The Boston Red Sox put down the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 at Rogers Centre on Wednesday.
One of the largest factors in the win was another strong performance from starter Michael Wacha.
“I felt like my stuff was playing well and kind of complimenting each other, working off each other pitch-to-pitch,” Wacha said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Felt like me and (Kevin Plawecki) got on a nice little rhythm there towards the middle of that outing where we were just in a nice little groove.
“Yeah overall, I was getting ahead of guys, besides that last inning where I fell behind, but other than that, I felt like I was getting ahead of guys, and (was) able to put them away and kind of let the defense work behind me.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora felt the same way in his first game back from the COVID-19 restricted list, specifically crediting Wacha for a strong final frame in the sixth.
“The velocity was good, the location was good,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He didn’t make too many mistakes. I was telling him that the biggest pitch of the night was actually a 3-2 fastball to (Blue Jays catcher) Zack Collins. We’re up two, we don’t want to walk people. He went right after it, (Collins) hit a deep fly ball to right, we got him out and then he was very aggressive with (Blue Jays third baseman) Matt Chapman and (Blue Jays outfielder) Raimel Tapia and he gave us enough.
Wacha threw six innings allowing four hits, an earned run, two walks and struck out five. The 30-year-old pitcher has yet to make a bad start in a Red Sox uniform.
Here are some more notes from Red Sox-Blue Jays
— Cora is willing to play small ball until the Red Sox offense inevitably heats up.
“We will score runs, but we have to be patient,” Cora said. “We got to use the opposite fields and get inside the baseball. Take the little things for now and when we get locked in, then the fun starts. But right now you have got to think small. Get guys over, get him in. I think we’ve done an outstanding job hitting the ball in the air with men a third. Jackie (Bradley Jr.) with the bunt, Bobby (Dalbec) with the sacrifice fly, so it was a good all-around game.”
— Xander Bogaerts will not play in the series finale on Thursday after a big night.
“He’s off tomorrow, by the way,” Cora said when a reporter asked about Bogaerts’ offensive outburst. “You know, there’s a lot of running, a lot of moving around and obviously playing on turf and we’re playing for 162-plus here.”
— J.D. Martinez was pulled late in the game but it appears that he is okay.
“Just a little bit banged up,” Cora said. “I mean, obviously, he missed a few games so we got to be careful. There’s been a lot of games on the turf. This is six in a row so we have to be careful with these guys.”
— Despite a miserable start to their time in Canada, the Red Sox can leave Toronto with a series split on Thursday. The final game at the Rogers Centre kicks off a 3:07 p.m. ET following an hour of pregame coverage, and you can watch it all on NESN.
