The Boston Red Sox stayed red-hot Sunday with an 8-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field behind a powerful offensive showing.
The Red Sox paired patience at the plate and aggressiveness on the base paths to extend their win streak to seven games.
The hits came in bunches, with 15 on the day, but their approach is what netted such a profitable return. The Red Sox made each opposing pitcher work, leading to a season-high 11 walks. Manager Alex Cora was pleased with the constant pressure his team applied to Cleveland.
"It's important," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "It's night and day to the group early on in the season. Earlier on in the season we were swinging a lot, swinging at bad pitches. Not walking, striking out a lot, hitting the ball hard and now it's the total opposite."
Cleveland's starter Aaron Civale only managed to complete four innings, and needed 87 pitches to do so. All four Guardian pitchers allowed multiple free passes, which Boston eventually took advantage of.
On top of the constant ability to reach base, the Red Sox are starting to be more active on the base paths. Trevor Story stole his 10th bag of the season in the second inning. Though Jarren Duran did get caught in his lone attempt at swiping a bag, the pressure is constant, and the Red Sox have 23 steals in their last 25 attempts.
The increase in stolen bags are a positive sign, but steals are not the only way to produce on the bases. In the seventh inning, Rafael Devers flew from first to third on a hard line drive to center field off the bat of J.D. Martinez. He also broke up a double play by sliding into second base hard, with his impressive hustle helping to break up a double play and allow a run to score in the third inning.
"Something that nobody noted but, the hustle play by (Devers) on the ground ball by J.D., getting to the second baseman... I mean, it's not like in the old days but putting pressure on it, that was a great play," Cora said.
Here are more notes from Red Sox-Guardians:
-- Boston's lineup featured six hitters with multi-hit games and two with three-hit games, which included Devers and Martinez.
-- Martinez has reached base in each of the 30 road games he's played this year, according to the Boston Globe's Pete Abraham. Carl Yastrzemski was the last to do so in 1975.
-- The Red Sox lead-off man reached base in each of the first five innings.
-- Rich Hill induced three double plays in his six-inning outing.
-- After the game, Cora announced that Gold Glove utility man Yolmer Sánchez and starter Connor Seabold will join the team for their road series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
-- The Red Sox will head to Toronto with a three-game series against the Blue Jays starting on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET following an hour of pregame coverage, and you can watch it all on NESN.
