All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' win over the Rangers, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Pivetta finds his groove: Through his first three starts of the season, Nick Pivetta had an ERA of 10.03. Pivetta's pitch count was high before he worked up much of a sweat and in his first four starts, he only reached the fifth inning once. But Pivetta has since made a few mechanical adjustments to his delivery, and he's looked more like the pitcher he was a year ago over his last three outings. Friday's start was easily his best this season as he limited the Rangers to a single run on just three hits over seven innings. Pivetta has given up some velocity on his fastball in order to better command it, and the results prove it -- he's issued just one walk in his last three starts. On Friday, he was able to spot his fastball up in the zone, while mixing in his changeup, and, especially, his curveball. The mix of speeds kept the Rangers off balance all night.
Offense keeps it going: Slowly but surely, it seems, the Red Sox are getting untracked with their bats. After 12 runs in two games in Atlanta earlier this week, the Sox put up seven Friday night, giving them a three-game total of 19 on the first three games of this five-game road trip. The story is quite simple: if the Red Sox can score four or more runs per night, they're going to be fine. They're now 10-5 in such games this season. Another encouraging development of late: the Sox have been adding on after the early innings. They scored a solo run in the third to take a quick lead, but then scored four more in the sixth and another two in the seventh. When they do that, they take a lot of pressure off the bullpen, allowing for a far greater margin of error in the late innings. "We can swing the bat,'' said Alex Cora. "We know that. That's something we've been doing here since 2018. But I think the quality of the at-bats early on in the season, were awful. (Now) we're swinging at pitches in the zone. The early work that they're doing pre-game is paying off, and that's a good sign.''
TURNING POINT
Alex Cora noted in his postgame comments to reporters that the hustle shown by Xander Bogaerts in the four-run sixth inning was a huge spot in the game. With one out and one on, Bogaerts hit a broken-bat slow roller to the right of the mound. Texas shortstop Corey Seager charged the ball and made a strong throw, but Bogaerts, running hard out of the box, beat it out. Instead of having two out and a runner at second, the Sox had runners at first and second and just one out. Four runs would soon follow as the Sox pulled away.
TWO UP
Kike Hernandez: Though he had just one hit -- a single in the ninth inning -- Hernandez was on base four times and made a superb diving catch in right-center to take extra bases away from Nick Solak in the third inning.
J.D. Martinez: The veteran slugger continued to wield a hot bat with a double and single and RBI, to go along with a walk.
ONE DOWN
Jackie Bradley Jr.: Though he hit the ball hard a couple of times, Bradley was without a hit in four at-bats and is back down below the .200 mark (.189).
QUOTE OF NOTE
"It was actually fun.'' Alex Cora on the win.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* J.D. Martinez extended his hitting streak to 14 games and has reached base safely in all 25 games in which he's played this season. The streak is 30 games going back to last season.
* The win was the first of the season in seven starts for Nick Pivetta.
* The 410-foot out off the bat of Trevor Story in the eighth inning, which reached the warning track in center field, was the longest out for a Red Sox hitter this season.
* With three doubles, the Red Sox have now had multiple extra-base hits in 10 straight games.
* Story has five RBI over the last three games.
* Martinez became the first Red Sox player since Dustin Pedroia (2016) to reach base in 30 straight games.
UP NEXT: The Red Sox and Rangers play the middle game of their series Saturday at 7:05 p.m. with LHP Rich Hill (0-1, 2.86) vs. RHP Glenn Otto 1-0, 3.14).