A Red Sox game has to be really weird to stand out in this season full of wild weather, baffling errors, and too many injuries.
Wednesday night was weird.
In the words of Bill Hader’s iconic and delightfully odd “Saturday Night Live” character, Stefon, this 4-3 Boston victory had everything:
Yellow Sox, a big anniversary for Rafael Devers, a clutch rookie bomb, Nick Pivetta screaming triumphantly, and a big busted bulb.
Let’s review in reverse order.
In the top of the second, viewers were treated to the rarest of rare Fenway Park oddities when a 96.6 mph line drive by Kyle Isbel punched through the red cover of the light which indicates the first out of an inning on the Green Monster’s historic scoreboard.
The hit was ruled a ground-rule double, but one unlike any seen at Major League Baseball’s oldest ballpark in decades; the most recent incident the Herald could find occurred during warmups in 2015.
The venerable Joe Castiglione, who’s been broadcasting Red Sox games for over four decades, said this was a first for him. Left-fielder Masataka Yoshida could only stare at the ball, wedged in the still-lit alcove. The scoreboard operator, too, looked bemused as he poked his head out of the small window in between the words ‘Ball’ and ‘Strike.’ By the fourth inning, the bulb had a new cover.
After declaring Wednesday a bullpen game, Alex Cora decided to have Nick Pivetta make a traditional start, instead, and despite pitching on short rest, the ever-durable right-hander came through once again.
“It was big,” Cora said, “Not only because we needed it, but he just pitched three days ago, so to go out there and pitch the way he did… it was enough.”
Pivetta pitched five innings, induced 16 swings & misses, and held Kansas City to four hits, and only two runs, both solo homers by MJ Melendez. After giving up the second round-tripper, the 30-year-old righty settled back in, retiring five of his last seven batters. After at least one big inning-ending out, he could be heard roaring with approval as he strode off the mound.
Including Wednesday, Pivetta has racked up 47 strikeouts and issued just eight walks over his last seven games (33 1/3 innings). Dating back to May 28, he owns a 2.42 ERA over 16 relief appearances and two starts. Factoring in the short rest and moving between the bullpen and rotation, and his work over the last few months is all the more impressive.
“He’s so strong, and he works so hard in between outings,” Cora said appreciatively. “He’s a big kid, you know? He’s strong, and he cares… it was a grind, but he did a good job.”
In recent weeks, the Red Sox have struggled mightily to plate runs; including Wednesday, they’ve scored no more than five runs in six of their last seven games. But when Melendez put KC on the board in the top of the second, Triston Casas answered back immediately, with a 431-foot solo shot of his own in the bottom of the frame.
Since the All-Star break, the Red Sox rookie has homered nine times in 23 games. Each of his last eight traveled at least 410 feet, a fact that didn’t surprise his manager in the slightest, given how Casas fuels up for the job.
“(I’m) Not surprised that he hits it far, because if you see him eat, it’s eye-opening, to be honest with you,” he said with a smile. “We’ve been in diners on the road, and it’s not one dish, it’s actually three… I mean, this guy eats more than, I mean, you’d rather take him out to shopping for clothes than actually take him out to dinner. Usually it’s the other way around. Yeah, he’s a monster.”
Wednesday also marked the tenth anniversary of Rafael Devers signing with the Red Sox, and he commemorated the milestone by joining another elite group in the franchise record books. According to Justin Long from the team’s media relations department, the 26-year-old third baseman is the ninth player in franchise history to score at least 500 runs, drive in 500 RBI, and post a .500 slugging percentage; Devers, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Nomar Garciaparra are the only ones to achieve the feat in this century.
After strong scoreless outings by John Schreiber, Josh Winckowski, and Chris Martin, the chaotic contest came to an end after two hours and twenty-four minutes, when Kenley Jansen successfully converted his 25th save of the season.
It was, by no means, a done deal. Before getting the second and third outs of the ninth, Jansen gave up a solo homer to Freddy Fermin, putting the visitors within one before closing up shop for the night.
The Red Sox are 58-55 on the season, including 8-1 in their yellow City Connect uniforms (23-5 all-time).
Overall, it’s perplexing how much they’ve struggled against teams with poor records this year. The Royals came to town with only 36 wins on the season, and the Red Sox haven’t been able to put a significant hurt on them at all; on Tuesday, KC did just that to Boston in a 9-3 drubbing. Likewise for the Oakland A’s, St. Louis Cardinals, and Colorado Rockies, to name just a few of the subpar opponents the Red Sox should’ve been able to beat this year.
The irony of it all is that the Red Sox have really held their own against truly formidable opponents this season. If not for their struggles against clubs under .500, they’d probably be holding one of the Wild Cards already.
A win is a win, though. Even a weird one.