All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' win over the Orioles, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Martinez leads the way with three RBI: The Red Sox' offense had a feeble showing in the series opener Tuesday, and, in fact, hadn't scored more than three runs in any of their last four games, each of them losses. But J.D. Martinez nearly snapped them out of their funk all by himself. Martinez hit his 28th homer of the season in the second inning. Then, two at-bats later, with the Sox still clinging to that 1-0 edge, Martinez delivered a ringing double to left, scoring two more runs to give the Red Sox some breathing room. "I've been feeling off-and-on, off-and-on,'' admitted Martinez. "I'm hoping that I can kind of just carry what I was feeling today and ride for as long as I can.'' With one more RBI, Martinez can become just the third player in Red Sox history to have three or more seasons with at least 25 homers and at least 100 RBI.
Eovaldi bounces back: Starter Nathan Eovaldi followed up one of his worst outings of the season with one of his best. Five days after being tagged for seven runs by the Yankees in the opener of that weekend series, Eovaldi set the tone for the Sox early by racking up five strikeouts through the first two innings. He would go to toss six shutout innings and the O's really only threatened much in his final inning of work. He issued just one walk and fanned seven to earn his 11th win, Eovaldi said he made some slight adjustments to his mechanics since the previous start and had good command of all five of his pitches with the exception of his slider.
Everybody hits: Well, almost everybody. Eight of the Red Sox starters had at least one hit, a big improvement over the series opener when the Sox managed just three hits for the entire night and the Sox never put more than one baserunner on in any of the nine innings. Again, in sharp contrast to the other night, the Sox went down in order just twice and on multiple occasions, had several runners on base. The lineup also did a far better job using the whole field -- Martinez went to straightaway center with his solo homer and Alex Verdugo, with two strikes, drove the ball to the opposite field to score two with his big eighth-inning single.
TURNING POINT
The Red Sox added on with Martinez's double in the top of the sixth, but even then, the Sox' 3-0 lead seemed a bit precarious. That was especially true when Eovaldi gave up a leadoff double to Cedric Mullins and then issued a walk to Ryan Mountcastle. But Eovaldi dug himself out of trouble by retiring the next three hitters -- Nos. 3 through 5 in the Baltimore lineup -- with two flyouts and a strikeout, finishing his outing in strong fashion and preserving the three-run cushion.
TWO UP
Matt Barnes: For the second time in his last two appearances, Barnes pitched effectively, with a scoreless ninth inning in which he recorded a strikeout and didn't allow a hit.
Alex Verdugo: Slotted at the bottom of the order given his struggles against lefties, Verdugo had a single in the fifth and a huge opposite-field single to deliver two insurance runs in the eighth.
ONE DOWN
Bobby Dalbec: Dalbec has gone cold again in the last week and that was evident Wednesday night as he went hitless in four at-bats while striking out three times.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"We've been scuffling for four games now, so just being able to get the monkey off our back, I think, is a big one for us.'' J.D. Martinez.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The shutout was the seventh for the Red Sox this season.
* The homer by J.D. Martinez was measured at 444 feet, making it the longest of his Red Sox career.
* Hunter Renfroe hit his 30th homer of the season, three shy of his career high of 33, set in 2019 with San Diego.
* Hansel Robles tossed a scoreless eighth for his 13th consecutive scoreless appearances.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Orioles complete their series -- and season series -- Thursday night at 7:05 with RHP Nick Pivetta (9-7, 4.52) vs. LHP Alexander Wells (1-3, 7.61)