The Boston Red Sox entered Monday’s game winners of three straight, but they had combined for just six runs in the trio of contests.
So where was the offense? Waiting for them in Miami, apparently.
The Red Sox put together 12 hits en route to a 7-3 victory over the Marlins as they won their fourth straight game of the season.
It was a welcome change for Boston, which had scored its most runs of the season to that point in a 6-4 Opening Day loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. But in Monday’s win, the Sox were driving the ball well, finding gaps and showing some intelligence at the plate.
Mookie Betts and Hanley Ramirez each recorded their first home run of the season and were among the five Red Sox batters to record a pair of hits. Jackie Bradley Jr. was the only starter — with the exception of starting pitcher Brian Johnson — to go hitless. Bradley Jr. still found a way to contribute, however, walking in the fourth and scoring one batter later.
Manager Alex Cora told reporters following the game that there was not a specific message he and hitting coach Tim Hyers harped on after an offensively quiet four-game series in Tampa. Instead, they simply encouraged the team to just keep with the process.
“We can use the excuse that it’s early, but there were quality at-bats (in Tampa Bay), you could see it (Sunday),” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “We hit some hard balls, I think six or seven balls that we crushed that were outs. That was a good sign.
“Just stay with the process. We’re not preaching launch angle or hit the ball in the air. We’re preaching swing at strikes. When we do that, we’re gonna be better, and today was a good sign. Early in the game, we were expanding the zone, but then the second time through we started swinging at strikes and good things happened.”
Here are some other notes from Red Sox-Marlins:
— Johnson’s solid spring training doesn’t appear to be a fluke, as the lefty kept the run of dominance from Boston’s starters going. He went six innings, allowing just one run on six hits while striking out five and surrendering a pair of walks.
“He was excellent. We needed this one, we needed him to go deep in the game,” Cora said. “He did an outstanding job … he did a good job with Christian (Vazquez), so (I’m) very happy with the outing.”
Johnson was making his seventh career MLB start, with five of the previous six coming in 2017. He’s displayed multiple times why he was such a highly valued prospect and reaffirmed Monday that he deserved to make the Opening Day roster out of camp.
That experience at the MLB level also helped the southpaw get settled in against Miami.
“After being up and down last year, having a little bit of success, it obviously lets you know you can pitch at this level,” Johnson said. “I definitely feel a little bit more confident.”
The Red Sox now have won the last six games that the 27-year-old has started.
— Johnson’s performance was the continuation of the massive success that the starting rotation — despite its injury problems — has begun the season with.
The group of Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Hector Velazquez and Johnson logged a combined 0.90 ERA the first time through the rotation. None of the starters allowed more than one run in their outing.
Velazquez’s and Johnson’s showings must be giving Cora some peace of mind that there is no need to rush any of the injured starters back. Eduardo Rodriguez (knee), Drew Pomeranz (forearm) and Steven Wright (knee) all began the season on the disabled list and remain there for now. In addition, Wright will have to serve a 15-game suspension once he is off the DL for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy.
Sale will start Tuesday’s series finale against the Marlins.
— Rafael Devers is the first 21-year-old to hit cleanup for the Red Sox since Jim Rice did so in 1974.
J.D. Martinez had the night off Monday, but Devers did fine in the fourth spot. Though he struck out twice, he went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the ninth inning.
