Red Sox offense shows potential against Tampa Bay Rays
It has been a slow start to the spring for the Boston Red Sox, posting just nine total runs in the first two games and losing both to the Braves and Twins. That all changed on Tuesday afternoon, as the Red Sox lineup had a coming-out party in a 9-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
The third inning was the momentum shift we were waiting for as the team put up an eye-popping six runs against Rays right-hander David Hess. Hess would end up allowing a whopping seven total earned runs on the afternoon.
Boston was up 2-0 entering the bottom half of the third, and they did not waste any time to begin their monster inning. Newly acquired utility man Kiké Hernandez, who led off and started at shortstop for the Sox, kicked things off by smashing a solo home run to deep center field. It then was immediately followed by another solo homer to right-center off the bat of young center fielder Jarren Duran. Duran has impressed early on and should continue to receive reps that possibly could get him onto the Opening Day roster.
After the back-to-back jacks, Boston was suddenly leading 4-0 and they were far from done. It was all bad for Hess who just could not catch a break. J.D. Martinez, the third batter of the inning would single on a grounder to the left side of the field. It then set up the third home run in just four batters as Rafael Devers bashed a two-run homer of his own, also to right-centerfield.
The rest of the damage would come off the bat of infielder Jonathan Arauz. He appeared in 25 games in 2020, as he logged in a two-RBI double that scored Michael Chavis and Connor Wong.
The Red Sox batted around the lineup with 12 at-bats in the inning, piling up five hits (four extra-base hits) and taking four walks. The team’s approach was impressive, being able to jump on Hess early and also being patient as he struggled mightily with his command.
Of course, we cannot look too much into a spring training game. However, it was encouraging to see the lineup clicking on all cylinders. If Boston wants to compete then their lineup will have to have many innings like this to keep them in games and take the pressure off of the pitching staff. It’ll be a nice change of pace for this group to put the runs on the board first instead of having to dig out of a hole every night.
It was sweet to see the team have a big day against a division rival in the Rays. A team that the Red Sox will have to take care of during the regular season if they want to go anywhere. In a small sample size, the lineup has suddenly tallied up 18 runs in their first three spring training games, and everyone should hope that this is just a preview of what this lineup can do during the 2021 season.