The Red Sox picked up their 10th win in the past 11 games Monday night, as they beat the Angels 5-4 with a dramatic win.
The Red Sox got on the board first in the second inning, as Christian Arroyo blasted a ‘towering bomb’ as NESN’s Ellis Burks described, in his first at-bat since being reinstated from the IL.
Later in the half inning, Rafael Devers made it 2-0 with an RBI single to plate Marwin Gonzalez. The Angels would get on the board in the bottom half of the inning pickup a sac fly to make it 2-1.
In the fourth, Devers blasted a two-run bomb on a 3-0 pitch to make it 4-1, and in the fifth, it was all Danny Santana.
Santana made it 5-1 with an RBI single in the top half of the inning. In the bottom half, after it was made 5-2 with an RBI groundout, Danny Santana threw out Jose Rojas at home for the 27th outfield assist from the Red Sox this season. The throw kept the score at 5-2.
In the sixth, centerfielder Kike Hernandez threw out Max Stassi who was attempting to grab second after a single, for the Red Sox’s 28th outfield assist of the season.
That would end Martin Perez’s day, as Hirokazu Sawamura would replace him with a runner on third and one out in the bottom half of the sixth. Sawamura stranded the runner at third, as he got out of the frame with no damage.
Perez ended his night allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits, walking one and striking out three. The lefty tossed 79 pitches (59 strikes), and according to Baseball Savant, he hurled 29 sinkers, 23 cutters, 18 changeups, six fastballs, and three curveballs topping out at 93.8 MPH on his sinker.
Luis Rojas lifted a solo homer into right field off Sawamura to make it 5-3 in the seventh. Sawamura ended his night going 1.1 one-run innings, as Josh Taylor took over with two outs in the seventh and would pitch a scoreless 1.1 innings.
Adam Ottavino came on for the save to give Matt Barnes a rest, and he ran into some trouble. With two outs Jose Rojas hit an RBI single to make it 5-4, which was followed up by a single from David Fletcher to put two on with Shohei Ohtani at the plate.
Ohtani worked a 3-1 count and hit a bullet right to Arroyo at an exit velocity of 101.3 MPH, but Arroyo fielded it and threw it on to Dalbec at first to capture the victory.
Notes:
- Marwin Gonzalez left the game in the third with right hamstring tightness
- Rafael Devers put on a clinic, recording his fifth three-hit game of the year going 3-for-5
- Martin Perez picked up his seventh win of the season, moving to 7-4 on the year
- Ottavino grabbed his seventh save of the season
- The Red Sox move to 54-32 on the season
(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)