Red Sox and their green jerseys top the Orioles

The Boston Red Sox showed great signs of improvement in their St. Patrick’s Day win over the Baltimore Orioles in Jet Blue Park.

The Red Sox wore their snappy green jerseys, but Sam Travis really stole the show with his hot bat.

The Red Sox came back “home” after a disappointing loss to Minnesota the night before. The game got off to a slow start but both teams came alive in the second inning. The Orioles took advantage of a lead-off triple to score with a sacrifice fly. Henry Owens finished up the inning without any more damage after a fly out and strike out.

During the Sox’s turn in the second they looked like they were going down without a fight when they made two quick outs, but they weren’t done. With Ryan Hanigan and Brennan Boesch on base, Travis, last year’s Red Sox Minor League player of the year, hit a 425-foot homer.

Henry Owen’s change-up started giving him trouble in the third inning. He walked the first two O’s before giving up a home run to Christian Walker. It looked like Owens was going to bounce back from the bad start to the inning, something he rarely did last year, when he got two outs. He gave up a double and a walk, however, and was pulled from the game and replaced by Matt Barnes who finished off the inning without any more damage. Owens had eight base runners in just 2.2 innings which isn’t a great start.

In the bottom of the fourth the Sox got back into scoring when Boesch’s single scored Travis Shaw to tie the game. Then Travis singled to put the Sox ahead.

Barnes continued to pitch well. In the fifth inning he gave up just one hit, just as he had in the fourth inning. Barnes has yet to give up a run this Spring Training and has seven strike outs with only one walk. He’s looking good for a bullpen spot this season.

The middle of the game was quiet and it looked like both teams would be done scoring. The Sox made a handful of personnel changes to bring in some minor league guys in the seventh to get some experience. Not to be left out of the fun, the new guys exploded on the scene with three runs. Mauricio Dubon showed off some speed when he doubled and later made it home on a single by Rainel Rosario. Marco Hernandez got a hit in the seventh but fell at first base apparently hurting his left arm. Hernandez has been showing great talent this Spring Training. Let’s hope the injury, a subluxation, doesn’t ruin his momentum. He’s listed as day-to-day.

Pitching may still be a slight concern for the Sox this season, but today there were signs of improvement as a whole. In addition to Barnes’s good performance, Tommy Layne and Ethan Hembree both had clean innings with one strike out each and lowering their ERAs. Owens struggled a little but didn’t let the game get too far out of hand. Noe Ramirez got himself into trouble with bases loaded, but kept his cool and didn’t allow any runs. These all point to an better Sox bullpen for this season.

Game Notes

• Roger Clemens credited for starting the green jerseys on St. Patrick’s day when he wore a green hat.
• No names on jerseys of some of the guys over from minor league camp.
• Carl Yastrzemski‘s grandson, Mike, came in to play outfield for Baltimore in the seventh inning.

Grades