ARLINGTON, Texas — With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Boston Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta hung a sweeper that Texas Rangers designated hitter Josh Jung crushed to left field for a solo homer.
In the next at-bat, left fielder Ezequiel Duran smoked a 103 mph grounder to third that Rafael Devers couldn’t handle cleanly, leading to an error. Pivetta, who doesn’t hide his emotions well, was clearly frustrated, as the Rangers led 2-0 and were threatening for more. His velocity sat in the low 90s and he didn’t have his best stuff.
Noticing his pitcher was rattled, manager Alex Cora made an unorthodox move early in the game and ran out onto the field. He met Pivetta and catcher Connor Wong on the mound and did all the talking for roughly 20 seconds, but it was clear he had a message. Pivetta didn’t say a word, just nodded. Cora went back to the dugout.
Pivetta got two quick outs to end the inning and retired 10 of his final 11 batters. The lone baserunner after the mound meeting — a two-out walk in the third.
Nick Pivetta, Filthy 82mph Sweeper. 😷 pic.twitter.com/mo1kmw5QKK
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 4, 2024
It was a small moment in the midst of a 7-2 win for the Red Sox, one in which outfielder Wilyer Abreu crushed two home runs the day after his grandmother passed away. But if not for Cora’s timely mound meeting in the second, the chance to secure the win later on might not have arrived. It highlighted the urgency with which the Red Sox are playing and Cora’s feel for his players.
“Sometimes you got to remind these guys that they’re good,” Cora said of his message to Pivetta. “He gives up a homer and you saw stuff today, it was like 90-91 mph. But at the end of the day, he’s one of our biggest competitors, and regardless of the stuff, he’s still good enough, and then it was a reminder of like, ‘Hey, bro I know you probably don’t feel great right now, but you know how to compete and we need you here. … Just keep grinding.’ He gave us enough today.”
Now through 110 games, the Red Sox are in the home stretch of the season. The final 52 games will be a grind. The win Sunday helped them keep pace with the Kansas City Royals, who they visit this week for a crucial three-game series. The Royals won in walk-off fashion on Sunday and the Red Sox trail them by 2 1/2 games for the third wild-card spot.
“It feels like every game now, means something more than a month ago,” Cora said before the game. “Every pitch counts, and the boys are doing an outstanding job staying in the moment, playing hard, grinding.”
The final score looked like a lopsided win, but the Red Sox were down early and had to fight back against Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi. Cora, knowing the former Red Sox pitcher well, told the WEEI radio pre-game show that he texted Eovaldi the Red Sox lineup around midnight on Sunday morning, knowing the ever-competitive Eovaldi would stay awake stewing over his plan of attack.
In the early innings, Eovaldi looked locked in, but the Red Sox batters were able to drive his pitch count up and Eovaldi managed just five innings. Entering the day, he’d pitched five or fewer innings in just two other starts this season.
In the top of the third, directly after Pivetta’s meeting with Cora, the Red Sox got one run back. David Hamilton singled with one out and Jarren Duran followed with a double. The speedy Hamilton had a good read on Duran’s hit and scored all the way from first to cut the Rangers’ lead to 2-1.
“Today against Nate, one of the things that I always talk to them about is like he throws strikes, but you have to be stubborn in the strike zone,” Cora said. “We were very stubborn, get him in the middle of the zone. And we did. We got the pitch count up the first two innings. We didn’t score, but that was a W for us. And we kept putting pressure on him.”
The next inning, Abreu crushed a two-out solo homer to tie the game. After Abreu got back to the dugout, NESN cameras showed him getting emotional in the dugout and hugging teammates. After the game, Cora revealed Abreu found out late Saturday that his grandmother had passed away back home in Venezuela.
“Obviously was a difficult situation,” Abreu said through an interpreter. “I was playing for her, I dedicated this game for her and I was playing with my heart in my hands, so for me to be able to go out there and perform, it was very special.”
Duran, who had his torso wrapped pre-game after experiencing tightness in his side Saturday, gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead in the fifth with a solo homer. Then Abreu came to the plate again in the sixth after the first two batters reached off Eovaldi. The Rangers turned to the bullpen for a lefty but Cora opted to stick with Abreu, a lefty hitter, rather than pinch hit for him.
Abreu turned on a 3-1 slider, slamming the ball into the seats for the 6-2 lead.
Wilyer Abreu smashes his 2nd homer of the day!
He leads all qualified rookies in OPS 👀 pic.twitter.com/iTwZuxvwLo
— MLB (@MLB) August 4, 2024
“He got the news last night,” Cora said of Abreu’s grandmother. “He didn’t say much today about it. We didn’t know until he broke down after the homer. God is good. That’s the way I put it. Sometimes you make decisions in the game by the metrics. But I’ll tell you right now, I let him hit because I was, like, ‘Something good is going to happen here against a lefty.’ That’s life.”
Hamilton later padded the lead with a solo homer in the eighth to make it 7-2.
With Pivetta giving as much as he could earlier in the game, Cora turned to the bullpen early, handing the ball to Cam Booser with two outs in the fifth. Pivetta finished with two runs allowed on two hits and a walk, striking out five over 4 2/3 innings. The bullpen has been beaten up since the All-Star break but on Sunday weaved together 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
“It’s getting to a time that we start talking about getting to the bullpen in the fifth, be more aggressive, understanding how big every games is,” Cora had said before the game.
Cora also revealed before the game that rehabbing reliever Chris Martin bounced back well from a 35-pitch bullpen on Saturday and might not need a rehab outing in Triple-A Worcester. He could be activated to join the Red Sox bullpen on Wednesday in Kansas City. The team will make that decision on Monday.
Either way, Martin is nearing a return and will further strengthen the bullpen for what figures to be an important week for the Red Sox.
(Photo of Abreu looking skyward after the first of his two home runs: Kevin Jairaj / USA Today)
