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Devers Wins Heart & Hustle Award

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Red Sox Rafael Devers was named the 2019 Heart & Hustle award winner on Tuesday by the Major League Players Alumni Association. The award, which is voted on by alumni and active Major League players, honors active players who demonstrate a passion for the game and best embody the values, spirit and traditions of the game.

Each season, every team has one Heart & Hustle Award recipient. Later in the year an overall, national winner is named, with votes solicited from fans, all alumni and active players. Past national winners for the Red Sox are Dustin Pedroia in 2013 and Mookie Betts last season.

Prior to Betts in 2018, prior Sox winners are: Rick Porcello (2017), Pedroia (2010-16), Jacoby Ellsbury (2008-09), Kevin Youkilis (2007), and Jason Varitek (2005-06)


Devers Set for Historic Season

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What a season it’s turning out to be for Rafael Devers. At the midway point of the current campaign Devers is already among among just 13 Red Sox since at least 1908 with 25+ doubles and 60+ RBI in a single full season before turning 23.

The list of Red Sox youngsters with such an accomplishment over a full season includes Andrew Benintendi in 2017, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts in 2015, but also Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski (1961-62), Jim Rice (1975), Bobby Doerr (1938-40) and Ted Williams (1939-41). Devers is already a member of the club with nearly half the season more to go.

At his current pace, Devers projects to finish at 47 doubles and 114 RBI. The closest any Red Sox has come to that mark before turning 23 years old was Williams in 1939 (44 doubles and 145 RBI).

In Major League history only Albert Pujols and Alex Rodríguez (1996) have recorded 47+ doubles and 100+ RBI in a single season before turning 23. For Pujols it was 47 doubles and 130 RBI with Cardinals in 2001. For Rodríguez it was 54 doubles and 123 RBI with Mariners in 1996.

With 16 home runs already this season Devers is primed to join Williams (in 1939 and 41) and Tony Conigliaro (1965) as the only Boston batters with 30+ home runs in one season before turning 23 years old.


Red Sox Walk Off Winners

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On a night when Chris Sale couldn’t really find his stuff, the Red Sox rallied for a thrilling, come-from-behind win against the Blue Jays Friday night. Boston erased an early 5-1 hole to win 7-5 in 10 innings. It was the fourth walk-off win of the season and puts the Sox a season-high seven games over .500.,

Sale wasn’t himself right from the start, struggling to put away the Jays with a 36-pitch first inning, including 11 pitches to lead off batter Eric Sogard that ended with a base hit. Sogard would go on to record his third career 4-hit game. In his bid for a Player of the Month nod, Sogard is 26-for-64 (.406) with four doubles, a triple, three home runs and six RBI so far in June.

For Sale, the 5.0 IP on Friday was his shortest start since since April 23 (also 5.0). Sale allowed four Toronto runs (three earned) on seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Trent Thornton Holds Sox Offense Down

Through six innings Boston’s offense was held all but lifeless against rookie Trent Thornton, who until the 7th inning allowed just one Boston run on a Brock Holt sacrifice fly but struck out eight. Thornton leads all major league rookies with 87 strikeouts, the most ever by a Blue Jays rookie prior to the All-Star Game.

Thornton got the first Sox batter of the 7th out but then Mookie Betts tripled and the ensuing parade of Toronto relievers proved ineffective over the next four innings. By the end of the inning the Toronto lead was down to one. In the 8th the Sox tripled again, this time by Jackie Bradley, Jr., and Rafael Devers, still recovering from a strained hamstring suffered on the road, recorded his first career pinch-hit RBI to tie things up.

Red Sox relievers following Sale’s departure combined to allow one run over 5.0 innings, with shutout work from Josh Taylor (1.1 IP), Ryan Brasier (0.1 IP), Matt Barnes (1.0 IP) and Brandon Workman (1.0 IP that included two more walks). In 20.1 IP over the last four games, Boston’s bullpen has allowed four runs for a 1.77 ERA.

Christian Vázquez is the Hero

The walk-off came in the bottom of the 10th. With two outs and two strikes against him, Christian Vázquez connected for his second career walk-off home run, his first in extra-innings. It was the first walk-off home run for the Sox since July 27, 2018 by Betts.

Vázquez’s walk-off home run was the first coming with two outs for a Boston catcher since May 13, 2001, when Jason Varitek sent everyone home happy in the bottom of the 11th inning facing the Athletics. The only other catcher to do it for Boston since at least 1925 was Bill Hasselman, also facing Toronto, on July 27, 1995. Vázquez’s is the only of these to come with two outs in the inning.

The come-from-behind win was big boost for the Sox, who returned from a successful road trip eager to show better results at home. With the win, Boston’s Fenway record improved to 18-17 for the season. Since 1908, no Sox team has made the playoffs without at least a .580 home win percentage.


Red Sox Free Fall

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It’s early in the season (it’s really not), it’s only one series (it’s really not). There are all kinds of ways to explain away the Red Sox mediocre year to date, but the fact is, right now it feels like a free fall inside Red Sox Nation.

On Saturday, the inexplicably lackluster Red Sox lost their fourth straight, playing with so little energy and excitement, it was difficult to muster enthusiasm even after they took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning against the Yankees. Unlike Friday’s game, where the Sox were limited to just one run, Boston manufactured plenty of opportunities on Saturday. Over and over again, however, they were unable to cash in, going an atrocious 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and losing 5-3 to New York.

Nevermind the indignities of losing to the Yankees who’ve played with gusto despite their premier players unavailable with injuries, the Sox were similarly roughed up by the Indians earlier in the week at Fenway. Cleveland was 1-6 when they arrived in Boston before taking two of three games from the Red Sox.

The Sox are at 29-29, a .500 record, a day into June, a full 9½ games from the top of their division. Over the current four game losing streak (their second such streak this season), Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and J.D. Martinez have combined to go 9-for-46 (.196).

As measured by the key wOBA stat and shown in the above graphic, the Red Sox best every day performances compared with last season have been from Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts with solid contributions from Mitch Moreland and Christian Vázquez. Everyday plays like Betts, Martinez, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and to a lesser extent, Benintendi, have all regressed substantially.

Brightspot Devers, who wrapped up a career-best 11-game hitting streak with an 0-for-5 on Saturday, has upped his wOBA by nearly 19% compared to 2018. During his hitting streak he amassed an impressive seven straight games with an extra-base hit and a run scored, the longest such streak in club history for a player 22 years old or younger, besting the 5-game streaks of Jim Tabor (1939) and Hall of Famer Ted Williams (1939 & 1940).

Betts Back To Leadoff

Hoping to recapture some of last year’s magic, Manager Alex Cora moved Betts back to the top of the order. “This morning I got up and I said, ‘This is how we’re going to roll,'” Cora told the media. “I just spoke to Mookie and I said, ‘You’re going to lead off the rest of the season.'”

The failed experiment had produced all but nothing with Benintendi 3-for-37 (.081) as the first batter of a game. Of the 17 major league players with 30+ first-of-the-game at-bats this season, none had fewer hits than Benintendi.

With baseball’s draft coming up this week, Boston’s front off will shift its attention to shoring up the Sagging Sox. Many teams have already positioned themselves as sellers, with the Royals, for example, indicating they’re open to deals for anyone. What happens next will likely define the rest of this season and what this team will ultimately look like in 2020.


Red Sox Get Back to Winning

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Again and again we’re seen that offensively speaking, the 2017 Red Sox aren’t like the Sox of last season. On Monday, we were reminded that neither are the 2017 Blue Jays.

For a fifth straight game a Sox opponent scored first and early in the game. Red Sox opponents have scored at least two runs before the third inning in every game since last Thursday.

But on Monday, the Red Sox knew that Jays pitching had a damning five-game streak of their own. Toronto had allowed five or more runs in five games and in seven of their last nine.

Despite a good outing from Jays starter Marcus Stroman (6.0 IP with two runs allowed, one earned, and no walks with four strikeouts), this was really a matter of getting into the Toronto pen. Once Stroman was gone, Boston struck for four quick runs against relievers Danny Barnes and Aaron Loup to take the lead and never look back.

Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz wasn’t as sharp as in previous outings, allowing the leadoff batter to reach safely in five of his six innings. Still, Pomeranz lasted 6.0 IP to come away with the win, his 14th of the season. Pomeranz allowed three runs on seven hits but also walked five, tying for a third time his season high. Relievers Addison Reed and Brandon Workman each contributed a perfect inning apiece.

Craig Kimbrel, pitching with a three-run lead in the ninth, made things interesting when Justin Smoak cranked his 36th home run of the season. After a walk to José Bautista, Kendrys Morales stepped to the plate representing the winning run. It had been Morales who belted a HR against Kimbrel, the first of just four allowed by this season by the the gifted Sox closer. Morales popped out this time, however, and Kimbrel recorded his 30th save of the season.

Craig Kimbrel is now just the 6th MLB pitcher with at least 30 saves in as many as seven straight seasons. The others are Mariano Rivera (9 seasons), Trevor Hoffman (7), Jonathan Papelbon (7), Troy Percival (7), and Robb Nen (7).

Christian Vázquez Stays Hot

Boston catcher Christian Vázquez continued his torrid pace at the plate. On Monday Vázquez became just the second Boston catcher since at least 1913 with a stolen base and four hits, including a home run. The only other Sox catcher to do that was Hall of Famer Rick Ferrell on June 30, 1935.

Beside Vázquez, four other Red Sox had two hits in Monday’s game, including Hanley Ramírez, who was dropped to seventh in the batting order for just the 12th time in his career.

It was the 53rd game for the Sox with 10 or more hits, the most in the American League after the Astros (62) and Orioles (57).

Rafael Devers, hitless in four at-bats, made a pivotal play that underscores his remarkable maturity for so young a player. With the Sox down by a run in the fifth but with the bases loaded and just one out, Devers elected for the force play at home rather than an impulsive grasp at a tough double play. Pomeranz would work out of the jam to keep the game in check.

“These guys love to hit, so it’s always hitting, hitting, hitting,” Red Sox mental skills coach Laz Gutierrez told Rob Bradford of WEEI. “But [Devers] worked on all aspects of his game. And I think what you see now is all that work that he’s put in.”

With Cleveland beating the Yankees in New York, the Red Sox lead returned to 3½ games in the American League East. The Sox remain one of five major league teams this season not to lose five straight games.