Boston Red Sox 13, Baltimore Orioles 2
BOSTON, MA — The Boston Red Sox plated at least three runners in three separate innings in Friday night’s opener against the Baltimore Orioles. The team also set three Opening Day records with eight doubles, 17 hits and the largest margin of victory on Opening Day behind some of the team’s newest additions.
Pitching Woes for Baltimore
Nathan Eovaldi took the hill for Boston to kick-off their 2020 campaign. He brought the heat early touching 100 MPH on his first pitch of the night. The right-hander took care of the Orioles lineup through six innings letting up five hits, one walk, one earned and four strikeouts to show for it.
The Orioles can’t say the same for their starter — or any of their pitchers for that matter. Each of the four Oriole pitchers that appeared on Friday night gave up a minimum of two earned runs.
Tommy Milone — who was previously a non-roster invitee — got the nod in the first game. Milone only lasted three innings and got roughed up in his third and final frame of the night. His final line came in at three innings with five strikeouts while giving up four hits, walking three and allowing four runs across.
Boston Bats Break Loose
The Boston offense broke loose in the third, fourth and sixth innings. They kindly showed Milone the door in the third with four doubles to put the team ahead by four runs early. Centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. kicked it off with a first pitch double into the left field corner. Just two pitches later, infielder Jose Peraza scored Bradley with his own double into the corner. Designated Hitter J.D. Martinez joined in on the fun serving yet another hard line drive into the left field corner which sent Peraza to the plate. Third baseman Rafael Devers followed with a walk before right fielder Kevin Pillar got ahold of one and sent it into the exact same spot down the left field line; Martinez and Devers scored to get out to a 4-0 lead.
The offensive attack didn’t stop there, however. The Sox sent 11 batters to the plate an inning later adding 6 runs to the scoreboard. The Orioles sent Cody Carroll to the mound for the fourth inning to try and fend off the Boston lineup — he didn’t. Carroll failed to record an out before getting pulled. He allowed one hit, three walks and was on the hook for four earned runs. The right-hander’s night ended after loading the bases and walking left fielder Andrew Benintendi to score first baseman Michael Chavis.
Old friend to the Boston Red Sox, Travis Lakins, was up next to try and keep the damage to a minimum for the Orioles — he didn’t. Lakins was promptly greeted to a J.D. Martinez ground-rule double to plate two more runners. After a Devers strikeout, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, Pillar and catcher Christian Vazquez collected back-to-back-to-back singles to get the lead up to 10-0 before the fifth inning.
Pillar, Peraza Make Good First Impression
The sixth inning proved to be more of the same for newcomers, Kevin Pillar and Jose Peraza. The newcomers continued to put their stamp on Opening Night. Pillar got the action started with a single to left field. Peraza put a cap on the scoring for the night with yet another double to left field; this final blow gave Boston its 13th run of the night.
Both of these players were expected to share time at their respective positions; Benintendi, Bradley, Pillar and Verdugo sharing time in the outfield, and Peraza, Chavis and Moreland on the right side of the infield. Manager Ron Roenicke mentioned postgame that he still is trying to figure out how the guys will split time out there.
Game 2, Saturday 1:35 pm
Martin Perez and Alex Cobb will get the starts in game two of this opening series. Perez is now slated as the Red Sox No. 2 starter following the departures of Rick Porcello and David Price. Not to mention Eduardo Rodriguez‘s complications with COVID-19 and the injury to Chris Sale. Cobb is looking for a bounce back season after only making three starts in 2019.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
