It was not perfect by any means, but the Red Sox looked solid in Game 2 of their four-game set against the Mariners.
Boston eked out a 6-5 victory over Seattle on Friday at Fenway Park to split the series at one win apiece. And clearly, the Red Sox’s pitching was not the highlight of the evening.
The Red Sox were strong both offensively and defensively throughout the contest, and it ultimately saved the day.
Xander Bogaerts, who collected three RBIs off two hits Friday night, made a key snag at short in the first inning. He also made the game-ending grab after Matt Barnes gave up the three-run home run to Kyle Seager that made it a one-run game.
Bogaerts made big plays on both sides of the ball in the first inning. And that is the kind of stuff Red Sox manager Alex Cora likes to see.
“Defense is important,” Cora said during his postgame press conference. “That was a great play by Bogey, a great turn by Christian (Arroyo) and then a big swing by Xander right away (in the bottom of the inning).”
Alex Verdugo also was on point with both his bat and his glove. On top of his third three-hit outing of the seasons, the 24-year-old made his league-leading third assist in the fifth to get Seager out at third for the final out of the inning.
Again, Cora found lots to like.
“He had a great game,” Cora said. “The first play of the game, he put the ball on the money at second base. Christian, he just didn’t catch the ball. He saw Seager right there, and he put it right on the money.
“He’s gaining confidence in his game offensively. You look at the last at-bat and he was up to .320, getting on base (and) hitting lefties. That was a tough lefty today and he put a good swing (on it) right away. So, we like Alex the way is playing.”
Pulling out a win like this is just another great example of Boston’s resilience this season. But as Cora noted, it also highlighted exactly where work must be done to improve.
“That was a grind,” Cora said. “We’ll take it. You know, we’re not going to complain about wins. But we had to grind that one out. … I think offensively, we talked about it earlier today, we had chances to put them away, we did not and that’s a good baseball team over there.”
The Mariners will not be the only good baseball team Boston will have to face, too. So while this team has shown glimpses of the 2018 squad’s greatness, there still is work to be done.
(Plus, there still are 141 games left on the Red Sox’s regular-season slate.)
Here are some more notes from Friday’s Mariners-Red Sox game:
— Boston has had some issues finding the strike zone.
MartÃn Pérez was the latest Red Sox hurler to struggle with balls and strikes Friday night. The southpaw allowed four walks in just 3 2/3 innings despite striking out three.
Cora knows walks are having a negative impact on the team’s success, and he didn’t hesitate to address the problem postgame.
“I think the walks are killing us,” he said. “It’s something that we need to address. We need to be more aggressive in the strike zone, you know? I know Seager hit the double off the wall and H hit one off the wall, but you can’t shy away from the strike zone.
— Thanks to his third-inning solo shot, J.D. Martinez now leads the American League with seven home runs this season.
— Martinez and Bogaerts are tied with a league-best 28 hits so far this season.
— Verdugo collected his third three-hit game of the campaign.
— Neither team was wildly successful in scoring position.
Boston went 2-for-10, while Seattle went 4-for-12, per Red Sox Nation Notes. The Sox left eight men on base while Mariners stranded nine.
— Nathan Eovaldi will go for his fourth win of the season Saturday in Game 3 of the four-game set. First pitch from Fenway Park is slated for 1:10 p.m. ET.
