Red Sox Wrap: Boston Takes Opening Game Over Blue Jays, 4-2

Eduardo Rodriguez looked sharp in his first start at Fenway since 2019

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Apr 20, 2021

Make that two straight for the Boston Red Sox.

It took a couple of innings to get to Hyun-jin Ryu, but the Red Sox were able to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 at Fenway Park on Tuesday night thanks to yet another full-team effort.

Eduardo Rodriguez was strong in his first start at Fenway Park since 2019 with six-plus outstanding innings of three-hit ball. The left-hander gave up two earned runs on solo homers and struck out six to move to 3-0 on the season.

With the win, the Red Sox moved to 12-6, while the Blue Jays fell to 7-10.

Here’s how it all went down:

GAME IN WORD
Complete.

The offense and defense were clicking to help the Red Sox to their 12th win.

ON THE BUMP
— Rodriguez cruised through the first three innings, including a 1-2-3 second and third. The southpaw surrendered the first run of the game on a home run by Bo Bichette on a first-pitch cutter to make it 1-0 Blue Jays.

Rodriguez got out of the inning by way of a lineout and back-to-back strikeouts.

The southpaw continued his strong outing with a 1-2-3 fifth with a strikeout and a scoreless sixth with another K.

Rodriguez returned for the seventh and gave up another solo home run to Randal Grichuk to cut the Red Sox’s lead in half, 4-2.

— Matt Andriese took over in relief and retired the side in order with a strikeout.

— The eighth belonged to Adam Ottavino and gave up a two-out walk to Marcus Semien to bring Bichette — who already homered earlier in the game — to the plate.

Semien stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw from Christian Vazquez to second, but Bichette struck out swinging on a 95 mph sinker.

— Matt Barnes picked up his third save of the season with a strikeout.

IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Ryu was dealing, but things finally clicked for the Red Sox after leading off each of the first four innings by putting a man on first.

Bogaerts picked a heck of a time to hit his first home run of the season when he launched one into the Green Monster with two men on to make it a 3-1 game in the fourth after back-to-back singles from Christian Arroyo and J.D. Martinez.

Marwin Gonzalez doubled and later scored on a Bobby Dalbec triple to make it 4-1 before the inning came to a close.

— The Red Sox threatened to pull away in the fifth with runners on the corner and two outs but were unable to plate any runs.

— They had a runner on in the seventh, but couldn’t capitalize.

At the end of the day, though, the four runs were more than enough as the Red Sox came away with the win.

— Arroyo led the way for the Red Sox going 3-for-4, while Bogaerts and Dalbec had two hits apiece.

TWEET OF THE GAME
*Insert heart eyes emoji*

UP NEXT
The Red Sox wrap up their quick two-game set against the Blue Jays on Wednesday night. First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.

Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
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