Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 7: Yairo Muñoz blasts first Red Sox homer, but comeback falls short in Game 1

New format, same old results for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox played their first seven-inning game of the season under new MLB doubleheader rules for the shortened season, but that still didn’t help them as they dropped their first game of the day, an 8-7 defeat to the Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Here’s how it happened:

1. Missed opportunities in sixth

A microcosm of the Red Sox’ frustrations on offense this season was on full display in the sixth inning, when they needed a big hit and couldn’t get one, even with two of their best hitters at the plate.

Marcus Walden had coughed up three unearned runs in the top half of the inning before Jackie Bradley Jr.’s terrific catch saved them multiple runs, but the Red Sox rallied back with a three-run sixth. They were poised to break it open with Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts coming up to the plate with one out and runners on first and second.

But neither of them could deliver a clutch hit. Devers popped out to second, slamming his bat down in frustration, before Bogaerts ended the inning with a pop out to short. The Red Sox then went down in order in the seventh to end it.

“I did feel good, and Carlos (Febles) actually came in and he said, ‘Wow, I was feeling great with those two guys coming up,’” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “That’s the way we feel about them. We’re just not getting that big one. You would think as many times as we have opportunities to score and get a big hit, we’re just not coming through at that time.”

2. Yairo Muñoz blasts first Red Sox homer

Roenicke has been reading the daily reports he gets from the team’s alternate training site in Pawtucket, where the rest of their 2020 player pool participates in daily simulated games. And so, he knew that Yairo Muñoz had been impressing down there this summer among many of the Sox’ prospects.

When the Red Sox made a deadline deal by trading Kevin Pillar, they needed someone to help fill the vacated spot in the outfield. Soon after the trade, they called up Munoz, who signed him to a minor-league deal in the spring.

The Red Sox love Muñoz’s bat, and in his third start with the team, he showed why, hitting his first home run with the Red Sox to start a 3-for-3 day at the plate, a two-run homer to the first row of the Green Monster in the second that cut the Jays’ lead to 3-2. It was his first homer since July 21, 2019, when he was with the Cardinals.

Muñoz later added an RBI double in the sixth as the Sox tried to pull off a comeback, and they tried to take advantage of his hot bat by plugging him into the No. 2 hole for the second game of Friday’s doubleheader.

“He swings the bat and that’s what they had told us in the alternate site, that he was swinging the bat better than anybody and that’s what we’re seeing,” Roenicke said. “That’s what I read all the time about him, about the good at-bats, so it would be a big boost if we can get somebody swinging it really hot and then get the other guys going.”

The next three weeks could be something of a future tryout for Muñoz, who’s under team control through 2024. The 25-year-old has a bat that pops but also has defensive versatility, having had experience in all three outfield spots, as well as second, third and short.

3. Unforgivable mistakes cost Red Sox early

Relative to Red Sox pitching performances this season, Zack Godley cruised through the talented top of the Blue Jays’ order and was nearly through two clean innings before he made a mess out of the bottom of the lineup.

After striking out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Lourdes Gurriel to start the second, Godley served up a sinker that hung just enough for Travis Shaw — batting .208 to start the day — to crush to center for a solo homer that Bradley Jr. couldn’t reach. Godley then walked Joe Panik before Danny Jansen — the Jays’ No. 9 hitter who entered batting .147 — hit an 0-2 curveball to center for a two-run homer and 3-0 Toronto lead.

In seven starts with the Red Sox, Godley has given up multiple homers four times and saw his ERA jump to 8.16.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2F8u8Y6