J.D. Martinez’s homer in 10th lifts Red Sox over Indians

The Boston Red Sox are making an ambitious late surge to salvage August.

The Red Sox improved to 75-56 and 12-13 in August with a dramatic 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians in 10 innings on Saturday night at Progressive Field.

The Sox have won five of their last six to remain in contention for a wild-card berth. The Red Sox can complete a series sweep on Sunday (1:10) before beginning a four-game set with the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in Florida at Tropicana Field.

“People want action out of the game and you provided it right up to the 10th inning,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “It was a good one for us obviously and a stressful one and it took almost everyone to pull that one off.

“It was a great effort by the guys and we won the series and now we have a chance to sweep them tomorrow. But at the end of the day our goal is to win as many series as possible the rest of the way. If we do that, we are going to be in good shape.”

Jarren Duran began the 10th on second and went to third on a leadoff single to left by Kyle Schwarber. Designated hitter J.D. Martinez smashed a three-run opposite-field home run off Indians’ reliever Nick Wittgren to put the Red Sox up 5-2 in the top of the 10th inning. Martinez went 3-for-5 on the day.

Cora used seven relief pitchers over 4 2/3 innings with Adam Ottavino recording the final two outs. Ottavino relieved Martin Perez with the bases loaded and allowed a single run to score on a cheap single.

“It was one of those days where (Martinez) was locked in from the get-go,” said Cora. “He put good at-bats after good at-bats and he is a guy we trust.

“When he’s swinging the bat it becomes fun for us but at the same time I don’t want him to feel he has to carry the offense. He just has to do his part and we have a lot of capable guys around him.”

The Sox touched up starter Cal Quantrill for a pair in the top of the first. Schwarber swatted a one-out solo home run to deep center, his 27th of the season and second with the Red Sox. Martinez snapped an 0-for-20 slide with a single up the middle and scored on Xander Bogaerts’ double down the left-field line. Bogaerts was thrown out going to third on the play for the second out.

The Indians evened the score in the bottom of the second. DH Franmil Reyes hit a leadoff homer and Bradley Zimmer followed with a double to right. Zimmer scored on a bloop single to center by Bobby Bradley, who went to third on a two-out double by Andres Gimenez. Nathan Eovaldi canned Myles Straw to end the frame. Eovaldi regrouped and struck out the side in the third.

Quantrill settled down after the first and found his groove, pitching shoutout ball through the next six innings. The smooth right-hander retired 18 of the next 23 batters with five strikeouts, three singles and two walks through seven before giving it up to Bryan Shaw.

Eovaldi retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced after the second but got the hook following a one-out double to Reyes in the sixth. Eovaldi went 5 1/3 innings with two earned runs on six hits with seven strikeouts before handing the ball to lefty Josh Taylor. After giving up a walk, Taylor retired the next two batters to end the threat.

“I felt like at the beginning of the game I was a little erratic,” said Eovaldi. “I felt I was struggling with the fastball location and quick off the mound and in the second inning I got in trouble and they were able to put together some good at-bats.

“By the third I was able to settle down and really pitch to my strengths.”

The Sox avoided a catastrophe after the Indians loaded the bases on reliever Hirokazu Sawamura in the seventh. But Sawamura struck out Reyes on a 3-2 fastball to preserve the tie.

“At the end he made some pitches but we want to be more aggressive,” said Cora. “He has a good fastball and you saw it again with the bases loaded and two outs.”

Off the grid

Cora was so busy integrating several callups that he’s taking a wait-and-see approach to his three missing players, outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Kiké Hernandez and infielder Christian Arroyo.

Cora announced on Friday that Hernandez had tested positive for the coronavirus and Arroyo was added to the COVID-19 related injured list as a close contact.

The Red Sox recalled infielder Jonathan Arauz from Worcester and brought up outfielder/infielder Yairo Munoz. Arauz belted a three-run homer in the eighth to lift Boston to a 4-3 victory in the series opener on Friday night.

“I’ve tried to stay away from all that stuff because we have a game to play and we have to be ready for this one,” said Cora.

Renfroe was excused from the Red Sox match with the Twins on Thursday and placed on the Bereavement/Family Emergency list. Cora said he has checked in on Renfroe but would not divulge why he left or when he would rejoin the club.

Hale to the chief

Cora feels the Indians are in capable hands under the direction of DeMarlo Hale, who went from bench coach to acting manager when Terry Francona stepped away from the game due to lingering health issues on July 30. Cora thinks Hale is just as talented putting together a fantasy football roster as he is filling out a lineup card.

“If it were up to him, he would be the bench coach and Tito would be managing,” said Cora. “But he is a guy that means a lot to me when he was our third-base coach and I learned a lot from him.

“He is very detail-oriented and passionate about the game and he is really good about fantasy football, and I mean really, really good.”

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