The Red Sox have won two straight games for the first time since Aug 5.
Boston opened up its four-game set against the Baltimore Orioles with a 7-1 win Thursday night. And it had a lot of help from Nathan Eovaldi and a key knock from Mitch Moreland late in the game.
The right-hander dazzled, throwing seven innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts in the victory.
Xander Bogaerts hit his fifth home run, Alex Verdugo stayed hot and extended his hitting streak to 11 games and Moreland put the game away in the ninth with a blast of his own.
With the win, the Red Sox improved to 8-18, while the Orioles dropped to 12-13.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Refreshing.
Solid pitching from the starter and the bats were alive.
ON THE BUMP
— Eovaldi had his best outing of the season, pitching six scoreless innings, including a 1-2-3 third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
The O’s finally got to the right-hander in the seventh when Pat Valaika hit a solo home run to center to cut into Boston’s lead and make it 3-1.
Eovaldi escaped the rest of the inning without any further damage and finished the night with five hits, one earned run, one walk with six K’s.
— Ryan Brasier came on for the eighth and pitched a clean inning with two strikeouts.
— Phillips Valdez closed the game out with two strikeouts.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox struck first in the second with two runs.
Christian Vazquez singled followed by a Kevin Pillar walk. Jose Peraza singled to bring in Vazquez before Pillar scored on an Alex Verdugo groundout for the 2-0 lead.
— Bogaerts added a run in the third with a solo home run that just made its way into the left-field seats.
— Boston put runners on the corners with two outs in the fourth, chasing Asher Wojciechowski from the game. This is just the second time the right-hander didn’t pitch five innings.
Dillon Tate relieved Wojciechowski and got Rafael Devers to fly out to strand two.
— The Red Sox made some noise in the ninth when Bogaerts amassed his third hit of the night and drove in Rafael Devers with an RBI-single to make it 4-1.
And with two on and one out, Moreland stepped to the plate and broke the game open with a three-run home run to center for the 7-1 edge.
— Bogaerts led the way with three hits, while Devers, Vazquez and Moreland had two. Only J.D. Martinez and Pillar went hitless.
TWEET OF THE GAME
🙂
UP NEXT
The Red Sox continue their series with the Orioles on Friday night. First pitch from Camden Yards is set for 7:35 p.m. ET.
