Boston Red Sox roll over O’s, 5-1

The Boston Red Sox had quality pitching and questionable hitting in a 5-1 win over the Orioles at Sarasota.

The Boston Red Sox continued to display some quality pitching and questionable offense in a 5-1 win against the Orioles at Sarasota as both teams combined for a pathetic LOB/RISP extravaganza. The Red Sox left 10 on base and went 3-18 in RISP. The O’s “won” the LOB contest with 13 and went 1-13 in RISP.

Two items of note were the first appearance of the season by Christian Vazquez and a start by Roenis Elias who may be in the mix for a rotation slot with the ongoing physical concerns over Eduardo Rodriguez.

The leisurely drive (don’t you wish) for the Red Sox was on I-75 heading north to Sarasota and the home of Ringling Brothers Circus. A comfortable luxury coach excursion that traditionally has the veterans willing to sacrifice an hour or so of their lives to get to Ed Smith Stadium where for you Boston folks you can park your car for $9. Sorry – that should be: “Pahk yuh cahr.”

The Red Sox repeated the first inning today as they did yesterday with a home run. Today it was Brock Holt with a fly ball to right field against O’s starter Miguel Gonzalez (9-12, 4.91 in 2015) and not Mookie Betts to give Boston a quick 1-0 lead.

In last of the frame, the O’s had two on base with a double by Nolan Reimold and an intentional pass to Chris Davis. First and second with one gone and hard-hitting Adam Jones to face Elias. This time, Elias induced a double play and the Orioles were done. A promising performance against a multi-time All-Star.

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The first at-bat for Vazquez was far from memorable. With one out and Allen Craig – who had a rare hit – on third and Deven Marrero on first, a slow roller by Vaz to Gonzalez resulted in an out and no run.

Sarasota is the birth place of Nik Wallenda of the high wire and tightrope walking family and Elias attempted his own tightrope antics in the last of the second. A pair of quick outs was followed by three singles as J.J. Hardy, Jonathan Schoop and Joey Rickard loaded the bases for Reimold who went down on three straight strikes. Mr. Wallenda would be proud.

The day was done after two innings for Vazquez who was replaced by Dan Butler. Vazquez was not tested by the Orioles. The other change was Brian Johnson came in to replace Elias. Johnson is part of the potential mix for the last spot in the rotation and was coming off a 1.2 inning game in which he allowed a pair of runs and got a loss.

There was serious trouble brewing in Birdland in the fourth. A David Murphy single and walks to Craig and Jackie Bradley had the bases loaded for Marrero who responded by grounding into a double play for a run and putting a damper on the chance for a crooked number inning, but a 2-0 lead was on the board.

Johnson’s pitching world began to crumble a bit in the last of the fourth. Hardy started off with a triple to center. A Schoop grounder to Travis Shaw froze Hardy and that was a one batter respite as a Rickard grounder brought in a run to get the O’s on the board. No further damage to the score or Johnson’s ERA. Johnson continued for two more innings without incident.

The Red Sox managed to bag another run in the top of the sixth against the O’s Odrisamer Despaigne – say that fast three times. Murphy – who played a solid two-way game – started the action with a double. Bradley contributed a single and Marrero was nicked by a pitch to load them up. Butler grounded to first and the Red Sox had their third run.

By the seventh inning, a regular for both teams was as rare as a positive comment at a political debate so the game was now a battle of farm systems. Two players who have impressed in the early games are Marco Hernandez and Brennan Boesch who both contributed doubles for a quick run as the Red Sox were slowly separating themselves from the O’s at 4-1.

For those who remained the Red Sox were still in a run scoring mojo in the ninth. Hernandez (again) whacked a double to start things off only to be anchored on third after a DP. Sam Travis – another impressive player in the early games – brought Marco home with a single to up the score to 5-1 and leave it up to Anthony Varvaro and his 27.00 ERA in 1.2 innings to put the finishing touches on a sloppy win.

Next: Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart improving defensively

Game Notes:
* Today is national pancake day and Pablo Sandoval was not in the lineup. IHOP is on full alert.
* Game time temperature was 79 degrees.
* Daniel Rosenbaum was sent to minor league camp.
* Chris Young started at DH.
* Boesch and Murphy are in a battle for the outfield if the Red Sox carry five or someone goes DL.
* Murphy has an opt out on 4/4.
* Travis had the only two-out RBI of the game for Boston and that was with two gone in the ninth.

Elias (2 IP, 4 H, BB, 2 K) survived and left five runners on base in his two innings. A nice play by David Murphy prevented a run as the runner was held at third on a sharp single to left.

Johnson (3 IP, 3 H, R, 2 K) did quite well in his quest for further attention for a place on the 25 man roster.

( 2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB 2 K) a 6’7″ right-hander had a double play help him out of one jam.

(1 IP, 2 H) pitched the eighth. Varvaro (1 IP, H, BB, 2 K).

Betts had a double but left four on base. Shaw had another hit and is hitting .545 (Panda at .000). Holt his first home run of camp. Hernandez had two doubles in two at-bats. The Red Sox had a total of 12 hits and that is an impressive figure, but when you go 3-18 RISP and leave an LOB of 10 there are some issues.