*Photo from the Boston Globe*
He was tearing it up in Triple A, but could it be done in the majors? So far, it's a yes. Christian Arroyo drove in two runs, Connor Wong homered, and the Boston Red Sox rolled past the Texas Rangers with a 9-1 victory on Friday night in Boston.
The 8 run victory for the Red Sox was good for their 3rd straight win. Despite the whole offense having a good game, the spotlight was on Wong. Called up from Triple A when the rosters expanded, he blasted his first MLB homer in his 12th career game, coming off a red hot stretch in Triple A.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Wong that "I think he’s a strong kid and a good athlete. If you see his batting practice, it’s loud. Obviously, the swing and miss is part of it. We’ll keep working with that. We’ll take it in certain situations, but as you know, we’ve got to do better with men in scoring position, men at third with less than two outs. But he knows that."
Xander Bogaerts gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI double that scored Alex Verdugo. In the 3rd inning, Corey Seager brought in Bubba Thompson with an RBI single, tying the game 1-1. The Red Sox built a 4-1 lead in the 4th inning, thanks to an RBI double from Kike Hernandez and a two run single from Arroyo.
In the 5th inning, Rafael Devers kept the train rolling with an RBI double to make it a 5-1 game. JD Martinez added an RBI single, and Hernandez followed that with an RBI double, building the Boston lead to a 7-1 margin. It remained that way until the 7th, when Wong got all of his first big league homer, a two run shot to make it a 9-1 game.
Cora talked about Wong's homer, saying "That one, it was a good swing. He’s got some pop. I remember last year he hit a homer in spring training to straight center that I was, like, impressed. Now, he looks a lot stronger than last year. He’s catching up with fastballs. Behind the plate he’s really good. He’s in command of the whole situation. We’ll find him ways to get at-bats and keep rolling."
Nick Pivetta got the start for the Red Sox, allowing one run in 3 innings before leaving injured. Tyler Danish came on for the 4th and got the win with a shutout inning. Matt Strahm followed that with two shutout innings, with Ryan Brasier, Kaleb Ort, and Eduard Bazardo each throwing an inning as well.
For the Rangers, Dallas Keuchel got the start, and got hit hard. Keuchel allowed 7 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, pitching 4 2/3 innings in a losing effort. AJ Alexy allowed two runs while working 2 1/3 innings, with position player Charlie Culberson pitching a scoreless 8th inning.
Asked about his start, Keuchel said that "I felt like I pitched a whole lot better than the line was, but it's just kind of another one of those unfortunate events, just some tough luck. So I felt like I was making pitches and they were battling. I mean classic, classic Red Sox at Fenway game. It's tough to win here. So I was hoping to get off to a little bit better start."
Up next, the Red Sox and Rangers continue their series on Saturday afternoon. The Red Sox will start rookie Brayan Bello, while Dennis Santana starts for the Rangers.
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