For a good chunk of the afternoon, it seemed the Boston Red Sox were about to squander a much-needed sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.
Nathan Eovaldi was roughed up through two innings and Boston faced a six-run deficit early on, but its bats (and some serious struggles from the O’s) led to a 13-7 Red Sox win, completing a three-game brooming of Baltimore at Fenway Park on Sunday.
Boston trailed until the sixth, when the Red Sox sent 12 batters to the plate and took control of the game. Boston’s bullpen combined to allow just two runs (one earned) over seven innings of work.
The Red Sox now are 67-59 following the win, while the Orioles moved to 39-85 with the loss.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Sweep.
Not a bad weekend.
ON THE BUMP
— Eovaldi’s first start since April certainly did not go the way he wanted it to.
The hard-throwing right-hander gave off a leadoff double to begin the game, followed by a walk. Renato Nunez made Eovaldi pay one batter later, drilling a towering home run that cleared everything in left field to make it 3-0.
A pair of walks and a wild pitch in the second led to a Trey Mancini two-run single, giving the O’s a 5-0 lead.
That was it for Eovaldi, who was charged with five runs on three hits with three walks, two wild pitches and just one strikeout. He threw 43 pitches through two innings.
— Darwinzon Hernandez came on in the third and struck out three, but hit a batter and allowed Hanser Alberto to double to make it 6-0.
— Ryan Brasier, in his first appearance since July 15, struck out two and walked one in a scoreless fourth.
— Josh Taylor allowed a pair of two-out singles, but struck out Stevie Wilkerson to cap a scoreless frame in the fifth.
— Marcus Walden needed just 11 pitches to get through the sixth, allowing one hit.
— Andrew Cashner struck out one and induced a double play after allowing a single to toss a scoreless seventh.
— Travis Lakins closed things out, allowing one run on one hit while striking out two over the final two frames.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox began chipping away at the deficit in the third.
After a walk and a Mookie Betts double, Rafael Devers brought in Boston’s first run on a groundout to the right side of the infield. J.D. Martinez then brought in Betts with a grounder to make it 6-2.
— Boston got another one back in the fourth, when Sam Travis belted his fifth home run, a solo shot, over the center-field wall.
— Baltimore fell apart in the sixth, with Boston batting around the order and plating six runs.
Starter Ty Blach was removed following a Martinez double and a walk. Christian Vazquez followed up with a line-drive double off Gabriel Ynoa that brought Martinez home to make it 6-4. Mitch Moreland then lofted a pop up behind the shortstop, which crossed up three O’s and resulted in the ball falling in and plating two runs after a throwing error by Jonathan Villar.
Devers then launched a double off the Green Monster, plating his second RBI to give the Sox a 7-6 lead.
Back-to-back infield singles from Xander Bogaerts and Martinez led to two more runs, making it 9-6.
— The rout was on in the seventh.
Betts plated a run with a sacrifice fly. Devers followed that by drilling a two-run home run down the right field line to make it 12-6.
Bogaerts doubled and was plated on a Martinez single, making it 13-6.
— Devers was 4-for-5 with four RBIs, while Martinez went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Moreland, who entered for Sandy Leon, went 3-for-3 while Bogaerts and Vazquez added two hits each.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Does anyone not approve of this? Didn’t think so.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox have Monday off, but will continue their homestand with a two-game interleague series against the Philadelphia Phillies. First pitch from Fenway Park is slated for 7:10 p.m. ET.
