Bogey blasts Rays
Three hits for Sox SS
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Like Tiger Woods after he sticks the pin on a par 3, Xander Bogaerts followed through and held his pose as he watched the ball sail out of the park.
The Red Sox’ first homer of the season was worth admiring.
So too are the seven other hits Bogaerts has provided through three games this season.
The 25-year-old shortstop put the Red Sox on his back yesterday evening at Tropicana Field, where he added three more hits and a fine play on defense in the ninth inning to lead the Sox to a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Bogaerts is now 8-for12 with an MLB-high five doubles and a solo homer to start the season. His OPS is 2.000.
“It’s pretty fun to watch right now,” said Sox starter Rick Porcello. “I don’t want to jinx him. Just keep doing what you’re doing. But he’s himself right now, feeling good and he’s doing what he knows he can do when he’s healthy.”
Bogaerts’ second inning solo shot off Rays righthander Andrew Kittredge was blasted over the leftfield bleachers to give the Sox an early 1-0 lead, and Porcello put it in cruise control from there.
Making his season debut, Porcello threw 89 pitches over 51 ⁄3 innings. He threw a heavy dose of his signature sinker, using the pitch 43 times, 31 for strikes, while allowing four hits off the pitch.
“I was keeping the ball down when I wanted to, command felt good,” Porcello said.
He scattered six hits in total, including a few grounders that skipped through the infield and one that ate up Brock Holt at second. But the Rays didn’t do much with their chances and the 2016 Cy Young Award winner never lost control of this one.
Not until the sixth inning did the Rays get on the board after Carlos Gomez hit a leadoff double and Matt Duffy hit a one-out single to put runners on the corners. Sox manager Alex Cora pulled the plug on Porcello’s start right there, and Heath Hembree allowed a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-1 game.
Hanley Ramirez hasn’t been locked in, but he’s getting his hits — three in three games — and started the fourth with a leadoff double. With two outs he stole third and then scored when Eduardo Nunez beat out a grounder and the Rays botched the throw and scoop at first base.
Bogaerts handled the insurance run in the sixth.
J.D. Martinez, who collected a single earlier in the game for his first hit with the Sox, hit a leadoff double to start the inning. Bogaerts stayed back on a changeup and roped a double to left, scoring Martinez easily.
The Sox have scored eight runs in three games; Bogaerts has scored four of them and driven in two more.
“It’s awesome to see him playing free and smiling,” Porcello said.
Cora has been wary of getting too excited about Bogaerts’ hot start since he began last year hitting .308 with a .816 OPS through 79 games. He got hit on the right hand by a pitch on July 6 and then hit .232 with a .661 OPS over his final 68 games.
Before yesterday’s game, Bogaerts said, “It’s just me being me, being free again.”
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Bogaerts is the second major leaguer in the last 100 years to record multiple extra-base hits in each of his first three games of a season. Adrian Gonzalez (2015 Dodgers) is the other.
Asked if he’s ever seen a start this hot, Cora said, “Probably, somewhere, but it’s good to see him hitting the ball in the air and hunting good pitches to hit.
“We had a conversation in spring training on the back fields. Two of my favorite players from back home (in Puerto Rico) play shortstop and they’re elite (Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa). Xander was in the conversation the last couple years. All of a sudden last year he wasn’t in that conversation. I told him, ‘Hey, you can be like those guys. You can be elite. Keep working. Keep listening and you’ll be fine.’” Did he take that to heart? “You can ask him, but it looks like it,” Cora said.
Bobby Poyner served up a homer to Carlos Gomez in the eighth, but Carson Smith relieved him and closed the inning. Craig Kimbrel, pitching on back-to-back days, shut the door in the ninth.
This was the first game the Rays tried their allbullpen approach. Kittredge lasted 31⁄3 innings. They used four relievers in total.