*Photo from Sportsnet*
Boy, this was a game that Boston needed to have no matter what. Yolmer Sanchez drove in a run, Alex Verdugo brought in the eventual winning run, and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Cleveland Guardians with a 3-1 victory on Monday night in Boston.
Slumping into this game having just gotten swept in embarrassing fashion amid an even larger skid, the Red Sox dubbed this as a fresh start and went back to work. Taking the early lead just before a rain delay, the Red Sox retook the lead later in the game and got a crucial win in the race for the wild card.
Verdugo said of the team's mindset that "It’s a Monday, the start of a new week, and the mindset was that what happened in the past happened. We’re still at .500. We’re still in the Wild Card I believe. Hey, boys, let’s go, let’s start now. We get that these last two weeks have been bad, but we’ve got to keep playing."
The Red Sox got themselves an early lead in the 3rd inning, when Sanchez hit one off the wall in left field, scoring Jackie Bradley Jr to put the Red Sox ahead 1-0, with the game immediately going into a rain delay after that. In the 5th inning, an infield RBI single from Jose Ramirez tied the game at a 1-1 score.
However, the Red Sox got right back to work after that. In the 6th inning, Verdugo doubled off the green monster in left field, with Rob Refsnyder scoring from first base to put the Red Sox back in front 2-1. Verdugo then scored thanks to an RBI single from Christian Vazquez, which made the lead a 3-1 margin, which was good enough this time.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of the win that "We played good defense. I think that was the difference. We turned some double plays. Obviously, Jackie made some nice plays in right field, and we grinded at the plate. It wasn’t perfect, but when you’re going through stretches like this, you give yourself a chance by playing defense."
Starting for the Red Sox was Nick Pivetta, who ended up getting a no decision in a solid start. Pivetta allowed one run on 7 hits, striking out 6 over 5 2/3 innings of work. John Schreiber pitched the next 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen to get the win, and Garrett Whitlock worked the final two to get the save.
For the Guardians, it was Zach Plesac on the hill. Plesac got the loss after being charged with 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in 5+ innings of work, despite Trevor Stephan being on the mound for some of the damage. Sam Hentges handled 2/3 of an inning, and James Karinchak pitched 1 2/3 innings.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of Plesac's start that "He didn't give up many hits, there was some traffic. The fourth inning was really hard, they had a couple of grinding at-bats. He went out and had a 14-pitch inning after that though. I thought, you know what, he's working good and he's grinding, and then he starts with the four-pitch walk and then the ball off the wall. I thought he competed like crazy."
Up next, the Red Sox and Guardians continue their series on Tuesday night. Josh Winckowski comes off the Covid-19 IL to get the start for the Red Sox, while Bryan Shaw starts for Cleveland.
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