a player in their first 16 games with the Sox since Manny Ramirez in 2001 (34)... Devers ranks among the top 5 in the majors in RBI (2nd, 97), doubles (T-4th, 34), XBH (3rd, 67), and total bases (5th, 266). Devers leads the majors in XBH since the beginning of 2019 (185)...His 254 career XBH rank 3rd among Red Sox prior to turning 25 (Williams-314, Doerr-260) ....Among the 187 pitchers with at least 60.0 IP this season, Garrett Whitlock ranks 2nd in the AL and 4th in MLB with a 1.52 ERA. Since 1970, the only AL rookies (min. 60.0 IP) with a lower ERA in a season than Whitlock’s are Dellin Betances (1.40 in 2014) and Jonathan Papelbon (0.92 in 2006). Whitlock has made 23 scoreless appearances of more than 1.0 IP, the most in MLB. ...: Chris Sale is 3-0 with a 2.53 ERA (6 ER/21.1 IP) and 24 strikeouts to 5 walks through his first 4 starts of 2021...He tossed a season-high 6.0 IP last night. Sale, who has thrown at least 5.0 innings in all 4 starts, has struck out 8 batters twice, doing so over 5.0 innings on 8/14 vs. BAL and over 5.1 innings on 8/26 vs. MIN. Beginning 8/7, Nathan Eovaldi (4 GS) and Chris Sale (4 GS) have combined to post a 2.15 ERA with 54 SO and 7 BB (11 ER/46.0 IP). In his last 4 starts, Eovaldi has a 1.85 ERA (5 ER/24.1 IP) with 30 SO and only 2 BB...Since the start of 2020, he owns MLB’s lowest walk rate (4.0%; min. 150.0 IP)..In 6 games since moving to the bullpen, Garrett Richards has recorded a 0.87 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and .184 opponent AVG (10.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 12 SO)....The Red Sox lead the majors in doubles (275) and XBH (471) and rank 5th in runs per game (5.02), 3rd in AVG (.259), 2nd in SLG (.444), and 3rd in OPS (.769). The Sox own the AL’s best record when scoring 4+ runs (.827, 67-14)...They have scored 10+ runs 17 times (most in AL) and 15+ runs 3 times (tied for most in AL). In their last 22 games (beginning 8/8), the Sox have scored 135 runs (6.1/game) with a batting line of .275/.354/.490...They scored 6+ runs in 10 of those 22 games, after doing so in none of their previous 15.. The Sox’ 15 HR from the No. 9 spot in the batting order are tied for most in the majors (also DET, HOU, & TB)...Their 41 XBH from that spot lead the majors....Eduardo Rodriguez owns a 3.83 ERA and 10.83 SO/9.0 IP over his last 11 starts... Allowed 3 R or fewer in 4 of his last 5 starts and 8 of his last 11. Went 3-1 with a 3.33 ERA over 5 August starts. Has thrown 5.0+ innings in 9 of his last 12 starts and allowed 2 R or fewer in 7 of those starts. The Sox are 11-4 in his last 15 starts, and 61-21 (.744) since the beginning of 2018....Rodriguez leads Sox starters and ranks 6th among AL pitchers with at least 100.0+ IP in SO/9.0 IP (10.66) and has an expected ERA of 3.57...The 1.55 difference between his season ERA (5.12) and xERA is the 10th-largest in the majors (source: Baseball Savant). Ranks 2nd in the AL and 6th in MLB (1st among LHP) with 52 called 3rd strikes. vs. TB: Is 1-3 with a 5.15 ERA (33 ER/57.2 IP) in 11 career starts vs. TB. Has made 6 career starts at Tropicana Field and owns a 5.06 ERA (18 ER/32.0 IP).
NOTES:
* In need of all the middle infield depth they can get, the Red Sox claimed infielder Taylor Motter from the Colorado Rockies. Motter has also spent brief major league time with Tampa Bay, Seattle and Minnesota and has played every position but center field and catcher in the big leagues. The Sox must wait for him to clear COVID protocols. This season he played in 13 games with Colorado, after spending much of the season at Triple A. "He's athletic and versatile,'' said Alex Cora. "Where we're at right now, when we recognize talent, it would be good to add to our structure. We don't know what can happen in two or three hours or tomorrow. We'll see. There's other stuff has to go on before he can join us. We'll wait.''
* Cora said the players who tested positive are all improving and noted that was especially true of Kike Hernandez, who was the first player to test positive, last Friday, in Cleveland, where he remains in quarantine. "He feels like he's close to 100 percent. We'll see what happens in the upcoming days. But Christian (Arroyo) is feeling better, too. The guys here (in Tampa) are all OK. So, we just have to be patient.''
* Cora gave a luke-warm evaluation of Jarren Duran's play in the outfield. "He's been OK,'' said Cora. "Obviously, he still have to work on a few things out there. For all fast he is, he does a good job closing the gaps. But (the coaches) are still working with him on his first step. That's something that will benefit him. We can see it with (Hernandez), who is not fast but is quick. That's something that we have to keep working with (Duran).'' Occasionally, Duran has taken improper routes to the ball. "He's playing different places and it's not that easy,'' said Cora. "You have to get repetitions. That's part of the growing part of being a big leagues. Some haven't been great, but, also he's been sharp on others. We just want him to be consistent on his pre-pitch and his jump, and if he does that, he's going to be in better position to go chase fly balls.''
* Danny Santana was back in the lineup for the first time since July, playing center field.
* Cora said the Sox wouldn't rule out using either Rafael Devers or Bobby Dalbec some playing time at shortstop, since the team is shorthanded at the position with Xander Bogaerts, Hernandez and Arroyo all on the COVID list. "We have to be open-minded with Raffy and Bobby,'' said Cora. "If we hit for the one the kids, who's going to play up the middle. Raffy has played there in the shift and when Bobby plays third base, he plays there in the shift. So I told (Dlabec) to get some ground balls at short. I like what I saw. We're thinking ahead, how we're going to manage it, if we have to hit Jonathan (Arauz) and Jackie (Lopez), somebody has to play short.''