*Photo from the Boston Herald*
Danny Santana was called up for the Boston Red Sox, in the hopes that he would give the bench a spark. Turns out, he gave the whole team a spark. Santana homered, Rafael Devers homered and drove in 3 runs, and the Red Sox romped past the Philadelphia Phillies with an 11-3 win Friday night.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Santana's debut that "He said he was a little bit nervous before his first at-bat, during his first at-bat. And I said, ‘Well you’re only human. That’s part of what we do and if you don’t feel nervous at this level there’s something wrong with you. We all feel that way on a daily basis.’ He put a good swing on the homer. That’s what he brings. He can hit the ball out of the ballpark, we’re very excited that he’s with us and I know he’s going to help us."
The Red Sox tallied two runs in the first, one on a groundout from Xander Bogaerts, and the other on an RBI double from Devers. In the 5th, Santana hit a solo homer, and Bogaerts hit a two run single and got all the way to 3rd base on an error, making it 5-2 at the time. In the 6th, Hunter Renfroe hit an RBI single and it was 6-2 Red Sox. In the 7th, Devers hit a two run homer, and Christian Vazquez hit a 3 run double in the 9th to make it 11-3.
For the Phillies, it was a struggle to launch. They tied the game at 2-2 initially, when Jean Segura hit a two run homer to center field in the 3rd inning. They got their 3rd run in the 6th inning, when Alec Bohm dropped in an RBI single to left field. Defense ultimately doomed the Phillies in this one, making several errors.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowksi said "We knew we weren’t going to be a real good defensive club. But you hope that you can play well and catch the balls that you can catch. This has not been a good week for us. The answer is I think we can get better. I think you need to make the routine plays. That’s what we used to stress over there with the Red Sox all the time."
Martin Perez threw a gem for the Red Sox, getting his second straight win in his start. Perez allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and one walk, racking up 7 strikeouts over 6 strong innings. Garrett Whitlock then came on and threw 1 2/3 innings, Josh Taylor threw 1/3 of an inning, and Darwinzon Hernandez locked it down in the 9th inning.
Cora said of Perez's strong start "For him to go six, it put us in a good spot and we were able to stay away from certain guys and just another good one by Perez. He’s been doing that the whole time. I think overall in every outing he’s given us a chance and that’s what we wanted."
The Red Sox and Phillies square off again tonight, with Spencer Howard going for Philadelphia, and Nathan Eovaldi going for Boston.
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