C2 Sports The Boston Globe WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
Monday night game
At Fenway Park
NY YANKEES AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
LeMahieu 2bJudgerf 5 1 1 1 0 2 .326 402011 .272
Torres ss 4 0 2100 .288
Encarnación 1b 5 0 1 0 0 1 .243
Voit dh 5 0 2 1 0 2 .276
Gardner cfUrshela 3b 5 04 1 2 1 0 1 .332 0002 .245
Maybinlf 400003.287
Rominec 232120.275
Totals 38 5 12 5 3 12
BOSTONBetts rf AB R H BI BB SO Avg.5 0 1 0 0 1 .290
Devers 3b 3 0 1 0 1 1 .314
Bogaerts ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .304
Martinez dh 3 0 0 0 1 2 .306Vázquez cTravis 1b (^4) 3 0 0 0 0 1 .22602001.272
a-MHerndz ph-2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .308
Holt 2b-1b 3 0 0000 .312
b-Owings phGHernández lf 1 04 0 00010002 .125.000
Bradley cf 303010.225
Totals 34070310
NY Yankees......................000 010 301 — 5 12 0
Boston...............................000 000 000 — 0 7 0
a-popped out for Travis in 8th, b-struck out for
Holt in 9th.(16), Torres (24), Voit (19), Urshela (33), RomineLOB—NY 10, Boston 10.2B—Judge
(10), Bradley (23).HR—Urshela (19), off Hernan-
dez, Romine (7), off Rodriguez.SF—Torres.Run-
ners left in scoring position—NY 6 (Encarnación
2, Gardner 2, Urshela, Maybin), Boston 5 (Devers,Bogaerts, Martinez, Travis, MHernández).RISP—
NY 3 for 10, Boston 0 for 7.
NY YankeesPaxton W 13-6 6„ 4 0 0 3 7 107 3.96IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Britton ‚10001 72.08
Gearrin 11000111 4.01
Lyons 1 1 0 0 0 1 15 3.00
BostonRodriguz L 17-6 6 5 1 1 1 9 117 3.73IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
DarHernandez ‚ 3 3 3 0 1 18 3.72
Kelley „10000 79.00
Lakins 1 1 0 0 0 1 20 3.93
ShawarynBrewer „2112028‚00001 44.508.22
1-1, Brewer 3-0.Inherited runners-scoredWP—Hernandez.—Britton 1-0, KelleyPB—Romine 2.
Umpires—Home, Rob Drake; First, Tim Timmons;
Second, Ron Kulpa; Third, Mike Muchlinski.
T—3:25.A—35,884 (37,755).
HOW THE RUNS SCORED
FIFTH INNING
YANKEES — Maybin struck out. Romine hom-
ered to right. LeMahieu struck out. Judge singled
to center. Torres lined out to center.SEVENTH INNING
YANKEES — Urshela homered to left. Maybin
struck out. Romine doubled to left. On wild pitch,
Romine to third. LeMahieu singled to left, Rominescored. Kelley pitching. Judge doubled to center,
LeMahieu to third. Torres hit a sacrifice fly to left,
LeMahieu scored. Encarnación flied out to center.
NINTH INNING
out to right. Judge walked, Romine to second.YANKEES — Romine walked. LeMahieu flied
Torres singled to left, Romine to third, Judge to
second. Encarnación popped out to right. Voit
singled to left, Romine scored, Judge to third,
Torres to second. Brewer pitching. Gardnerstruck out.
Yankees 5, Red Sox 0
VAUGHN RIDLEY/GETTY IMAGES
Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (left) goes high to
celebrate Cavan Biggio’s home run in the third inning.
Bettsfindshimselfbackinswing
By Julian McWilliams
GLOBE STAFF
TORONTO — When manag-
er Alex Cora came over from
the Houston Astros, one of the
main adjustments he wanted
to make to Mookie Betts’s
game was for him to be aggres-
sive early in the count.
Houston’s leadoff batter was
— and still is — George Spring-
er, who was aggressive in the
strike zone from the start of
the game.
“For me it’s all about, I’m
ready to hit from the first pitch
and that’s it,” Springer said pri-
or to the 2019 All-Star Game in
Cleveland. “The first, the sec-
ond, the fifth, I can make an
out on any of them, so I might
as well do damage on the first.
Betts is an overall better hit-
ter than Springer. But Cora’s
idea was that Betts, like
Springer, could benefit from
this approach, too. It didn’t
quite stick last year, and how
could it? Betts had an MVP
season doing it the way he’s al-
ways done by working the
count.
But this season, as Betts
tried at certain points to find
his swing, he decided to give it
a shot. In his game against the
Minnesota Twins in last week’s
6-2 win, Betts swung at first
pitches in separate at-bats. He
homered on both of them.
Tuesday night in Toronto,
he did it again on the first
pitch of the game.
“It couldn’t get any worse,”
Betts following the Sox’ 4-3
loss on why he made the ad-
justment. “I was hitting in
some tough counts and spots,
0-2, 1-2, 2-2. I just said it is
what it is at this point. Some-
thing has to change and that
was it.”
From the start of the season
through June 30, Betts swung
at the first pitch 22.86 percent
of the time. From July 2
through Monday, Betts upped
that total to 37.6 percent, and
he’s hit .329 with 15 homers in
that span.
Numbers suggest that he
has success when he swings at
the first pitch.
Entering Tuesday, he had 21
homers when swinging at the
first pitch to go along with a
.321 batting average and 72
RBIs.
Taking pitches was some-
thing he was taught as a kid in
the leadoff spot, Betts said, and
he had to break that habit.
Now, it’s paying off.
“I just had to keep talking to
him. He feels good about his
swing,” Cora said. “You guys
see it. He’s on top of the ball
and I think it started in Ana-
heim. When he starts hitting
line drives and they go out of
the ballpark, he’s in a great
place. I’m happy he’s buying
into it and feels good.
“The thing is, he has to feel
good to be aggressive. Right
now, he’s in a great frame of
mind and his swing looks
great.”
Vazquezexcelsat,andbehind,plate
By Peter Abraham
GLOBE STAFF
TORONTO —Christian
Vazquezhas been one of the
best hitting catchers in baseball
this season,
ranking in the
top 10 in most
categories, in-
cluding home runs (19), dou-
bles (24), RBIs (59), and runs
(57).
He’s also carried a heavy
load. Tuesday night’s 4-3 loss to
the Blue Jays was the 109th
Vazquez has caught this season,
the most in the American
League and fourth overall in
the majors.
JarrodSaltalamacchia
knows how difficult that is. He
hit 25 home runs and drove in
59 runs for the 2012 Red Sox
and caught 104 games.
“It’s tough to do that for a
team like the Red Sox and in a
division like the AL East be-
cause of the competition,” said
Saltalamacchia, now retired af-
ter 12 seasons in the majors, in-
cluding four with the Sox. “I
would get to the park at 11 a.m.
looking at scouting reports to
be prepared for my pitchers.
Catchers don’t get much time
to work on their hitting.
“Christian has done a great
job. He’s doing a lot of the
team.”
Saltalamacchia, who is now
with NESN as an analyst, said
the grind is as much mental as
physical.
“Christian’s offense is the
best it has been and that’s prob-
ably because he has played a lot
more and gotten more at-bats
and been able to make adjust-
ments,” Saltalamacchia said.
“But that also wears you down.
You have to take care of your
body and get those days off to
clear your mind.”
ManagerAlexCoraplans to
give Vazquez some extra days
off in the coming weeks.
“He’s been doing an out-
standing job,” Cora said. “But
we’ll mix it up.”
The Sox called upJuanCen-
tenoas their third catcher on
Sept. 1, and he has yet to play.
Cora said he would get in a
game soon.
Noanswers
Sox presidentSamKennedy
appeared on the team’s flagship
radio station, WEEI, on Tues-
day but revealed little about the
firing ofDaveDombrowskior
why he and ownership have so
far declined comment on why
the change was made.
“We just knew it would have
been a wholly unsatisfactory
experience given that we’re just
not going to expand on the
statements we provided [Mon-
day],” Kennedy said.
“I understand the desire for
one and the frustration for not
having one, but given that
we’re not going to expand on
what we said in our press state-
ment, it just wouldn’t have
been satisfactory to anyone.”
Kennedy gave essentially the
same answer to several ques-
tions about the team’s lack of
accountability. He did say own-
ership supports Cora continu-
ing as manager.
Assistant general managers
BrianO’HalloranandEddie
Romeroaccompanied the team
to Toronto.
Windingitdown
The Sox are still mathemati-
cally alive in the wild-card race
but understand they have little
realistic chance.
That helps to explain why
shortstopXanderBogaertsand
second basemanBrockHolt
were out of the lineup on Tues-
day. It was the first game Bo-
gaerts had not started since
Aug. 6.
“He’s been playing a lot.
Brock, too,” Cora said. “Their
effort has been great. We’ll stay
away from them [Tuesday] and
then they’ll play the rest of the
week.”
Cora plans to giveRafael
Deversa day off on Thursday
ahead of Friday’s scheduled day
off.MookieBettswill likely be
out of the lineup on Wednes-
day.
“Little by little, we’ll take
care of them,” Cora said.
RelieversDarwinzonHer-
nandezandJoshTaylorwill
have their use dialed back. Her-
nandez is being used as a re-
liever for the first time in his
career and Taylor has made 66
appearances counting Triple A.
He was in 48 games last season.
DavidPriceaccompanied
the team on the trip and con-
tinues to throw. The lefthander
has made one start since Aug. 4
because of inflammation in his
wrist. He could pitch next
week.
Rotationchanged
LefthanderBobbyPoyner
gets the start on Wednesday in
what will be a bullpen game.
JhoulysChacin, who has re-
tired nine of 10 batters since
joining the Red Sox on Sept. 1,
was bumped back to start on
Thursday againstClayBuch-
holz, who will be facing the Sox
for the first time in his career
...TripleAhittingcoachRich
Gedmanhas joined the coach-
ing staff for the road trip...
The Blue Jays had a moment of
silence before the game to
mark the death of former Car-
dinals outfielderChrisDuncan
last week. Duncan’s brother,
Shelley, works in baseball oper-
ationsforToronto...Major
league teams will mark the an-
niversary of the Sept. 11 attacks
on Wednesday with a moment
of silence before games. Players
will wear a “We Shall Not For-
get” ribbon on their caps and
the ribbon will be displayed on
the bases and lineup cards.
Peter Abraham can be reached
at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter
@PeteAbe.
Red Sox go quietly
against Blue Jays
homers by Cavan Biggio and
Reese McGuire.
“I thought tonight was my
best fastball command, but
what got me in trouble was not
being to navigate with my split-
ter,” Eovaldi said. “It was real
inconsistent and caused me not
to get by some situations.
“I was using the curveball
early for strike one and fastballs
up in the zone. A lot of times as
the game continues I’m able to
find a feel for my splitter, and
tonight I wasn’t able to do that.
It’s frustrating. I’ve got to go out
there and get deep into ball-
games.”
The issue is not the quality
of his pitches; it’s the ability to
go deeper into games. The Blue
Jays fouled off 22 pitches, 14 of
them fastballs.
“It’s the foul balls, and that
will always be there because of
his stuff,” manager Alex Cora
said. “They keep fouling off
pitches and the pitch count
goes up. I think he went to the
fastball when he was supposed
to. But they kept battling.”
The Sox took a 3-2 lead in
the fifth inning. Devers and J.D.
Martinez had back-to-back
doubles off T.J. Zeuch, a 24-
year-old rookie making his first
start.
Itwasthe 50 thdoubleofthe
season for Devers. He is the
eighth Red Sox player to reach
that mark, the first since Dustin
Pedroia had 54 in 2008. The
last Red Sox third baseman
with 50 doubles was Wade
Boggs, who had 51 in 1989.
Andrew Benintendi then de-
livered a single to center off
Buddy Boshers.
Eovaldi’s response was to
walk Biggio on five pitches to
open the bottom of the inning.
He came back to strike out
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Cora
called in lefthander Josh Taylor
to face Rowdy Tellez, a burly
lefthanded-hitting slugger who
has tormented the Sox this sea-
son.
Taylor, pitching for the ninth
time in 13 games, threw a fast-
ball over the middle that Tellez
drove over the fence in right-
center.
Tellez is 15 of 35 (.429)
against the Red Sox this season
with three doubles, six home
runs, and 13 RBIs. He has oth-
erwise hit .198 with 12 home
runs and 34 RBIs.
The six home runs are the
most by a player against the Sox
this season. Gleyber Torres of
the Yankees has five.
“It seems like he’s hitting
uREDSOX
Continued from Page C1
home runs in the same spot,
down and in,” Cora said. “He’s
made some adjustments. Ev-
erything down he’s getting to.”
Eovaldi was charged with
three runs on six hits over 4‚
innings. He has a 5.81 earned
run average — 5.94 in nine
starts.
Toronto threatened again in
the sixth inning, loading the
bases with two outs. But Ryan
Brasier got Guerrero to ground
into a force at second base.
Peter Abraham can be reached
at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter
@PeteAbe.
RED SOX
NOTEBOOK
At Rogers Centre, Toronto
BOSTON AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Bettsrf 311120 .290
Devers 3b 512000 .314
Martinez dh 4 1 1 1 0 0 .306
Moreland 1b 401000 .249
Benintendilf 301110 .274
Vázquez c 4 00001 .269
Bradley cf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .223
Owings ss 3 0 1 0 0 1 .129
a-Holt ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .315
b-GHernández pr 000000.000
MHernández 2b 400002.295
Totals 34 3 8 3 4 6
TORONTO AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Bichette ss 5 0 1 0 0 2 .307
Biggio2b 321121 .208
Guerrero 3b 400001 .273
Tellez1b 412201 .223
Grichuk rf 401002 .230
Smoak dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 .212
McGuire c 3 12110.323
Davis cf 3 0 1 0 0 1 .172
Fisher lf 100011.192
c-THerndez ph-lf 100010.215
Totals 32 4 9 4 5 10
Boston...............................100 020 000 — 3 8 0
Toronto..............................001 120 00x — 4 9 0
a-singled for Owings in 9th, b-ran for Holt in
9th, c-walked for Fisher in 6th.ronto 10.2B—Devers (50), Martinez (32), GrichukLOB—Boston 8, To-
(25).HR—Betts (28), off Zeuch, Biggio (13), off
Eovaldi, Tellez (18), off Taylor, McGuire (5), off
Eovaldi.Bichette (4).SB—Benintendi (10), GHernández (1),S—Davis.Runners left in scoring po-
sition—Boston 4 (Devers 3, Vázquez), Toronto 5
(Guerrero 2, Tellez, Davis, Fisher).RISP—Boston 2
for 8, Toronto 0 for 7.Runners moved up—More-
land, Guerrero.
Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Eovaldi 4‚ 6 3 3 2 6 93 5.81
Taylor L 1-2 „ 1 1 1 0 1 9 3.07
Johnson ‚10010146.35
Brasier „00011145.47
Cashner 1 1 0 0 1 1 23 4.55
Barnes 100001124.15
Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Zeuch 4‚ 6 3 3 3 1 81 5.40
Boshers ‚10000105.93
Shafer W 2-1 1‚ 0 0 0 0 3 23 2.97
Law 100000194.80
Mayza „00000114.91
Romano ‚00000 64.82
Giles S 19 110012291.96
Inherited runners-scored—Taylor 1-1, Brasier
2-0, Boshers 1-1, Shafer 1-0.PB—Vázquez.Um-
piresSecond, Chris Segal; Third, Jeff Nelson.—Home, Stu Scheurwater; First, Alan Porter;T—3:37.
A—17,819 (49,286).
HOW THE RUNS SCORED
FIRST INNING
pole. Devers singled to center and was out ad-RED SOX — Betts homered off the left-field foul
vancing, catcher to second. Martinez lined out to
left. Moreland singled to left. Benintendi ground-
ed out to second.
THIRD INNING
BLUE JAYS — Bichette grounded out to short.
Biggio homered to right. Guerrero grounded out
to second. Tellez singled to right. Grichuk struck
out.
FOURTH INNING
BLUE JAYS — Smoak grounded out to first.
McGuire homered to right. Davis grounded out to
third. Fisher walked. Bichette flied out to right.
FIFTH INNING
doubled to right. Martinez doubled to left, DeversRED SOX — Betts grounded out to third. Devers
scored. Boshers pitching. Moreland grounded out
to short. Martinez to third. Benintendi singled to
center, Martinez scored. Shafer pitching. Benin-tendi stole second. Vázquez struck out.
BLUE JAYS — Biggio walked. Guerrero struck
out. Taylor pitching. Tellez homered to right , Big-
gio scored. Grichuk flied out to left. Smoak struck
out.
Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 3
FRED THORNHILL/THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP
The Red Sox and Jackie Bradley Jr., who struck out to start
the ninth Tuesday, were thrown for a loss in Toronto.
VAUGHN RIDLEY/GETTY IMAGES
Mookie Betts quickly gave the Red Sox the lead, hitting the first pitch of the game for a homer, his 28th of the season.