Bats save bullpen
After Kimbrel slips up, Moreland trips up Jays
TORONTO — There’s no such thing as a self-inflicted wound in the Red Sox’ charmed life that a three-run home run can’t cure.
After Matt Barnes and Craig Kimbrel wasted the impact of J.D. Martinez’ go-ahead threerun shot in the eighth inning last night by allowing the Blue Jays to tie the game with a Justin Smoak solo home run (off Kimbrel), Mitch Moreland made his three-run 10th-inning blast count as the Red Sox came away with a 10-7 win at Rogers Centre.
After Moreland’s strike, a tworun homer by Jackie Bradley Jr. gave the bullpen enough cushion to survive, although Tyler Thornburg did allow a two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th.
Mookie Betts started the 10thinning rally with a land-speed record triple, followed by a Ken Giles walk to Andrew Benintendi.
“It’s huge for us, we always feel like we’re one swing away from getting back into games,” said manager Alex Cora. “We put up good at-bats, Mookie, he walked and he hit a double in the gap, Benny, that was a good at bat as far as not expanding the zone with Kenny. And then Mitch got a pitch over the part of the plate — that was good to see. If somebody needed a good swing and a home run, it was Mitch.”
The victory was the fifth in a row for the Red Sox, their ninth in their last 10 games and 24th in their last 29.
Toronto starter Marcus Stroman held the Sox to two hits and one run in his seven innings, leaving it up to his replacement, Ryan Tepera, to throw a match on the visitors’ simmering lineup.
The Blue Jays got to Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz in the third inning, with a two-run home run by Devon Travis into the second deck in left field.
Pomeranz allowed four hits and five walks, with just one strikeout in his 42⁄3 innings. Of his 84 pitches only 44 were strikes.
“The breaking ball wasn’t there,” Cora said. “We’ll see, he’s still searching, we’re still looking. We need this guy, we need this guy, this guy is very important to us for what we want to try to accomplish, so we’ll keep working at it.”
Cora did not commit to Pomeranz making his next start. The lefty now has 28 walks in 38 career innings pitched against the Blue Jays.
Of Kimbrel, Cora said he is struggling with his curveball.
“The breaking ball, you see them foul it off, taking it right away, it seems like they’re recognizing the pitch right away as a ball and they’re not offering,” the manager said. “Like everybody else, we’ll get back, take a look at it and we’ll fix him and if we have a save situation he’ll be there tomorrow.”
Sale goes Sunday
Chris Sale is slated to return to action Sunday afternoon in Baltimore.
Sidelined last week by a “mild” case of inflammation in his left (throwing) shoulder, Sale has to get through a bullpen session today before receiving clearance for the start against one of the weaker links in the AL East.
“Everything seems fine so it looks like that’s going to happen,” Cora said.
Nathan Eovaldi will start the first game of the Orioles series on Friday night, with David Price pitching in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader. The Game 2 starter has yet to be named, but will likely be a minor league callup.
There had been some talk about Sale pitching on Saturday. Cora said there was no particular reason for splitting up the two lefty aces.
“I don’t know, kind of like keep them on the same program as far as days in between starts,” Cora said. “It’s going to become a little bit different coming up with off days on Monday and Thursday, the one yesterday. It’s not that we are trying to reset the rotation but we’re trying to take advantage of the off days. We are going to give these guys as much rest as possible. There are going to be guys throwing in five days, others in six, others in seven. We’ll see how it goes. It’s not that we were planning on it but it works this way and the schedule is going to let us do this.”
Devers on way back
Third baseman Rafael Devers (hamstring) is eligible to come off the disabled list today and Cora intimated strongly that would happen.
“Everything is pointing that he will be active (today),” said Cora.
Depending on how everybody came out of last night, the most likely demotion to make room for Devers would be Tony Renda.
E-Rod on mend
Left-handed starter Eduardo Rodriguez (sprained right ankle) will throw a live bullpen session on Friday in Baltimore, the same locale where Rodriguez slipped while warming up in a start last season and hurt his knee.
Cora did not want to look beyond Friday for a timetable for Rodriguez’ return.
“Ian Kinsler (hamstring) is doing OK, he’s in Boston, him and Blake (Swihart, hamstring), most likely they’re going to join us in Baltimore, both of them,” Cora said. “In Baltimore, we can do more things as far as BP with them and taking groundballs. Here, we’re trying to avoid that. It seems like he’s feeling better.”
Cora declined to judge which hamstrung player was further ahead of the other.
“We don’t know yet because they haven’t sprinted yet, they’ve been, I think, running, like 60, 65 percent,” the manager said. “We’ll know a little bit more when we push them as far as running.”
Cora issued a positive progress report on starter Steven Wright (knee), predicting he would return this season.
“He actually got on the mound during the weekend, we had a conversation with him on Sunday and he’s feeling a lot better,” Cora said. “Actually, he said that now he feels a lot better than when he came back the first time. Kind of knowing what he has to do to avoid lapses like this, he’s been doing great in the weight room, he’s been keeping his arm in shape. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I do feel he’s going to be back at some point during the season . . . . When, I don’t know. But it’s gonna happen.”
Asked if he was as optimistic about Dustin Pedroia (knee) returning this season, Cora said, “Actually, I had a great conversation with Dustin today. There’s a lot of stuff going on as far as with his rehab over there. There’s like three sessions of stuff that he’s doing. He feels good about it. The door is still open. He feels it might happen. I believe, I know the player, I know he’s going to do everything possible for this to happen and if he’s able to come back, that’s a plus for us too.”