No marathon, but Red Sox run away with it
What’s wrong with the Yankees? So far, pretty much everything
BOSTON — Kiké Hernández led off with a replay-aided home run and Bobby Dalbec worked a 14-pitch walk in a six-run first inning, helping the Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox 11-4 on Monday in the first Patriots’ Day game played apart from the Boston Marathon.
The Marathon was moved to Oct. 11 because of Massachusetts limits on crowds during the coronavirus pandemic. The Patriots’ Day game, with a start shortly after 11 a.m., has been played by the Red Sox since 1959. It drew a limited crowd of 4,738.
“Probably the best inning of this short season. Line drive after line drive, quality at-bat after quality at-bat, “Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. ”We had good atbats against a good pitcher, one of the best in the league. It was fun to see.”
Lucas Giolito (1-1) was removed with two on and no outs in the second. He allowed eight runs — seven earned — and eight hits as his ERA more than doubled from 2.55 to 5.79.
“I lost us the game in the first inning, and its not a good feeling,” Giolito said. “I think that they had a good approach against me, and I pitched into it and they didn’t miss.”
Nathan Eovaldi (3-1) matched his career-high with 10 strikeouts in 6⅓ innings, allowing four runs and nine hits with no walks.
“Anytime we can keep scoring runs and put the pressure on those guys, it’s fun baseball,” Eovaldi said. “It’s a huge win for us, especially after having the two losses (Sunday).”
J.D. Martinez had two RBIs with a solo homer and single, and Alex Verdugo hit a solo homer for Boston, which split the four-game series. The Red Sox had lost three of four games following a ninegame winning streak.
Adam Eaton drove in three runs and had two doubles for Chicago (8-9), which has not moved above .500 this season.
The Red Sox wore white uniforms with red letters that read “Boston” across the front, which they’ve worn on Patriots’ Day since the first game back after the Marathon bombings in 2013.
Boston’s first six batters got hits.
“They got just about everything (Giolito) threw,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said.
Hernández hit a drive off the ledge just above the Green Monster. Following a 55-second video review, he took off on his home run trot after waiting at first base.
Rafael Devers, Marwin González and Franchy Cordero each had an RBI single.
Dalbec fouled off eight pitches after he had two strikes before drawing the walk.
CARDINALS 12, NATIONALS 5: In Washington, Paul DeJong hit two of the Cardinals’ five homers, including a grand slam, Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt went deep back-to-back and St. Louis offered Jack Flaherty his usual strong run support in a victory over the Washington Nationals.
A day after St. Louis was shut out for the second time in four games, DeJong got the offense going by clanging a solo shot off the left-field foul pole in the second inning for the first run allowed by Joe Ross (1-1) in three games this season after he sat out 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns.
DeJong later ended the righthander’s evening with another drive to left, this one off a high fastball after Dylan Carlson was walked intentionally to load the bases, making it 10-2 in the fifth.
Edman, who hit a 3-0 pitch, and Goldschmidt homered in the third off Ross, whose season ERA went from 0.00 to 5.87 after he gave up 10 runs in 4⅓ innings. Justin Williams added a shot off Ross’ replacement, Kyle Finnegan.
GIANTS 2, PHILLIES 0: In Philadelphia, Brandon Belt and Kevin Gausman made sure Gabe Kapler could raise a glass in his return to Philly.
Belt hit a two-run homer, Gausman niftily pitched out of trouble in six innings and San Francisco beat the Phillies.
Kapler, who was 161-163 as Philadelphia’s manager in 2018-19, was booed when he brought out the lineup card. He became the first manager in major league baseball history to start his career 200-200.
RAYS 4, ROYALS 1: In Kansas City, Mo., Josh Fleming pitched two-hit ball into the sixth inning, and Kevin Kiermaier led a strong effort from the bottom of Tampa Bay’s batting order as the Rays beat the Royals.
Fleming (1-1) struck out three in 5⅓ innings, getting big cheers from friends and family who journeyed over from his hometown of Bridgeton, Missouri. The 24-yearold left-hander has allowed just one run in 10⅓ innings this year.
Relievers Ryan Thompson and Hunter Strickland carried the baton out of the bullpen and held Kansas City to two hits, both in the eighth. Chris Mazza shut the door in the ninth.
YANKEES’ WOES: The New York Yankees’ players and staff are restless. So are fans.
A 5-10 start, the franchise’s worst in 24 years, has shaken a team that expects to contend for a World Series title.
“Right now we would be a team that an opponent would want to play because obviously we’re not firing on all cylinders,” general manager Brian Cashman said Monday. “So if you have a chance to catch us right now, you’re catching us at the right time, through obviously (Sunday’s) games, and we look forward to that changing.”
New York’s .210 batting average is next-to-last in the American League, and a team with a dearth of left-handed hitters is batting just .202 against right-handed pitchers. The Yankees’ 55 runs entering Monday tied Detroit for the AL low.