ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Alex Cora has never wavered on knowing that the Boston Red Sox are a good team, despite their early struggles and being at the bottom of the AL East standings.
“Nothing has changed,” Cora said. “Just we got off to a bad start, and we know where we’re at.”
The Red Sox now seem to be making a move in the right direction. They have their first series victory in a month.
J.D. Martinez extended his on-base streak to 31 games with a first-inning homer, 42-year-old Rich Hill pitched into the seventh in his return from the COVID-19 list and the Red Sox won 11-3 over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night. Rafael Devers also homered for Boston, which set a season high for runs and has won the first two in the three-game weekend series.
“We’re getting there,” Cora said. “Good at-bats. Bottom of the lineup did an amazing job. … Kept the line moving. It was another good one for the offense.”
Kiké Hernández drove in three runs — with a sacrifice fly in the second inning, a fielder’s choice grounder in the fourth and a double in the fifth.
The Red Sox (13-20) had only won one of their first 10 series, taking two of three at Detroit from April 11-13 during the first week of the season. They had gone 0-6-2 in their series since, including splitting two games at World Series champion Atlanta earlier this week.
Hill (1-1) threw 64 of his 94 pitches for strikes in his first start since May 5. The left-hander, who during his quarantine threw alone on a couple of otherwise empty fields near his home, struck out four without a walk. He allowed three runs and seven hits, the last Kole Calhoun’s two-run double after Texas opened the seventh with consecutive singles.
“I was pretty much full go,” said Hill, who also threw into a net at home. “I went out there by myself…
Leave a Reply