FINAL: Red Sox 11, St. Louis Cardinals 3 - O'Neill, Devers, and Hamilton homer in Sox Offensive Onslaught

The Red Sox (23-24) end their four game skid with a great game all around in the 11-3 win against the St. Louis Cardinals (20-26).

The offense was on fire today, totaling 14 hits, seven of those being for extra bases. Tyler O'Neill opened the scoring with a solo home run in the first inning. Rafael Devers hit a two run home run in the sixth, making it five straight games with a home run for him. David Hamilton would pinch hit for Devers in the ninth, and hit a home run of his own into right field. Eight out of twelve of the Red Sox batters recorded an RBI today, with Dominic Smith having a game high of three.

Nick Pivetta's start was nothing short of stellar. He had a perfect game going into the fourth inning, until Lars Nootbaar hit a solo shot to spoil the bid. Outside of that, Pivetta remained perfect against every other batter he faced. He went six innings with eight strikeouts, and no walks. Three relievers made appearances today, all for one inning each. Greg Weissert gave up the other two Cardinals runs, and he also struck out two batters. Cam Booser would follow him and strike out another two, and Chris Martin took the mound with an eight run lead in the ninth and struck out the side to end the game. 15 total strikeouts for the Red Sox pitching staff today.

My Player of the Game: Nick Pivetta - After his first couple of starts after coming back from injury didn't go quite as planned, Pivetta really showed out today in what should be a great confidence boost for him.

The Sox will make their way to Tampa for a three game series with the Rays, which will begin tomorrow night at 6:50 p.m.. Probable starters for that one are Tanner Houck (3-5, 2.17 ERA) and Taj Bradley (1-1, 2.45)
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WHO: Red Sox (22-24) at St. Louis Cardinals (20-25)
WHEN: 1:05 p.m.
WHERE: Busch Stadium, St. Louis
SERIES TO DATE: 0-2
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Nick Pivetta (1-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. LHP Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 4.56 ERA)
TV/RADIO: Roku, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran LF
Rob Refsnyder RF
Tyler O'Neill DH
Rafael Devers 3B
Connor Wong C
Garrett Cooper 1B
Romy Gonzales SS
Vaughn Grissom 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela CF

SP Nick Pivetta

OPPONENT

Matt Carpenter DH
Lars Nootbar RF
Paul Goldschmidt 1B
Nolan Arenado 3B
Alec Burleson LF
Brendan Donovan 2B
Brandon Crawford SS
Pedro Pages C
Michael Siani CF

SP Matthew Liberatore

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox lost to the Cardinals last night, 7-2...The game was tied, 2-2, entering the bottom of the 8th inning. Kutter Crawford allowed 1 run in 5.2 IP (6 H, 2 BB, 5 SO). Rafael Devers hit a solo HR in the 4th inning. The Red Sox have lost 4 straight games, tying their longest losing streak of the season (also 4/9-12). They’ve lost 5 of their last 6 games and 11 of their last 15. The Sox are a season-high 2 games below .500.

The Red Sox are 11-6 in day games, compared to 11-18 at night...They’ll play a day game today after playing 6 consecutive games at night from Monday-Saturday. Boston owns a 2.32 ERA in 17 day games (3.48 at night), allowing 3 runs or fewer in 13 of those games.

Among AL teams, the Sox rank top 5 in doubles (2nd, 86), triples (T-2nd, 11), XBH (2nd, 144), SLG (4th, .401), and stolen bases (5th, 35). Boston has homered in a season-high 6 consecutive games and 7 of its last 8 (9 total HR), compared to 3 of the previous 13 (5 HR).

Rafael Devers has homered in a career-high-tying 4 consecutive games, his 3rd time doing so (also 6/11-15/22 and 4/8-13/21). The Red Sox record for consecutive games with a HR is 5, done 6 times (previous: Bobby Dalbec in 2020).

Rafael Devers has recorded 418 career XBH, 4 shy of tying Jim Rice (422) for most in Red Sox history prior to turning 28 years old. Devers currently owns an 8-game hit streak, posting a 1.049 OPS with 7 runs and 7 RBI over that span (10-for-34, 3 2B, 4 HR).

Red Sox catchers have caught 9 of 13 attempted base stealers over their last 8 games...They threw out 3 of 31 attempted base stealers in their first 38 games. Among AL teams, Sox catchers rank 2nd in AVG (.306) and OBP (.355), and 3rd in SLG (.454) and OPS (.809).

Red Sox outfielders lead MLB with 13 defensive runs saved...Their 7 outfield assists are tied for 4th-most in the AL and 12th in MLB. Jarren Duran’s 10 DRS are 2nd most among all outfielders (TOR’s Daulton Varsho-13)...His 4 outfield assists rank T-2nd in the AL and T-3rd in MLB.

Boston’s starting pitchers lead the AL with a 2.73 ERA (71 ER/233.2 IP)...They also rank 3rd in WHIP (1.09) and opponent AVG (.223). Tanner Houck (1.9) and Kutter Crawford (1.8) rank T-2nd and T-3rd respectively in fWAR among MLB pitchers. Among qualified pitchers, they’re tied for 6th in the AL and 9th in MLB in ERA (2.17)...Both have recorded identical IP (58.0), ER (14), SO (57), and hits allowed (48).

Among qualified AL rookies, Red Sox rank among the top 5 in several categories: Wilyer Abreu is tied for the lead in doubles (10)...He ranks 2nd in hits (32), XBH (15), BB (17), total bases (56), and SB (6), and ranks 3rd in AVG (.260), OBP (.348), SLG (.455), OPS (.803), runs (20), and RBI (tied, 15). Ceddanne Rafaela leads the group in RBI (23)...He ranks 3rd in H (tied, 30), doubles (tied, 8), HR (tied, 4), XBH (14), total bases (54), and SB (tied, 4).