New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Red Sox finish off sweep of Orioles
BOSTON — Kike Hernandez’s game-tying RBI single caromed off the second-base bag and into shallow center field, sparking a threerun, seventhinning rally that carried the AL wildcard leading Boston Red Sox to an 8-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles Sunday and a sweep of their three-game series.
It was the fifth straight win for Boston, which leads Toronto by one game and the Yankees by 2 1⁄2 in the playoff chase. The Blue Jays beat Minnesota, 5-3, on Sunday and New York lost to Cleveland, 11-1.
J.D. Martinez had a solo homer and Kevin Plawecki added a two-run single for the Red Sox.
“When it’s getting down to the end of the year and you don’t have a big lead and all the games matter, it gets to be a lot of fun,” Hernandez said.
Trey Mancini had a three-run double for the Orioles, who lost 12 of the final 13 meetings against the Red Sox after sweeping a season-opening three-game series.
After giving up a tworun lead in the top of the seventh, Boston rallied against Conner Greene (1-1), getting the tying hit when Hernandez’s grounder bounced off the bag, scoring Jose Iglesias.
“That’s exactly what I was trying to do. That’s how I drew it up,” Hernandez
said, smiling. “I was a little bit happy to get that hit and drive in that run.”
Hunter Renfroe followed with a double high off the Green Monster and scored on Rafael Devers’ single, making it 8-6.
“We got a little bit lucky with the ball off the bag,” Red Sox manager Alex
Cora said. “Then Hunter put on a huge swing. … Overall, another good win, obviously.”
The victory could be costly for the Red Sox after reliever Garrett Whitlock walked off the mound with right pectoral tightness.
The 25-year-old Whitlock, a Rule 5 pickup from the Yankees, has been a strong part of their bullpen this season.
“We’ll know more (Monday),“Cora said of Whitlock. “It’s too soon to know what’s going on.”
Hirokazu Sawamura (5-1) was credited with the victory despite giving up a tworun lead in the seventh. Garrett Richards got the final three outs for his third save.
The Red Sox had jumped on starter Alexander Wells for three runs with two outs in the first when Bobby Dalbec got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Plawecki followed with his grounder to right.
They opened it to 5-3 on Martinez’s shot into the first row of Monster seats in the third.
But the Orioles rallied against Sawamura after Whitlock walked the leadoff batter, scoring three runs on Mancini’s double down the left-field line
before they lost their major league-high 102nd game.
“This is huge, a huge amount of our team hasn’t played a lot of time in the majors,“Mancini said.
“The teams we’re competing with the rest of the way, and have been basically the whole month, are fighting for a playoff spot.”
Boston starter Nathan Eovaldi struck out eight over five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with one walk. The Red Sox have won his last six starts.
“The main focus is we’re winning these games,” Eovaldi said. “Things will even out (for me).”
Making his sixth major league start, the 24-year-old Wells gave up five runs in five innings.
“He gave four there in the first couple of innings,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “It was nice to see him put up a zero in the fourth and fifth. I was really happy with our offense.”
KEEP THE KID IN
When asked why lefthanded hitting slugger Kyle
Schwarber wasn’t in the lineup, Cora didn’t hesitate to explain the decision.
“This is more about Bobby Dalbec than anything else,” he said. “Bobby has to play against every lefty.”
The 26-year-old Dalbec, a right-handed hitter, has 12 homers and 36 RBIs in his last 33 games, overcoming early-season struggles that saw him hitting only .174 with one homer and six RBIs a month into the season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: Cora gave catcher Christian Vazquez the day off, figuring with an offday on Monday that two straight would be good for him.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Off Monday before opening a two-game, interleague series against the New York Mets at Fenway Park on Tuesday. Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (11-8, 5.00) is in line to start the opener against RHP Marcus Stroman (9-12, 2.88).