Red Sox

The Red Sox won for just the fourth time in their last 15 games on Friday.

Nick Pivetta had a strong outing against the Orioles on Friday. AP Photo/Elise Amendola

The Red Sox got off on the right foot in their three-game weekend series against the Orioles, defeating them 8-1 on Friday.

Friday’s win marks just the fourth time the Sox have won in their last 15 games as they look to keep their spot in the American League playoffs.

Here’s what happened on Friday.

The big picture.

The Red Sox opened up the scoring in the second inning, scoring four runs in the bottom of the frame. Hunter Renfroe opened up the inning with a single, Kyle Schwarber walked in the following at-bat, and Kevin Plawecki singled to load up the bases.

Jarren Duran knocked in Renfroe with his single while Bobby Dalbec knocked in Schwarber and Plawecki with a double. Durran scored on a sac fly from Kiké Hernández to cap off the second-inning scoring.

Richie Martin got a run back for the Orioles in the third, hitting a solo shot, but that was the lone run Nick Pivetta and the Red Sox allowed on Friday.

Advertisement:

Boston added to its lead throughout the game, getting solo homers from Xander Bogaerts, Dalbec, and Renfroe. Durran added another RBI in the third when he doubled on a line drive to right to knock in Schwarber. They chased out Orioles starter after just four innings, scoring six runs on seven hits against him.

Pivetta lasted through the sixth, putting out 12 of the 14 Orioles hitters he faced after allowing the home run.

Star of the game.

Nick Pivetta — six innings pitched, eight strikeouts, two walks, three hits, one earned run.

Pivetta’s outing on Friday was big for him and the Red Sox for multiple reasons. Pivetta followed up his quality start in Saturday’s Game 1 loss to the Blue Jays with another quality start on Friday, marking his eighth quality start of the season.

The back-to-back quality starts from Pivetta is also the first time a Red Sox starter has thrown quality starts in back-to-back outings since Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez each did it in late June/early July. Red Sox starters making it through six innings while keeping the opponent’s run total low has been rare in recent weeks, so getting that on Friday is certainly a positive sign.

What it means.

The Red Sox entered Friday’s game still in the midst of their worst slump of the season, going 3-11 over their last 14 games. A series against the last-place Orioles can help cure the Red Sox problems, though.

Advertisement:

Sure, beating up on a last-place team isn’t the most impressive thing. But wins against teams under .500 amount to the same as wins against teams over .500 in the standings. With the Rays holding a late lead over the Twins, it’s unlikely the Red Sox will gain ground in the AL East race. However, they appear likely to gain a game on the Athletics, who hold the AL’s top wild-card spot, as they trail the Rangers late. They’ll also gain a half-game on their lead over the Yankees, who are off after losing Thursday’s “Field of Dreams” game.

The takeaways.

1. The headline coming into Friday’s game was that Kyle Schwarber would finally make his Red Sox debut two weeks after Boston traded for him. The All-Star slugger’s been out since July 2 due to a hamstring strain (he’s since suffered groin tightness) and while both the Sox and Schwarber want him to play first base, he was the designated hitter on Friday.

Advertisement:

Schwarber got off to a good start, drawing a six-pitch walk in his first at-bat and a four-pitch walk in his second at-bat. He followed that up with a hard-hit lineout to right and a strikeout in his next two at-bats, finishing 0-2 for the day. While hitless, Schwarber getting on-base in half of his plate appearances is still a positive outcome for the Red Sox.

With Schwarber DH’ing and Alex Verdugo making his return to the lineup and playing left field, J.D. Martinez got the night off. Now that Schwarber’s in the lineup, Alex Cora can get creative with his starting nine in the season’s homestretch.

Advertisement:

2. The Red Sox scored in multiple ways on Friday. The four-run second inning was a good sign that Boston can still string together base hits and walks to help put runs on the board.

The best part: Not only did their newcomer Schwarber contribute to that, but it was also the end of the lineup and guys like Jarren Duran and Bobby Dalbec who knocked the runners home. It was the fourth time in the last three games that the Red Sox scored four-plus runs in an inning. Prior to Wednesday, they hadn’t done that since July 25.

Solo homers from Bogaerts, Dalbec, and Renfroe punctuated the win for Boston, showing versatility in the offense on Friday.

Advertisement:

3. Garrett Richards made his bullpen debut for the Red Sox on Friday.

He looked solid, tossing three scoreless innings and struck out four hitters. Richards did allow four hits, but one of them was an infield single that was barely beat out by the runner.

Richards did face some trouble in the ninth, allowing runners to get to second and third. However, he struck out Richie Martin to end the game.

On top of all of that, Richards didn’t walk a single hitter, marking the first time since June 27 he’s done that and only the third time this year he hasn’t walked a hitter in an outing. Of course, it was a shorter appearance but tossing three scoreless innings in relief can give Richards and the Red Sox bullpen new life as the regular season nears its end.

Advertisement:

Between solid performances from Pivetta and Richards, the Red Sox bullpen got a much-needed rest on Friday after being very busy for the first two weeks of August. With Chris Sale returning on Saturday, maybe the bullpen arms can see their rest extended a bit further.

4. Fenway Park continues to be home to the most unique home runs. On Thursday, Rays shortstop Wander Franco hit a home run in which the ball careened off the Green Monster, but on the left side of the center-field stripe, and over the wall in center.

Bogaerts’ homer Friday was a Fenway specialty. What looked to be a pop-out off the bat kept carrying and carrying, barely making its way over the Monster for a home run.

While it likely wouldn’t have been a homer in any other ballpark, Bogaerts will take it as it was just his third home run in his last 24 games.