The Red Sox have desperately wanted to turn over a new leaf on their recent shortcomings. The starting rotation and offense have struggled mightily as Boston has faltered in the American League East race, as well as atop the Wild Card.
But Saturday’s seven-inning doubleheader at Rogers Centre may have signaled several new leaves for the Red Sox moving forward. The starting pitching turned things around with 9 2/3 combined strong innings in the twin bill and the offense supplied enough runs to come up with a win.
After being shutout in Game 1, the Red Sox pushed across two runs in a comeback win to beat the Blue Jays, 2-1, in eight innings in Game 2. The Sox lost the first game of the twin bill, 1-0, when Marcus Semien clubbed a walk-off homer off closer Matt Barnes.
Franchy Cordero was the automatic runner at the start of the eighth inning and promptly scored when Jonathan Araúz broke through the shift with a grounder to an unmanned shortstop. The Red Sox finally had their first lead of the series and didn’t look back.
No. 2 hitter Alex Verdugo, who went 3-for-4 in Game 2, tied the game in the sixth inning as he crushed a 2-2 curveball that was over the middle of the plate and parked it 410 feet to center field, per Statcast.
“Anything can really change momentum,” Verdugo said of the homer changing the mood of the dugout. “It's a matter of how my teammates are reacting in the dugout -- if they're loud, if you're vocal, people making good defensive plays. Momentum can come and go at any point.
“Just to get that run, tie the game, get the zeros off the board -- it was just big.”
Right-hander Tanner Houck impressed on the mound, albeit being the shortest start of his young career at 3 2/3 innings. Houck, who was the 27th man on the roster for the doubleheader, looked strong as he commanded the strike zone with his fastball, backed up with his slider and sinker.
“Going into the outing, I felt pretty good physically. Mentally, I'm really happy with where I've been. The slider command was iffy at best today,” Houck said. “I call it a grinder day; [I] went out there with some OK stuff, not my best, but gave what I can to the team.”
The 25-year-old struck out four of the first five batters he faced, ultimately ending his night with six among the 74 pitches (43 strikes) he fired. Houck probably could have stayed in the game longer, but he is expected to be in the rotation forging ahead as Martín Pérez was moved to the bullpen.
“He was good. He was really good. That's a tough lineup,” manager Alex Cora said. “He's special, man. He seems like he's under control, he doesn't show emotion … he's going to help us for the rest of the season.”
With Nick Pivetta flirting with perfection in four of his six frames during Game 1, coupled with Houck’s promising performance, it was a vast improvement from the 9.19 ERA Boston starters compiled in their previous eight games.
Boston’s starting rotation is shaping up to be in better form with less than 50 games left in the season.
"We pitched well the whole day, so that's a positive for us,” Cora said. “What Nick did in the first game, and then what Tanner and the rest of the crew did in the second one, that's good. Tomorrow we got Garrett [Richards] and hopefully we can continue doing that. That's a good start of what we're trying to accomplish, getting better pitching-wise.”
It also helps that Chris Sale looked to be in pristine shape while on the mound for Triple-A Worcester in what was possibly his final rehab start. Cora said Sale’s limit for the start was going to be five to six innings with a 90-pitch limit.
The left-hander wasn’t able to get out of the fifth inning against Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as he reached 89 pitches with two outs in the frame, but he was able to strike out eight hitters while allowing three walks and two hits in the scoreless start.
"We'll see how it feels tomorrow, as always," Cora said. "[I was] just told the line and the workload, all of that, which is positive. So hopefully tomorrow he gets up and he feels great.”
With the Game 2 win, the Red Sox reclaimed a one-game lead atop the AL Wild Card race.