Offense finally breaks out
Devers’ grand slam helps Sox snap five-game skid
It was an inning to remember.
After going two weeks without scoring six runs in a game, the Red Sox plated six runs in the second inning on Tuesday.
Facing Braves righthander Kyle Wright, who entered with a 1.95 ERA, a thirsty Red Sox’ offense capitalized on Wright’s poor command while a grand slam by Rafael Devers was the juice this team needed for a 9-4 win in Atlanta.
With that, the Sox’ fivegame losing streak was over as they scored a muchneeded win against a quality opponent.
This one surely meant a lot for an offense that has been moving in slow-motion for most of this season, in particular the last two weeks, scoring just 23 runs in their last 10 games while going 2-8 in that stretch.
The takeaways:
1. Is Devers heating up?
He isn’t the heartbeat of the Red Sox’ offense, that title belongs to Xander Bogaerts, but Devers is the slugger most capable of creating big innings. When Devers is hot, this lineup can be explosive.
He hammered a firstpitch fastball right down the pipe, lifting it well over the center-field wall that scored four runs and put the Sox on top 6-0 in the second inning.
Devers also doubled and drew a walk, and has now been on base in 15 consecutive games. But until Tuesday, he had just one home run in that span.
He’s now hitting .315 on the year with five homers and 15 RBI, numbers that ought to go up as the weather improves and this team starts to find its footing.
2. Finally, production from first base
The six-run second all started with some quality at-bats and hitters not trying to do too much.
Alex Verdugo and Trevor Story hit back-to-back singles on pitches on the outer part of the plate. Franchy Cordero drew a walk. Christian Vazquez stroked a single up the middle. Jackie Bradley Jr. drew a walk. And two batters later, Devers cleared the bases.
To see the Sox taking their singles and walks must’ve made manager Alex Cora very happy, given Cora has been asking for guys to be smarter in the box and take their walks for the better part of the last 12 months.
And — who could’ve seen this coming? — Sox first basemen combined to get on base four times in this game.
It was Cordero who got the start at first with Bobby Dalbec on the bench. Cordero had some quality plate appearances as he drew three walks, becoming the first Sox first baseman to get on base three times this year. There have been just seven games with a Sox first baseman on base multiple times, and three of those games have come from Cordero, who is starting to look like the best option for Cora right now.
Dalbec, too, had a nice game, as he pinch-hit for Cordero in the eighth and hit a first-pitch single to left.
First base has been a black hole for the Sox this year, but if Cordero is going to control the strike zone in a way that Dalbec hasn’t, it’ll be hard to take him out of the lineup.
3. Whitlock was not happy with himself
Whitlock struggled, needing 82 pitches to get nine outs, and allowed three runs in the process.
When Cora told him he was finished, Whitlock squeezed his cup full of water and started to slam it down in frustration. We rarely see that kind of emotion from the 25-year-old, who has been unflappable in his first two big league seasons thus far.
But the bullpen was lights-out behind him as Tyler Danish and John Schreiber led the way with two scoreless innings each.