Sox win in extras, make it 5 straight
Make it five in a row for the top dogs in the American League East.
Somehow, someway, the Red Sox have erased their 0-3 start to the regular season and responded with five straight wins, including a wild one on Saturday night, when the Sox knocked off the Orioles, 6-4.
Adam Ottavino blew a one-run lead in the eighth but the Red Sox tied it on an RBI fielder’s choice by Bobby Dalbec in the ninth and scored the eventual gamewinner on a wild pitch in the 10th.
It hasn’t all been pretty, but the Sox are getting good enough starting pitching to grind out victories and now find themselves at the top of their division on the 10th day of the 2021 season.
They’ve proven to be gritty and determined thus far, erasing leads and putting together late-game comebacks. They’re now 2-0 in extra innings.
But if there’s one takeaway from their win on Saturday, it has to be Garrett Richards.
Chaim Bloom’s most expensive signing yet, Richards ($10 million this season with an option for 2022) looked like a blind-folded dart-thrower in his first outing, when the Orioles
weren’t fooled by anything he was throwing and handled him easily while scoring six runs in his two innings of work.
Saturday started the same way.
The Sox gave him an early lead on a clutch, two-out RBI single by Rafael Devers, and scored again when Devers got caught in a rundown and Xander Bogaerts ran home from third.
Richards took the hill
with a 2-0 lead and gave it right back.
Trey Mancini, the feelgood story of 2021 after his return from a battle with cancer, hit his first homer in two years when Richards left a fastball over the plate and Mancini hit a no-doubter into the right-field seats. The reduced crowd at Camden Yards showered him with love as he crossed home plate, pointed to the stands and gave teammate
Anthony Santander a warm hug in the on-deck circle.
The next pitch was a hanging curve that Santander blasted over the centerfield wall.
Richards looked stunned. He ended the first inning having given away both runs the Sox’ offense provided. When he made it to the dugout, he was greeted by pitching coach Dave Bush, manager Alex Cora and a few position players who huddled up for an impromptu meeting.
Whatever was said, the conversation worked.
Richards was able to harness his mid-90s fastball and throw enough decent breaking balls to work through five innings while allowing just the two homers. He struck out four and walked three, throwing just 47 of his 79 pitches for strikes.
He hasn’t been easy to watch, and it remains to be seen whether or not he was worth the investment. The curveball sure does bite, but it rarely generates any whiffs, largely because he can’t seem to control it. He threw 18 curves without a single swing-and-miss on Saturday. His slider was decent enough to keep hitters off his fastball, which was clearly his best pitch.
He was good enough to get the game to Darwinzon Hernandez, who handled an inning and a third, and then Ottavino, who finished the seventh inning and started the eighth with a 3-2 lead.
Acquired from the Yankees before the season in a salary dump that also netted the Red Sox an intriguing pitching prospect, Ottavino flashed a 97-mph fastball and sharp breaking ball. But the Orioles saw it just fine.
Ryan Mountcastle hit a leadoff single in the eighth, DJ Stewart stung a double to center and the Sox were in trouble.
With the infield in, Maikel Franco hit a grounder to Dalbec at first base, but Dalbec’s throw home was off the mark and the tying run scored easily from third. Ottavino got the next batter to fly out, then Freddy Galvis guided an opposite-field single to left and the O’s took a 4-3 lead.
Ottavino has now thrown 2 innings this year while allowing three runs on five hits and a walk, striking out three.
In the ninth, the Sox put runners on the corners with one out for Dalbec, who has been as cold as ice to start the year but finally managed to make solid contact. He hit a grounder to shortstop and narrowly beat out the double play at first while the tying run scored from third.
The go-ahead run scored on a wild pitch in the 10th. Matt Barnes struck out two in a dominant ninth while Matt Andriese got the save in the 10th to secure the Sox’ fifth straight win.