Red Sox top White Sox on Patriots’ Day with no marathon
BOSTON — Kike Hernandez led off with a replayaided home run and Bobby Dalbec worked a 14-pitch walk in a six-run first inning, helping the Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox 11-4 on Monday in the first Patriots’ Day game played apart from the Boston Marathon.
The Marathon was moved to Oct. 11 because of Massachusetts limits on crowds during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Patriots’ Day game, with a start shortly after 11 a.m., has been played by the Red Sox since 1959. It drew a limited crowd of 4,738.
“Probably the best inning of this short season. Line drive after line drive, quality at-bat after quality at-bat, “Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. ”We had good at-bats against a good pitcher, one of the best in the league. It was fun to see.“
Lucas Giolito (1-1) was removed with two on and no outs in the second. He allowed eight runs — seven earned — and eight hits as his ERA more than doubled from 2.55 to 5.79.
“I lost us the game in the first inning, and its not a good
feeling,” Giolito said. “I think that they had a good approach against me, and I pitched into it and they didn’t miss.”
Nathan Eovaldi (3-1) matched his career-high with 10 strikeouts in 61⁄3 innings, allowing four runs and nine hits with no walks.
“Anytime we can keep score runs and put the pressure on those guys, it’s fun baseball,” Eovaldi said. “It’s a huge win for us, especially after having the two losses (Sunday).”
J.D. Martinez had two RBIs with a solo homer and single, and Alex Verdugo hit a solo homer for Boston, which split the four-game
series. The Red Sox had lost three of four games following a nine-game winning streak.
Adam Eaton drove in three runs and had two doubles for Chicago (8-9), which has not moved above .500 this season.
The Red Sox wore white uniforms with red letters that read “Boston” across the front, which they’ve worn on Patriots’ Day since the first game back after the Marathon bombings in 2013.
Boston’s first six batters got hits.
“They got just about everything he threw,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said.