Red Sox Beat Up On The Blue Jays And Roll To Their Fourth Consecutive Series Victory

Remember when the Red Sox hot April was just a “fluke” and that they’d come back down to earth? If Boston wins their next two games, they’ll match their win total from last month. After going 19-6 in April, the Red Sox just moved to 17-10 in the month of May with two more games remaining before the calendar turns to June. The only team that they have a losing record against this season is the A’s, who they won’t see again this year.

With the win over Toronto on Tuesday night, they improved to 24-10 within their division, the best record in the majors against AL East teams with at least ten games played. The Yankees (11-9), Rays (11-16), Orioles (9-14), and Blue Jays (8-14) have all been inferior in divisional play. They’ve scored the most runs in the majors (295), they’ve hit the second most homers (80), and they’ve got the second best run differential in the big leagues (+87). We’ll be at the All Star break and Yankee fans will still be complaining about Boston’s strength of schedule when it’s not much different than New York’s.

Every hitter in the Red Sox lineup had a hit on Tuesday night. You can’t even make some sarcastic comment like, “Even Jackie Bradley Jr.?” because he’s got a hit in each of his last four starts. You can’t say, “What, are you not counting Sandy Leon?” because he went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a homer. One of those doubles might’ve been an infield double, but just like when you lasted twenty seconds your first time having sex, it still counts.

Mitch Moreland extended his hitting streak to seven games, making Alex Cora look smarter and smarter by the day. Over his seven-game hitting streak, Moreland is 9-for-30 and seven of those nine hits have gone for extra bases. Boston’s new full time first baseman has a couple homers, three doubles and two triples, while driving in six runs over the streak. The Steak and Puhtayduhs Method is changing the game.

After struggling for most of the month of May, Rick Porcello needed an outing like this. Over his prior four outings, Porcello had allowed 17 earned runs in his last 21 innings, and the Red Sox were 1-3 in those four games. On Tuesday night, Porcello went six and two thirds, held the Blue Jays to two earned runs and struck out five. It was the first time that Porcello had held a team to two earned runs or fewer since May 4 against the Rangers.

JD Martinez continues to be the best Red Sox free agent signing since Manny Ramirez, doubling twice in Boston’s 8-3 win. With Mookie Betts out of the lineup for a third straight game with tightness in his side, Martinez just continues to chug right along as one of the game’s best hitters. The whole “Just Dingers” nickname stinks, because he’s so much more than just a power hitter. Save a nickname like that for someone like Joey Gallo, who literally only hits dingers if he puts the ball in play at all. Martinez is one of the best pure hitters in the game, now seventh in the league in batting (.323) and third in OPS (1.038) behind Betts and Mike Trout.

Xander Bogaerts hit a bomb into the pool at Dave’s Nantucket house in the seventh inning. He had been scuffling a bit lately, just 4 for his last 28 coming into this game, but had two hits to hopefully get back on the right track. Cora spoke after the game about how Bogaerts had been taking too many pitches down the middle recently, and not that this pitch was down the middle — it was actually almost out of the strike zone — but the message was received by Bogaerts to attack pitches that he knows he can handle, and he handled the shit out of that high fastball.

In the series finale, it’ll be Eduardo Rodriguez versus Sam Gaviglio. This will only be Gaviglio’s third start of the year. In his first start of the season, he blanked the A’s over five and a third, and his last time out, he got a win over the Phillies in a six-inning, three-run performance. He did, however, give up a pair of homers. After giving up five earned runs in back-to-back starts against the Royals and Rangers, Rodriguez has been much better of late. Over his last four starts, he’s got a 2.11 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 21.1 innings, allowing just one homer.

Final score: Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 3