Red Sox make good on chance to prove they’re still engaged with Nationals series win

It wasn’t exactly up to Cora’s standards, but the way things had been going for his ballclub… he’ll take it.

“I was watching the game, honestly I said ‘I hope we have the lead in the ninth and finish it and let’s go home, because this is ugly to be honest with you,’” Cora told reporters postgame. 

His team did just that, with Kenley Jansen coming on to shut the door after allowing nothing more than a one-out single for his seventh save. That after Brayan Bello was good (enough), not great, in his return from a lat injury.

Bello allowed only two runs — both on Eddie Rosario’s fourth-inning two-run homer — on four hits with a pair of walks and one strikeout in a five-inning victory to improve to 4-1 and lower his season ERA to 3.13. 

“He was OK,” Cora said of Bello. “Command was off, the pitch to Rosario I think was a changeup that cut, put a good swing on it. For his first one coming out of the IL, good. He gave us five, two runs, so now he’ll be ready for the next one.”

The offense, as it was mostly Saturday, had to be manufactured. Two of Boston’s runs came on a Ceddanne Rafaela ground-rule double in the second that moved Duran to third after reaching on a fielders’ choice. Duran scampered home on a wild pitch by Nats starter Mackenzie Gore during the next at-bat. (Rafaela later gave his best effort to rob Rosario's homer, but came up just short despite spilling over into the bullpen...) 

Although he went 0 for 3 at the plate, Connor Wong  was masterful behind it — throwing out a runner to record the game’s first out and gunning down pinch runner Jacob Young  at second to end the ballgame.

“They’re very aggressive, very athletic, very fast — that’s something they do well,” Wong said. “The pitchers did a good job this series of giving us opportunities to throw guys out, and you know we’ve got to make the throws.” 

Credit is due to the Sox’s coaching staff for being on top of Washington’s aggressive base-running tendencies and having the Boston battery alert all series — as well as to Wong for cleaning up his mechanics.

“Today it seemed like he threw through the bag, not at the bag,” Cora said of Wong. “He’s been working with (Jason Varitek) with his footwork, you know, long tossing, all that. Good day for him.”

Despite only improving to 21-19 with the win — and not that it really matters yet, but that leaves them three games out of the third AL wild card spot — the Sox are, more importantly, winning more series than they’re losing at 7-5-1 on the season. If that trend keeps up, they will be putting themselves in position to have a chance later in the year.

That series record will be put to the test as Tampa Bay comes to town for a four-game series in the first meeting between the two AL East rivals this season. It’s the first of seven games against the Rays in a 10-game stretch for Boston, which won just two of 13 meetings with Tampa one season ago. 

The games they did win, the Sox’s bats scored eight and seven runs respectively. It will be paramount for Boston’s bats to wake up in order to keep up with the always-stingy Rays (20-21), who are coming in on a skid after dropping two of three at home against the Yankees.

Overall, the Rays’ offense has been a shade below average on the season, tied for 18th with 167 runs scored (Boston ranks 15th with 172). Their .244 batting average comes in at 12th in the majors, while the Red Sox’s .243 mark is 14th. 

As well we know, Boston’s team 2.75 ERA is best in the majors, and that’s a significant advantage over Tampa Bay, which is coming in with the 23rd-best ERA in the sport at 4.43. 

Boston will have its best starter, Kutter Crawford, on the mound for Monday’s series opener. Nick Pivetta, who’s had some success against the Rays in the past, will start on Tuesday when Tanner Houck and Cooper Criswell round out the series rotation.

While both teams are coming in with similar records, we saw what recent success can do for a team when Baltimore came to town in the season-opening homestand and blew doors in a three-game sweep. 

I’m sure the Rays will be looking forward to returning to the friendly confines of Fenway. Will an Andrew Bailey-led reinvigorated rotation be able to make it an uncomfortable stay? And a  little more juice on the offensive side of the ball wouldn’t hurt, either…