The Red Sox have designated Tuesday as a late arrival day. There was no batting practice on the field. No pregame preparation other than the pitchers going about their daily routine. After two losses on Monday in which the Red Sox made more errors (six) than they scored runs (four), manager Alex Cora decided his team needed a breather.
“Enjoy your family, get away from all that stuff,” Cora said before Tuesday night’s game. “They need it. The traveling was tough, and the doubleheader stuff too.”
This benefited the Sox, who ended a four-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over the Blue Jays.
Jarren Duran hit his 20th home run of the season to open the first inning against Yariel Rodriguez. It was Duran’s fifth career home run, his third this season and his third in as many games.
After Triston Casas walked with one out in the inning, Wilyer Abreu hit a double down the right field line that put both runners in scoring position for Masataka Yoshida, who hit a two-run single up the middle.
The Blue Jays threatened that lead early, but suffered three outs, including two at the plate. Starter Cooper Criswell made a lot of hard contact, but his defense bailed him out of what could have given the Jays momentum. With two outs in the second inning and Joey Loperfido on first base, Will Wagner hit a double off the left-center field wall. Loperfido hesitated between first and second base, however, giving Duran time to catch the ball barehanded on a hop up the middle and throw it to cutoff man Ceddanne Rafaeala. Rafaela then threw a strike to Danny Jansen, keeping the game at 3-0.
The Blue Jays scored their first run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and were dangerous again later in the inning with George Springer at bat and runners on second and third base with one out. Springer threw a short fly ball to Abreu on right base and Ernie Clement, the runner on third base, tried to hit the ball but was easily knocked down.
The Sox offense was without a fight for much of the night after the first, but they hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning to seal the win. By then, Rodriguez seemed to have found his rhythm, shutting down the Red Sox in order in the third and fourth innings. But Rafaela opened the fifth inning with a double against the Green Monster. David Hamilton brought Rafaela home with a ground single to right, and Casas and Abreu followed with RBI singles of their own.
Wagner hit a home run off Brennan Bernardino in the sixth inning to cut the Sox lead to 6-2, and Daulton Varsho hit a home run off Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning to put the game up at three runs with two outs, but Jansen brought Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to second base with a groundout to end the game.
You can reach Julian McWilliams at [email protected]. Follow him @vonJulianMack.
