Sox start with a rout
Hit team record eight Opening Day doubles
With a 60-game season, there’s little room for error, and Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke has emphasized throughout summer camp the need to get off to a good start, or face long odds of playing in October.
Friday night, his players were certainly listening.
Even in a season as strange this one, at least two things were strong likelihoods going into it: The Red Sox offense would be powerful, and the Orioles would occupy the basement of the AL East again. Both took shape in Friday’s season opener as the Red Sox bats teed off on the Orioles with a franchise record eight Opening Day doubles in a 13-2 demolition at Fenway Park.
It was about as perfect of an opener as the Red Sox could have drawn it up as they moved to 1-0. Here’s how it happened:
J.D. Martinez wasted no time, and looks like he loves the No. 2 hole: Roenicke surprised some in Tuesday’s exhibition when he plugged Martinez, normally the Red Sox’ cleanup hitter, into the second spot in the order. The idea was to put a right-handed bat behind Andrew Benintendi at the top of the lineup, and so far, it’s worked.
The Sox’ designated hitter looked very comfortable for the role, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI in the rout. His second twobagger of the night, an opposite-field shot to deep right with the bases loaded, came just a few feet away from going for a grand slam. It fell on to the warning track and bounced into the empty seats for a ground-rule double. It’s a big year for Martinez, who can opt out of his contract after the season, and if he keeps this up he’ll be in line for another big pay day.
The new guys can stay: Almost everybody was hitting, but Kevin Pillar and Jose Peraza each had particular impressive nights in their Red Sox debuts. The two combined to go 7-for-10 with three doubles and five RBI to go along with good defense.
Roenicke has been impressed with Peraza since the team’s return to camp, even once describing his swing as “unbelievable” after the second baseman made some minor tweaks to it during the COVID-19 shutdown. That was on display Friday as he hit a pair of doubles — driving in the season’s first run with a twobagger to left before hitting one off The Wall in the seventh. Always sure-handed, Peraza also turned a nice double play in the third.
With a lefty starting for the Orioles, the right-handed Pillar got the start over Alex Verdugo and made an immediate impact, making a nice catch deep in right for the game’s first out. His two-run double in the fourth made it 4-0.
Jackie Bradley Jr. joins the party: If this is the Bradley the Red Sox are getting in 2020, watch out.
Always elite in center, always streaky at the plate, Bradley is entering a crucial year in his career, as he can enter free agency after the season. The center fielder went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBI, including the Red Sox’ first hit of the season when he laced one to the left-field corner to lead off the third, which set a string of four doubles in the inning.
Bradley, who looked strong at the plate during camp, always seems to have at least one good month every year, and Friday could be the start of something big for him.
Nathan Eovaldi was sharp: The right-hander said prior to his start that he feels as good as he ever has physically, and that was apparent as he threw six strong innings and gave up just one run on five hits. The ball was moving as he threw 100 mph on his first pitch, and the Orioles had trouble keeping up.
The only trouble Eovaldi really got in came in the fourth, when he gave up a double to Jose Iglesias and an error put runners at the corners with one out, but a line-drive double play got him out of it. He probably could have been taken out sooner, as he gave up a pair of doubles in the sixth, but finished strong with a strikeout of Chris Davis.