Red Sox Grab Their First Win Of The Season After Mitch Moreland Drops Dick In The Ninth To Complete Epic Comeback
THEY’RE BAAAAAAACK!
The Red Sox were well on their way to starting off a season 0-2 for the first time since that godforsaken Bobby Valentine-led 2012 squad when the Mariners opened up a 6-1 lead by the end of the 4th. Even the balls that didn’t go over the fence were loud outs. More of a tip of the cap to Seattle, though, because Eovaldi was painting at times, but the Mariners just weren’t missing a whole lot in the first few innings. By the end of the second, the Mariners had hit eight home runs in the first 10 innings of this series.
I guess I’ve just replayed that 2018 postseason in my mind (and on YouTube) so many times that I had forgotten that Nathan Eovaldi is actually human. In his season debut on Friday night in Seattle, Eovaldi got touched up for a trio of solo homers, all within the first two innings of the game. In total, he’d be charged with all six of Seattle’s runs on eight hits over five innings with just three strikeouts.
Not to make excuses, but here comes somewhat of an excuse — please keep in mind that these Red Sox starters didn’t have a full spring training. Alex Cora made sure to ease all of them in later than usual because of the workload that they endured this past October en route to a World Series title. I’ll say the same thing about Eovaldi that I said about Sale — if it becomes a trend, then we’ll talk. For now, it’s just a pair of shit season debuts for these two guys.
Trailing by four runs in the sixth inning, after Xander Bogaerts hit his first homer of the season back in the second, JD Martinez launched his first bomb of the year to dead center, some 430 feet or so away from home plate. Thing was absolutely smoked. That cut Seattle’s lead in half before Christian Vazquez hit the snot out of a solo homer in the 8th. I’ll never fundamentally understand how Vazquez and his power works. Over the last three seasons, Vazquez has averaged three (3) home runs a year. I don’t think any of them have traveled fewer than 480 feet. It’s insane.
Onto the ninth, out comes Bryce Harper’s best buddy Hunter Strickland, who was throwing mid-90’s but needed the trainers to come out at one point, as he was shaking his pitching arm. After allowing a leadoff double to Rafael Devers, Strickland hit Blake Swihart, before allowing a pinch hit three-run moon bomb to Mitch Moreland that was almost a carbon copy of the home run that he hit in Game 4 of the World Series off of noted bum Ryan Madson. That baseball has every right to press assault charges after what Mitchy did to it. My God.
Pissed on it. But in order to complete the comeback, the Red Sox still had three outs to get in the ninth inning, which is difficult when you don’t have a closer. Or do they? Despite manager Alex Cora not naming an actual closer at the start of the season, which I agree with — make ‘em earn the title — we all knew that this was Matt Barnes’ job to lose. So, with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, in comes Barnes and down go the Mariners one-two-three with the icing on the cake being back-to-back strikeouts to close out the first victory of the season for the 2019 Boston Red Sox.
It’s probably easier to dread over bad small samples than it is to get excited over good small samples, but let’s just make one thing abundantly clear — Barnes has the stuff to be a closer. Of the 141 relievers in baseball who made at least 50 appearances in 2018, only six of them had a better strikeouts per nine than Barnes. Oh, and Barnes’ K/9 of 14.01 was better than Craig Kimbrel’s, so there’s plenty to be optimistic about in that regard. It’s only one save, but it could very well be the first of many for the former first-rounder.
In game three, it’s Eduardo Rodriguez versus Mike Leake. I’m sure E-Rod is just as tired of hearing about whether or not this will be his breakout year just as much as the fans are of wondering the very same thing. No, but really. Could this be the year? I don’t see why not.
Final score: Red Sox 7, Mariners 6