Red Sox win bench coach Will Venable’s managerial debut as electric Fenway Park returns to full capacity

Fenway Park wasn’t quite full on Saturday, but for the first time in exactly 20 months, it felt normal at the ballpark again.

The roars of the crowd were noticeably louder with each Red Sox strikeout and hit, and the playing of “Sweet Caroline” during the eighth-inning stretch was sung with more energy than ever before.

The weather — rain that delayed the start time by 15 minutes and 50 degrees at first pitch — certainly wasn’t ideal for a baseball game on Memorial Day weekend, even in Boston. But it was never going to deter 25,089 maskless fans, who were given even more reason to celebrate with the Red Sox’ 3-1 victory over the Marlins.

Bench coach Will Venable, in his first career game managing in the absence of Alex Cora — who was home in Puerto Rico attending the high school graduation ceremony of his daughter, Camila — did a good job in the acting role. Bobby Dalbec, Kevin Plawecki and Hunter Renfroe each produced RBI singles, and that was enough as Nathan Eovaldi and the bullpen combined to hold the Marlins in front of an electric Fenway.

When Matt Barnes induced a game-ending double play in the ninth, there was a loud roar from the crowd but surely some relief for Venable, whose experience was overall positive but came with some tense moments.

“It was great,” Venable said. “High stress levels, but what we expected. … We knew we were in a good spot. The staff did an amazing job keeping us locked in on what we were supposed to be locked in on.”

It was far from easy for Venable in his first try in the dugout’s top chair, as he had to help direct the Red Sox out of danger in two big spots. The first one came in the seventh. The Red Sox led 2-0 when Josh Taylor put runners on first and third with one out, forcing Venable to call for his setup man, Adam Ottavino, early.

As Ottavino got to the mound, the message was straight forward from Venable.

“He fired me up when I came in the game,” Ottavino said. “He told me not to worry about the runners and just strike everybody out so that kind of fired me up.”

It was a little dicey at first, but it turned out to be the right move.

Ottavino walked Starling Marte, the first batter he saw, but a quick mound visit from pitching coach Dave Bush was all he apparently needed. With the bases loaded, Ottavino struck out both Jesus Aguilar and Garrett Cooper to end the inning. Normally pretty reserved emotionally, the veteran Ottavino was visibly fired up as he walked to the dugout.

“I think the crowd was what made it a little different than it’s been,” Ottavino said. “Just a lot of energy in the moment, especially once I got to two strikes on the last guy. Just kind of out of body experience there, glad I was able to make the pitch and just kind of blacked out. …

“The crowd brought it today. That’s what’s been missing is those two strike moments, at home, and I feel like that puts a lot of pressure on the hitter that didn’t exist last year. It’s a great feeling to be the guy on the mound in that spot. You feel like you have the advantage you’re about to just have a big release there.”

A similar sequence unfolded in the eighth, when Hirokazu Sawamura relieved Darwinzon Hernandez with two outs and a runner on. A throwing error by Rafael Devers put runners on first and third, and a wild pitch by Sawamura put both runners in scoring position. But Sawamura responded by striking out Jose Devers to end the threat.

The Japanese pitcher also wore some emotion as he walked off the mound, pounding his chest as Fenway — finally — roared to life.

“They were definitely bringing the energy,” said Nathan Eovaldi, who went 5 1/3 innings to improve to 6-2 this season. “You could definitely tell the excitement was there in the stadium. So it was awesome having them out there and even better that we were able to get that win tonight.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3vAYvvF