Boston Red Sox: 3 takeaways from Friday’s win over Detroit Tigers

The Boston Red Sox kicked off their final series before the All-Star break with a victory Friday night over the Detroit Tigers.

A lengthy rain-delay in the middle of Friday night’s game threatened to undue a solid start by the Boston Red Sox in their series opener against the Detroit Tigers.

Specifically, it was handing the ball over once again to a shaky bullpen that posed the most concern. Luckily for Boston, the offense once again picked the team up.

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After coming back from the delay of two-plus hours and scoring three runs in the top of the sixth, the Red Sox were up 6-1. Marcus Walden promptly gave up four runs (2 earned) and things were again much tighter.

Enter Xander Bogaerts.

Bogaerts provided the cushion needed, knocking a three-run home run in the 8th and the Red Sox held on for a 9-6 victory on Friday night.

He also had an RBI-groundout in the first inning.

Starter Eduardo Rodriguez was cruising through the first five innings, providing a much-needed quality start. He tossed the first five innings prior to the delay, allowing one run on four hits while striking out four. Rodriguez left with a 3-1 lead and might have been able to pitch into the 7th had Mother Nature not intervened.

The victory moved the Red Sox 2.5 games behind Tampa Bay for second-place in the American League East. Boston is two games out of the second wild card spot.

Here are three takeaways from Boston’s victory.

Devers still raking

Rafael Devers continues to make his third season a spectacular one. He hit his fourth home run in the month of July, a two-run shot in the third, and continues to shine from the number 2 hole in the lineup.

In 43 at-bats from that spot in 2019, Devers has 22 hits. He’s scored 16 runs with 4 home runs and 13 RBI.

He’s also picked up 18 hits in his last 32 at-bats, including a two-home run, six-RBI night the other night in Toronto.

Bullpen doing bullpen things

Call it being overworked, underwhelming, or simply horrendous, the bullpen of the Boston Red Sox has struggled mightily since the middle part of May.

The issue has only amplified the last six games and was at the forefront once again in Friday’s victory.

Four innings of relief work yielded five runs (3 earned) on five hits, a stat line indicative of what’s been happening the last six games.

Of the 53 innings pitched, the bullpen has taken on 28.1 one of them. When the starters are failing to reach the fifth — or barely get into it — some of the blame can be assigned to them.

But in those bullpen innings, 35 runs have been allowed and 40 hits have been given up. Most of the bullpen has seen bright spots in 2019, but never at the same time and not nearly consistent enough to build a contender.

Heath Hembree also made his return tonight, though he gave up a run in the ninth.

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Offense (mostly) shining

Every starter picked up a hit tonight, something that has been rare in which players like Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi have had their struggles.

Despite this, the Red Sox are still ranked third in the MLB in runs scored. And Betts could be on the verge of beginning to pull his weight. Though he’s only hit one home run since June 19, he has picked up a hit in eight of his last 10 games and went 3-4 with three runs scored in tonight’s victory.

Outside of Devers, Bogaerts, and J.D. Martinez, catcher Christian Vazquez is also having a fine season at the plate. Even Jackie Bradley Jr. has woken up. Bradley hit .315 in June and picked up a couple of hits against the Tigers.

The offense has hardly been the problem, even with the struggles of Betts and Benintendi. Runs have been scored, but the pitching has largely struggled. There have been 12 games in 2019 in which Boston has scored at least five runs and lost. Even if they go 6-6 in these games, they’d be 3.5 games up in the wild card and life would be a lot rosier.

Closing out the weekend with a couple of more victories will be nice. Friday night was a good start.