J.D. powers up north
Saves Sale, wins series with blast
RED SOX 5 BLUE JAYS 4
TORONTO — For the first time this season, J.D. Martinez’ power synced up with a start by ace Chris Sale.
Predictably, the result was a 5-4 Red Sox victory.
On a night when Sale’s command was spotty, resulting in one Blue Jays run in each of the first three innings, Martinez’ oppositefield blast off a high Marco Estrada pitch lifted the Red Sox into a 5-3 lead they held.
The home run was Martinez’ fifth this season, but his first to come in Sale’s six starts.
“Seems like lately we’ve kind of been scuffling a little bit at the plate, trying to put up runs, so to get it done was huge,” said Martinez.
He acknowledged the last couple of years, to counter the launch-angle craze, he is used to pitchers trying to get him out with pitches in the upper half.
“They always try it, but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” said Martinez. “It’s an easier pitch in a sense, if you hit it, to hit out because you don’t have to lift it. All you can do is hit it.”
Sale sure did appreciate the lift, in every sense.
“I don’t even think the pitch he hit was in the strike zone,” said Sale. “That’s the kind of guy he is. He does some pretty incredible things with that bat, and I’m appreciative of it tonight.”
After losing the first game to the Jays, the Red Sox won the second two to take their seventh series in eight tries and complete the trip through Anaheim, Oakland and Toronto at 6-3.
Sale looked out of sorts right from the start. He loaded the bases in the first inning courtesy of a walk, single and a hit off Yangervis Solarte’s knee. A Kevin Pillar sacrifice fly brought in one run before Sale worked out of the jam.
Devon Travis hammered a 1-1 second-inning offering for a second-deck solo shot and the 2-0 Toronto lead.
The Sox pulled back within 2-1 in the third when Tzu-Wei Lin — pinch running for Brock Holt, who came up lame with a tight left hamstring on his one-out double — scored on Andrew Benintendi’s RBI double.
Holt will be re-evaluated back in Boston. Manager Alex Cora did not exude confidence that this was just a minor tweak.
“We’ll see, he’s feeling better,” said Cora. “We’ll see when we get home how he feels (this) morning. It’s tough to see, because he’s playing the way he’s playing and that’s why I mentioned before the game if everything is fine, that’s the plan for tomorrow. That’s why I didn’t want to get ahead of myself because I know how this game works. Everybody expects a move with Xander (Bogaerts) and this happens. We’ll make a decision (today) and see where he’s at. The decision we make is for the benefit of the player and obviously the team, too.”
After the third inning, Sale began to rely on his changeup more. He faced one more than the minimum in his final three innings.
“A dogfight from the get-go,” said Sale. “Giving up a run in the first three innings is tough, but got some stuff from A.C., (pitching coach) Dana (Levangie) came and sat down, kind of mixing some things up. The lineup today showed up. They carried us through that. Yeah, but through and through, it was a grind.”
While Sale was resembling Sale, that’s when the Red Sox offense began to wake up. Rafael Devers hit a sacrifice fly off Estrada to bring the Sox to within 3-2 in the fourth, then came the big fifth.
The three-run surge began with two outs: Benintendi and Hanley Ramirez hit back-to-back singles before Martinez showed off his vaunted opposite-field power swing.
With the blast, he tied Devers for the team RBI lead with 18.
Carson Smith took over for Sale in the seventh and he was not good. He allowed a one-out triple to Travis, who scored on a Steve Pearce groundout to narrow the lead to 5-4. After Teoscar Hernandez doubled, Cora turned to Matt Barnes, who fanned Justin Smoak to end the threat.
The eighth was another highwire act. Barnes allowed back-toback one-out walks, then Randal Grichuk hit a high chopper that Lin charged nicely. His throw to first was high, but Moreland — on a play that weathered a video review — kept his toe on the bag for the second out. Barnes then retired Luke Maile on a high, 96-mph heater to get to the ninth and Craig Kimbrel, who recorded his seventh save in just 16 pitches.