*Photo from MassLive*
The heavily criticized Boston Red Sox offense may be breaking out of it's funk. Franchy Cordero doubled in a run, Xander Bogaerts drove in two runs, and the Red Sox cruised past the Texas Rangers with a 7-1 victory on Friday night in Arlington.
While still sitting with a 12-20 record in last place in the AL East, the Red Sox have won two out of their last 3 games, scoring 19 runs in that time, dating back to May 10 against the Atlanta Braves. If the Red Sox maintain this level of starting pitching and the offense keeps cooking, they'll be shooting up the standings.
The Red Sox got on the board in the 3rd inning, with Rafael Devers hitting an RBI single, scoring Kike Hernandez and making it 1-0 Red Sox. In the 6th inning, Alex Verdugo started the rally with an RBI double, then Bogaerts scored on a sac fly from Trevor Story. Cordero then doubled home Verdugo, followed by an RBI single from Christian Vazquez, and it was 5-0 Red Sox.
In the top of the 7th, the Red Sox opened up a 7-0 lead thanks to a two run single by Bogaerts, scoring Devers and JD Martinez, before Bogaerts was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. In the bottom of the 7th, the Rangers got on the board when Kole Calhoun scored on a wild pitch, capping the scoring.
Getting his first win of the season for the Red Sox was Nick Pivetta, improving to 1-4 this season. Pivetta allowed one run on just 3 hits and one walk, striking out 4 hitters over 7 innings of work. Kutter Crawford threw the final two innings in relief to seal the win.
Pivetta said of his work on the mound that "I’m just trying to focus on competing in the zone. My stuff plays in the zone. I have a good curveball, a good slider, the splitter is coming along really well. So just focusing on those aspects and not trying to get too much outside of myself and try to do too much like I was."
For the Rangers, Dane Dunning got the loss, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits while going 5 2/3 innings in the loss. Brett Martin finished the 6th inning before giving way to Garrett Richards, who allowed two runs in two innings. Josh Sborz pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
Dunning said of the loss that "I just didn't execute pitches when I needed to. The defense really needed me to get out there and get an out, hopefully a swing and miss, but I just kind of left a couple of cutters middle-middle. If I execute those pitches, it's totally different. If it goes up above the bat or something, but I just left them middle-middle."
The Red Sox and Rangers continue their series on Saturday night in Arlington, with Rich Hill starting for Boston, while Glenn Otto takes the mound for the Rangers.
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