Boston Red Sox shut out on Opening Day for first time since 1976; Orioles starter John Means was ‘in total co - MassLive.com

cicingwos.blogspot.com

A Red Sox offense that was firing on all cylinders throughout spring training made the wrong kind of history Friday afternoon against the Orioles. Boston was shut out on Opening Day for the first time since 1976.

The Red Sox mustered just one hit against O’s starter John Means, who retired the last 18 batters he faced to finish off seven scoreless innings. Means, a 27-year-old lefty who has a career 3.97 ERA in 42 major-league appearances (37 starts), allowed just two baserunners while recording five strikeouts in a 3-0 Baltimore win.

“I don’t think we made adjustments,” said Sox manager Alex Cora. “Obviously, it’s Opening Day. Sometimes, emotions take over and you want to do a lot. It seems like early in the game, he didn’t have his fastball. You saw the velocity. It was 90-91 (mph). He started relying on his changeup and then he got his velocity back and started mixing it up.

“Just a tough one,” Cora said. “We didn’t do much. He was in total control.”

Boston’s offense started off on the right foot, with Kiké Hernández hitting an opposite-field single to lead off the first inning. Xander Bogaerts reached base on an error an inning later before Means settled in, using pinpoint control to allow zero baserunners for the rest of his outing.

“He had really good command of everything,” Hernández said. “Besides my base hit and (Bogaerts) reaching on base because of the error, we didn’t have any other baserunners. He was really good at staying out of the middle of the plate. We weren’t able to put ABs together and have runners and put innings together. That’s why we didn’t score a run.”

The Red Sox had a strong offensive spring across the board, ranking second in the majors in OPS (.831) and homers (45) and fifth in hits (236). The last time the club was held scoreless on Opening Day was 45 years ago, when Orioles starter Jim Palmer threw eight scoreless innings at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

J.D. Martinez’s ninth-inning double put the Red Sox at a total of two hits for the day. That’s the fewest hits on Opening Day for the club since 1959.

It was mostly thanks to Means.

“That’s something I didn’t miss last year,” Cora said. “He’s a good pitcher. He has good stuff. The ball was moving. He had a good changeup. He was in control of the whole situation.”

Related links:

Kiké Hernández makes costly error, Boston Red Sox hitters record only 1 hit against John Means in Opening Day loss to Orioles

Kiké Hernández’s error a turning point in Boston Red Sox’s Opening Day loss: ‘The outcome of the game would have been different’

Boston Red Sox’s Hirokazu Sawamura hit 93.5 mph with his splitter in MLB debut, 12 mph faster than Koji Uehara’s average split velo in 2013

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"Shut" - Google News
April 03, 2021 at 07:19AM
https://ift.tt/3dvjfgD

Boston Red Sox shut out on Opening Day for first time since 1976; Orioles starter John Means was ‘in total co - MassLive.com
"Shut" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d35Me0
https://ift.tt/2WkO13c

Bagikan Berita Ini