Photo by Mark Stockwell / AP Photos
The Red Sox were victorious in their home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals, winning 13-9.
The full power of the Red Sox offense was on full display, notching 16 hits and 8 walks. Seven out of nine hitters for the Red Sox tallied two or more hits.
The Red Sox started fast, with back-to-back home runs from Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu to put the Sox up 5-0.
Walker Buehler was the starter today, and he didn’t have hit best stuff. The Cardinals crept back into the game, but Boston answered with two runs in the fifth.
The bullpen also left a lot to be desired. While the Red Sox never lost their lead, St. Louis kept creeping back into the game, the Red Sox woul answer by re-extending their lead, then St. Louis would rally again.
The Good
Photo by Mark Stockwell / AP Photos
Wilyer Abreu continues to be the best hitter on the team. He went 3-for-5 today with two runs batted in and is hitting .500 through the first week of the season.
Trevor Story stayed hot with a 3-run bomb in the first inning. I was down on Story coming into the year, but his bat has been better than expected so far this year.
Rafael Devers seems to have broken out of his historic slump, with two more hits today and two walks.
Carlos Narváez seems to be making a run at the starting catcher job over Connor Wong, as he also got two hits and two walks in five plate appearances.
The Bad
Photo by Mark Stockwell / AP Photos
While this was a fun game to watch with a ton of offense, don’t let the exciting moments blind you from the fact that on the other side of the ball, the Red Sox did not play winning baseball.
Walker Buehler has been disappointing in his first two starts. His breaking ball wasn’t effective, and he was unable to ride the momentum of the electric first inning.
Buehler gave up five runs in five innings, and the bullpen also let up four runs over four innings.
Letting any team score nine runs is not acceptable, and the Red Sox are lucky that their bats were hot because this could’ve gotten ugly.
The defense from the Red Sox was also poor. They were credited with three errors, but it really should’ve been five.
Bregman sailed a double play ball into right field, Casas dropped a throw to first, and Campbell dropped a fly ball in shallow right that really should have been Abreu’s.
The uncredited errors were Duran missplaying a ball in left and Campbell mishandling a double-play ball up the middle.
How on Earth that second Campbell error wasn’t credited, I have absolutely no idea. But the MLB’s soft error officiating is a story for another time.
Campbell’s defense at second is particularly concerning to me. He is playing out of his primary position to (hopefully) give the Red Sox their first consistent second baseman since Dustin Pedroia.
Campbell has been electric at the plate but is noticeably uncomfortable at second base. The good thing is that he’s young with much more development ahead.
Leave a Reply