The Boston Red Sox’s offense showed up for their second night in San Diego.
After scoring only one run over their last 21 innings, the Red Sox got on the board against the Padres on Tuesday with back-to-back home runs by Jackie Bradley Jr. and Chris Young in the fourth inning. They never gave up the lead, either, as starter Clay Buchholz spun a gem en route to a 5-1 Red Sox win.
Here’s how it all went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Redemption.
The Red Sox needed a pick-me-up win after dropping consecutive games to last-place teams, and they did just that Tuesday. Boston generated plenty of offense and got a solid start out of Buchholz to get the team back on track with the playoff race heating up.
IT WAS OVER WHEN …
The Red Sox lengthened their lead to 5-1 in the fifth.
The way Buchholz was mowing down the Padres didn’t bode well for the home team once it had a four-run deficit.
ON THE BUMP
— Once again, Buchholz performed admirably in his latest spot start. The right-hander only allowed three runners to get into scoring position, induced a lot of weak contact for outs and pitched three 1-2-3 innings. His one blemish was a solo home run to Padres second baseman Ryan Schimpf, but other than that, he shut down San Diego.
Buchholz allowed only one run on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings and 87 pitches.
— Matt Barnes finished the seventh inning with a strikeout to first baseman Wil Myers.
— Fernando Abad came on in the eighth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout to third baseman Yangervis Solarte.
— Joe Kelly got in some trouble in the ninth but was able to shut down the inning and add a strikeout, too.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Jackie Bradley Jr. jump-started the Red Sox offense with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. The center fielder went 1-for-2 with a run, two RBIs and two walks.
— Chris Young went back-to-back with Bradley in the fourth and finished the night 2-for-4 with a run, a double and two RBIs.
— Mookie Betts had a nice night, going 2-for-4 with a run. Dustin Pedroia also enjoyed a multi-hit game at 2-for-5.
— Hanley Ramirez (1-for-5) and Xander Bogaerts (1-for-4) each got a hit. Ramirez collected an RBI, while Bogaerts walked and scored a run.
— Sandy Leon went 1-for-3 with a perfectly executed bunt single, a walk and a run.
— Yoan Moncada wore the golden sombrero Tuesday after going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
— Clay Buchholz actually reached base when he took a four-pitch walk in the fourth inning. Otherwise, the starter went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
It might hurt some Red Sox fans to be happy about a New York Yankees win, but they did their part by beating the first-place Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.
https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/773348126052720640
UP NEXT
The Red Sox finish out their series in San Diego on Wednesday in a 9:10 p.m. ET contest. Southpaw David Price will get the ball for Boston against Padres right-hander Jarred Cosart.
Thumbnail photo via Jake Roth/USA TODAY Sports Images
