The first road trip of the Red Sox’s 2022 Major League Baseball season is in the books.
Boston moved to .500 with a 9-7 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park. The Red Sox now are 3-1 in their last four games.
The game was highlighted by a six-run fourth inning against old friend Eduardo Rodriguez. Alex Verdugo had a sacrifice fly, Jackie Bradley Jr., Kiké Hernández and Rafael Devers drove in runs on doubles and Trevor Story picked up an RBI-single.
The offense picked a good game to come alive after struggling the last five with runners in scoring position. The Tigers made a valiant effort at a comeback thanks to a bullpen meltdown but Hansel Robles was able to save the day.
After the game, Hernández, who went 2-for-5 in the win, revealed the biggest takeaway from the road trip.
“The bats are waking up,” he told NESN’s Jahmai Webster, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “Pitching’s doing enough to keep us in games. For us as a lineup, it was just a matter of time and the bats came alive the last few games.”
Hernández’s bat in particular really came alive. After starting the season 0-for-19, the outfielder has gone 4-for-9 in the last two games.
Now we’ll see if the offense can carry this momentum into Fenway Park on Friday.
Here are a few other notes from Wednesday’s Red Sox-Tigers game:
— Story was unlikely to return to the lineup due to food poisoning but was feeling well enough to play after all. The second baseman went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
— Rodriguez told reporters Tuesday that he was hopeful he knew the Red Sox better than they knew him.
But that wasn’t the case for the Tigers lefty.
Rodriguez was tagged for five hits, two earned runs, issued three walks and struck out five.
— Jackie Bradley Jr. picked up his first two hits of the season after going cold at the plate to begin 2022. Bradley paced Boston with three RBIs.
— Christian Vázquez was the lone member to not get a hit for the Red Sox.
— The bullpen was strong to begin the season but came a bit unraveled in the eighth inning.
Austin Davis was shaky and Kutter Crawford, who’s been reliable, got the Red Sox into trouble when he loaded the bases with the Red Sox leading 9-5 and Miguel Cabrera at the plate. Jake Diekman struck him out but two more runs later scored to make it a stressful situation for Boston.
Hansel Robles ended up saving the day, but it only was fitting that the bullpen had its meltdown the day the offense came alive.
— The Red Sox enjoy an off day Thursday before preparing for their home opener Friday at 2:10 p.m. ET.
