The Boston Red Sox avoided a series sweep yesterday with a 9-5 win over the Twins after they dropped the first two games of the series. Things got a little hairy in the ninth as the Red Sox took a 9-1 lead into the inning before allowing four runs.
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Trevor Story had a big day at the plate for the Red Sox, going 2-4. He drove in five of the Red Sox nine runs. He had a three-run home run to left center in the top of the third. Then he drove in two more runs with a double to right field in the top of the sixth. Andruw Monasterio had three hits on the day, driving in a run. Roman Anthony and Isiah Kiner-Falefa each had two hits as well. Anthony scored two runs while Kiner-Falefa scored one.
Connelly Early got the start, and he pitched well, going six innings, allowing one run on two hits. He walked two and struck out five. He threw 85 pitches with 52 of those being strikes. The lone run was a solo home run in the top of the first inning.
The Boston Red Sox had Ryan Watson pitch the ninth, and this season, he hasn’t been bad, but yesterday was a different story as he allowed four runs on three hits and walked one without recording a strikeout.
Yesterday was Jackie Robinson Day across all of baseball. It is always celebrated on April 15th, the day in 1947 when he broke the color barrier, making his MLB debut. Back in 1997, Ken Griffey Jr requested permission from then commissioner Bud Selig and the wife of Jackie, Rachel Robinson, to wear the number on the 50th anniversary. In 2007, he helped initiate a move to have other players join him, which led to everyone in the MLB to wear the number 42 and wear specialty hats on that day.
Since 2007, when all the players have worn 42, the Red Sox are now 10-8 on Jackie Robinson Day, averaging 4.3 runs per game while allowing 4.7 runs per game. They’ve won the last two seasons on that day. They didn’t play on that date in 2020 as the league wasn’t playing due to COVID. MLB honored him on August 28th, which was the anniversary of the meeting between Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey. The Red Sox lost 10-2 to the Nationals in that game. They didn’t play in the first one in 2007 either.
The Red Sox are back on Friday night as they start a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers. The Red Sox will have Ranger Suarez taking the ball, while the Tigers will have Casey Mize going. The game can be seen on Apple TV+ with first pitch at 7:10 PM EST.
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