Hey, Red Sox Nation! Tough loss last night as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat us 4-1, but let’s break down what happened.
The Pirates’ Ji Hwan Bae hit his first career homer off Nick Pivetta’s 95-mph fastball in the second inning. Bae joked about losing the ball, saying he tends to lose his stuff, so he might as well send it back to Korea. We’ve all been there, right?
Bryan Reynolds also went deep for the third time in two games, with a drive that went into the home bullpen and made it 3-1 in the third. He added an RBI single in the seventh. That man loves hitting against the Red Sox!
On our end, Masataka Yoshida’s first-inning groundout scored our only run. We managed just three hits all night. Definitely not our best performance, especially after scoring at least six runs in each of our first four games.
Roansy Contreras had a great night on the mound for the Pirates, holding us to those three hits over 5 2/3 innings. He retired 13 straight after giving up a run in the first. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
Pivetta put in probably the best outing from a Starting Pitcher so far this year, giving up three runs (one earned) with six strikeouts in five innings. He even joked about it afterwards, saying it was “good, a little mix of everything. A couple of home runs. … That’s about it.”
But let’s talk about the highlight of the night, in my opinion. Bae not only hit his first career homer, but he also made a leaping grab against the Green Monster to rob Rafael Devers of an extra-base hit. Derek Shelton, the Pirates’ manager, even praised Bae’s all-around performance, saying he did great both offensively and defensively. Hate to see it from the opposition, but it’s early enough in the season to still just appreciate the fact that baseball is back!
In other news, Carlos Santana had a little snack break during the game. He went after a foul ball that landed in the stands and ended up eating some popcorn a fan handed him through the net. Hey, gotta keep the energy up somehow, right?
As for the injury report, RHP Brayan Bello and LHP James Paxton both had their rehab work moved to Fort Myers due to the risk (and eventual reality) of cancellation of the WooSox game in Buffalo. Paxton went 3 innings in the Fort, with Cora saying “Good velo, up to 95mph. I texted with him. He’s still a little bit off mechanically, but he’s getting closer.”. He will make at least two more starts before joining Boston,
We’ve got one more game against the Pirates in this series, with veteran RHP Corey Kluber set to go after getting roughed up for five runs over 3 1/3 innings in our opener against Baltimore. Let’s hope he can bounce back and we can end this series on a high note. Go Sox!
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