12-pitch at-bat swings momentum for Boston in dominant win
BOSTON — Wilyer Abreu wouldn’t let it up in a display of utter relentlessness. Logan Gilbert ran out of gas.
And Masataka Yoshida and his teammates made Seattle’s talented righty pay in a wild sequence that led to a seven-run uprising in the bottom of the third inning that sent the Red Sox on their way to a much-needed 14-7 rout over the Mariners on Monday night at Fenway Park.
It wasn’t just that Boston needed to win after losing seven of its first nine coming out of the All-Star break, and with the specter of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline looming.
Manager Alex Cora’s team has been through the wringer the last 10 days or so, especially in the bullpen, where no lead has seemed safe.
“I was able to breathe,” said Cora. “We kind of needed it to be honest with you. The weekend, we lost the series [to the Yankees], but it was like every pitch it felt like it meant a lot. Probably bigger than what it really is, right? To be able to breathe a little bit today, it was good for us.”
After Gilbert sent down the first six batters he faced with relative ease, the Red Sox got into battle mode in the third. Connor Wong and Ceddanne Rafaela got singles, and Jarren Duran did the most underrated thing of the night, using his blazing speed to avoid an inning-ending double play.
Up stepped Abreu, who changed the momentum with a 12-pitch at-bat which he capped with a two-out RBI single into right.
To be fair, Abreu got some help on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, a 1-2 offering that he took that sure looked like it was on the outside corner for strike three.
With another life, Abreu worked the count full on the next pitch. Then came five straight foul balls that preceded the rookie’s single to make it 2-0, Red Sox.
“I’ve got to do a better job executing, and even if calls don’t go your way or whatever, find a way out of it,” Gilbert said. “I mean, he had a really good at-bat there, especially after that pitch.”
Abreu clapped his hands with fire as he rounded first. Has he ever been that excited after a single?
“I can’t remember a time, but it felt really good to win that battle,” said Abreu. “It was a really long at-bat and I was just trying to maintain my focus. I just wanted to keep things simple, and not try to do too much.”
It turns out that he did plenty.
And it didn’t take long to see what the payoff would be after Abreu worked Gilbert so hard.
Yoshida stepped up next and on the first pitch, he roped a middle-middle fastball into the bleachers behind Boston’s bullpen in right-center for a two-run homer. It was part of a four-RBI night for the DH, who has been on fire of late.
“I think that at-bat that Wily gave us damaged them,” Yoshida said. “That really set the tone and that passed the baton to me and that brought me a good result as well.”
The Red Sox would go on to get eight hits in the inning — six in succession. Five of the hits in the frame were for extra bases. Gilbert didn’t make it through, exiting after 2 2/3 frames and 69 pitches.
For the night, Boston battered 11 extra-base hits, the club’s highest total since July 26, 2019, against the Yankees.
Backed by a barrage of runs, starter Nick Pivetta (6 2/3 innings, six hits, three runs, one walk, 10 strikeouts) did the rest, not only turning in a quality start, but giving the bulk of the bullpen a much-needed breather.
“The guys came out and they played really hard tonight,” said Pivetta. “They got on their pitcher. I think Abreu’s at-bat stands out as really big, and Jarren beat out a ground-ball double play. I just think that’s how we play baseball games. It’s on all the time.”
The win kept the Red Sox one game behind the Royals for the third American League Wild Card spot.
“We’ll go and we’ll see where we’re at tomorrow,” Cora said. “But like I said, this group, they’re locked in. They are. They understand what’s going on. We have been talking about it for a while. And our job is to come here tomorrow and try to win a ballgame.”