Red Sox Notes: Setting ‘Tempo’ Key To Boston’s Offensive Success

The Boston Red Sox had been mired in an offensive slump entering their matchup with the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

They wasted no time in breaking it, setting the tone early in what would become a 9-4 rout of Seattle. Boston scored three runs before ever recording an out, as a Kolton Wong error allowed Alex Verdugo to reach base and set the Red Sox up to do some damage. Masataka Yoshida would drive him home almost immediately thanks to a triple that was cranked off the center field wall. Just two pitches later, Justin Turner was rounding the bases after clearing the front row of the Green Monster on a touring fly ball.

It was the kind of sequence a manager could only ask for, which is what made Red Sox manager Alex Cora so happy after the fact.

“We hadn’t hit a home run at Fenway in seven days or something,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “First things first, Dugie put the pressure on the opposition right away. He set the tempo for the game, busting his behind to first. Then Masa hit the triple and JT hit the ball in the air and we got three. It was a good job, we put together some good at-bats.

“(Luis Castillo) is a good pitcher. We did an amazing job fouling off pitches and staying on the change-up. It seems like he changed the script too, so that’s something we noticed… we had to make adjustments and get the ball up in the air and good things happen.”

The ability to knock Castillo out of his comfort zone was huge for the Red Sox, who adjusted to the changes made by the Mariners and eventually got back to tearing the cover off of every pitch Castillo threw. In five innings, the two-time All-Star gave up a season-high seven runs by bookending the appearance with dreadful innings.

“It’s not that we were trying to set the lineup that way,” Cora said postgame, referring to Castillo’s recent struggles against left-handed bats. “It’s just that this is what we have. We had a game plan and were staying in on pitches. We hit the ball hard — like I said, hit the ball hard and in the air and we got rewarded.”

The win would go on to break a four-game skid and be just the Red Sox’s second in eight games. That came following an eight-game winning streak, however. A pair of Kenley Jansen blown saves inflated that 2-6 record, with Cora noting as much postgame.

“I don’t get caught up in all of that stuff,” Cora said. “We were two inning away from not talking about sense of urgency. We played two good games on Friday and Saturday, it just didn’t happen.

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Here are some more notes from Red Sox-Mariners on Tuesday:

— Boston set the tone early in this one, as its first four batters had exit velocities of 105.2 mph, 107.9 mph, 108.7 mph and 110.7 mph.

— The Red Sox haven’t exactly seen a perfect week from their starters, but Nick Pivetta’s outing improved their mark of starting pitchers going at least five innings to 19 of their last 20 games, per Devin Benson of Red Sox public relations.

— Jarren Duran ranks third in fWAR since being recalled on May 6 from Triple-A Worcester, according to Tom Caron on NESN’s postgame coverage. The 26-year-old is slashing .351/.406/.585 in 27 games this season, with three home runs, 18 RBIs and 13 doubles.

Cora spoke about Duran’s contributions postgame.

— Triston Casas is finally starting to look like the player Boston thought it was getting when it made him an everyday fixture in the lineup. The 23-year-old rookie has gone 11-for-36 (.310) in May after going 10-for-75 (.133) in March and April, per Red Sox PR.

— The Red Sox and Mariners will put a bow on their three-game set at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.