Tonight, both the Red Sox and the Bruins faced off against their respective Toronto sports teams. The Leafs beat the Bruins 4-1 after Boston scored first and the Red Sox…oh, these freaking Red Sox. I don’t even know where to begin.
I was preparing yet another sad blog about how upset these 2019 Red Sox make me, explaining everything that went wrong yet again in another loss. By the top of the ninth inning, I had everything planned out and I was ready to let my anger out on my poor laptop keyboard once more. Then, I fell in love with the Red Sox all over again. They did it. They won a game. A game in which they had trailed 5-0. Let’s talk all about it.
First things first, Nathan Eovaldi. WOOF. A lot has changed since his once-in-a-lifetime pitching performance in Game 3 of the World Series when he tossed six innings and 97 pitches in relief, coming in in the 12th inning and throwing 97-plus miles per hour up until he gave up the game-winning home run to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Since then, he’s signed a 4-year, $67.5 million deal with the Red Sox seeing how he turned into a literal machine in October and a Red Sox postseason hero. Thursday evening, he only pitched five innings and threw 89 pitches, 51 for strikes and gave up six hits, five earned runs, four walks and two home runs with only four strikeouts. He first gave up a towering three-run bomb to Justin Smoak in the third inning on two outs and then a two-run shot to something named Rowdy Tellez in the same inning, putting the Sox in a deep hole early. Statcast had Tellez’s homer at 505 feet…yeah, it’s gonna be a no from me, dawg. It was, at best, 450-ish feet. Just because it was in the vicinity of the red seat does NOT infer that it actually touched it, let alone went past it. Do better, nerds. That non-505-foot homer marked the 18th home run that Red Sox starters have allowed this season.
This performance, unfortunately, warrants concern in regards to the pitcher. Was the contract a bit much in hindsight? Yes, most likely. Given the circumstances, was it worth it? Yes, most likely. Seeing what Eovaldi turned into once the calendar flipped to October was more than enough to convince me to keep him around for as long as possible or until his arm literally falls off. I don’t care if he struggles a bit in the regular season if it means that he becomes a hero when the lights are shining the brightest. Any pitcher who can automatically turn up the heat when it’s do-or-die is someone you need to keep around for the long haul (SEE ALSO: Christopher Allen Sale). Regardless, for the time being, things don’t look pretty. It’s not solely Eovaldi’s fault that the rotation stinks. It’s everyone’s fault (except Hector Neck Tats Velazquez). Your 2019 Boston Red Sox remain the only team in baseball without a win this season. Yikes!
Aside from the embarrassment that is the Red Sox’ starting rotation this year, there were many a bright spot in this particular game from start to finish. The first item that I want and need to bring up in things that made me smile from ear to ear tonight was Dustin Pedroia, namely Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts doing the damn thing for old time’s sake and recording not one, not two, not three, but FOUR twin killings together in the first five innings of play. Their four double plays in this singular game doubled that of any all of last season. Boy, oh boy was it a sight to behold. After the first double play that legendary duo turned for the first time in God knows how long, Pedroia jogged off the field with a beaming grin on his face. My heart melted on the spot. Pedroia looks as healthy as ever out there at second base where he belongs alongside Bogaerts. Dare I say he looks like vintage Pedey? The haters are irate and their tears are only further fueling my existence and my preexisting love for Pedroia. Jokes on them.
A half-bright spot and half-dull spot that came out of this game for the Sox was their baserunning. Andrew Benintendi displayed phenomenal instinct and vision in the second inning when he took third base after a wild pitch and in the bottom of the ninth inning just before he was driven in for the win, Eduardo Nunez actually made a positive impact on the baseball field and stole third on an extremely heads-up play as he pinch-ran for Martinez. The half-dull spot came in the fifth inning when Rafael Devers ran home and was out by a good 10-15 feet and wasn’t even looking at the play, focusing solely on third base coach Carlos Febles’ call to run home. I expect better from Devers at this point; his eyes were nowhere near the play before and as it happened and to add insult to injury, he blatantly started running home an entire second or two after the shallow fly ball was caught.
One last random bright spot was the bullpen, once again. Time after time the bullpen has been right there and ready to save the collective rotation’s ass at a moment’s notice, no matter who Cora calls up. I’m quickly growing accustomed to it and I know that I need to stop before I get too confident and destroy my own happiness. Regardless, I learned that Colten Brewer is a badass and so is Marcus Walden. Brewer has one hell of a breaking ball, let me tell you. AND he throws absolute heat. This guy, if he’s durable, can be a major anchor in this bullpen that was, on paper, a major problem for this team. The bullpen has already overachieved based on how they were supposed to perform coming into this season, so having a guy like Brewer can seriously benefit this team both short-term and long-term. Not to mention, Dennis Eckersley legitimately called him “The Brewmeister” on the broadcast for his nasty curveball. Good stuff. The same thing goes for Marcus Walden, as long as he works on his command. I’ve loved this guy for a while now, but his performance Thursday night caught me a bit off guard. He loaded the bases rather quickly when he pitched in the ninth inning after Brasier had given up a home run to Freddy Galvis to give Toronto the lead back 6-5 in the eighth inning. He loaded the bases with just one out and it felt as if the Red Sox were doomed and destined to start the season with a 3-10 record. By a miracle of God, Walden worked himself out of the pickle he got himself in and the rest is history (that I will be telling you momentarily).
As for offense, I think this was the most exciting and generally offensively productive game this team has had all season. Aaron Sanchez started for the Blue Jays and to kick things off right in the first inning, he drilled Mookie Betts square on the back on his number 50. You cannot convince me that it wasn’t intentional. The game had just begun and the Sox stunk up the place on Opening Day on Tuesday, Betts doing literally nothing to even begin to warrant that pitch. I’m rather shocked that the Red Sox didn’t respond in some way at that moment or throughout the remainder of the game. That’s old news now, though. It was only up from there (after recovering from a 5-spot).
The third inning was the one where the Red Sox did the thing and made a direct effort to get back into the game before it was too late. The very next half-inning after Eovaldi dumped his drawers in front of Fenway Park, the offense scored three runs in response, which was absolutely essential to their eventual comeback and walk-off win. Martinez initially drove in Betts when he scraped the wall in that 420 triangle to score the first run. Devers, at last, drove in his first run of the season when he roped the ball to right field to drive in Martinez, earning his first scoop of the year (that was eventually negated due to his bone-headed baserunning decision but then regained in the ninth inning), and Pedroia did the exact same as Devers and recorded his first RBI of the season, also ripping a ball down the right-field line to bring the Sox within two. The lineup desperately needed to put something, anything on the board after that torturous top of the third. They did just that without hesitation, something we had not yet seen from them in 2019.
Tracing back to Devers’ awful decision to run home in the fifth inning, the decision by Febles to send him was a direct testament to how poorly Jackie Bradley Jr. has been at the plate this year. Bradley Jr. was of course batting and hit the shallow fly that prompted Febles to send Devers home in hopes of giving Bradley something positive in his stats line. Even that failed. At this point, every true Red Sox fan knows that the JBJ experiment has essentially been a fail, at least offensively. If it weren’t for his stellar glove and physical capabilities in the outfield, he would have no place on this roster. I can say that with confidence. If he was anything less than what he is in the outfield, I don’t think any of us would know who Jackie Bradley Jr. is. He’s worth keeping for his glove, though, don’t get me wrong. I’m more than fine with throwing him at the end of the lineup on a daily basis if it means that he can make a game-saving play in centerfield when necessary.
Back to the actual Red Sox offense that bailed themselves, the Red Sox, out. Mitch Moreland put on one of his two personalities in the seventh inning to tie the game 5-5, this one being Mitchy Four Bags this time around. He is only ever Mitchy Two Bags or Mitchy Four Bags. I don’t remember the last time we saw Mitchy One Bag make an appearance and I don’t think we’ve yet to see Mithy Three Bags make an appearance. This dude is on pace to hit 54 home runs. 54! He’s a platoon first baseman/DH! All the more reason to love Mister Steak and Puhtaydas. And, you know what? He put on his Two Bags face and lit yet another fire under his team’s collective ass. Moreland stepped up to the plate, literally, and delivered, literally. Tying the game 6-6 with a double, driving in Betts. I’m head over heels, and have been head over heels, for the steal that has been and is Mitchell Austin Moreland since that fateful day in 2017. I’ve yet to find a reason why I do not own a Moreland, 18 Red Sox jersey. It greatly perplexes me and that needs to change as soon as possible.
Finally, someone besides Moreland stepped up and delivered, and that someone just so happened to be none other than thirteen-year-old Rafael Devers. On a school night nonetheless. Devers drove in Nunez after he made that great steal to third base. Devers found a hole in the infield and made it count. In the same game that Devers finally recorded his first RBI of the season, he also walked off for the first time in his career. Again: ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! What a kid. When he grows up he’s going to do big things, mark my words. Devers was solidified as a clutch player when he hit a three-run bomb off of Justin Verlander in Game 5 of the ALCS, of course. Regardless, it was nice to see him come through clutch once more when his team was not in the ALCS, rather on the verge of starting the season with a straight .300 winning average. He had been dead cold to start the season up to this game and there was no better time than this for his bat to heat up and for him to finally wake up, and hopefully have a breakout year.
4-9 sure sounds and looks better than 3-10, that much I know. As a fan, I’ll take it. This win was necessary. We needed to see them finally pull off a comeback win, and there was no better time to finally do so than by winning their first home game of the year. Too many times this season the Red Sox have tried to formulate an entire comeback in the ninth inning when it was far too late. I’m hoping that this game is foreshadowing that those days are over at last.
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