Alex Cora on Tuesday night kept watching the Red Sox hammer pitches right at the Kansas City Royals during the first few innings and the Boston skipper was confident that eventually some of them would find their way through.
The Red Sox’s Eduardo Nunez finally solved the problem by depositing a pitch over the fence.
His pinch-hit, three-run homer in the eighth inning broke open what had been a nip-and-tuck game, and the Red Sox went on to beat the Royals 8-3 to open a grueling stretch of 17 games in 16 days.
Photo: Jay Biggerstaff-USA Today
“We were swinging the bat well. I know we didn’t score early, but that was the hardest we’d hit the ball all season,” Cora said. “Eventually we got some results.”
Rafael Devers also drove in a pair of runs for the Red Sox, while Eduardo Rodriguez (6-3) kept the Royals at bay over 5-2/3 innings. He allowed just six hits while striking out seven, his only mistake a pitch in the second that Cheslor Cuthbert sent to left field for a two-run homer.
Glenn Sparkman matched Rodriguez most of the way, but he left a runner on base when he was lifted with one out in the sixth. Scott Barlow (1-2) promptly gave up the lead with a miserable relief outing, and Nunez’s homer off Jake Diekman in the eighth inning was merely the finishing touch.
The Red Sox improved to 9-1 in Rodriguez’s past 10 starts.
“I think the only pitch I missed was the one that he hit the homer,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody believes in this offense. We’ve just got to keep the game close when we’re out there.”
Meanwhile, the woebegone Royals lost for an American League-leading 20th time when they had the lead.
Even more frustrating for Kansas City: Sparkman was slicing up Boston’s lineup, allowing just two hits through five innings.
However, after Mookie Betts’ leadoff double in the sixth and Andrew Benintendi’s fly out, Sparkman was yanked by manager Ned Yost, despite having thrown just 80 pitches.
“I felt really good, but I hadn’t gone that high, so 85 was probably the limit,” Sparkman said.
Barlow entered the game and the spark went out of the Royals.
J.D. Martinez delivered an RBI triple, Devers drew a walk and Xander Bogaerts added a sacrifice fly to knot the game at 2-2. Brock Holt followed with a double to give the Red Sox their first lead.
“Cuthbert’s home run was good. We took a two-run lead going to the sixth there,” Yost said. “Sparkman’s high-water mark was 68 pitches, so we were going to take him to 80 or around there. He got right to the 80 mark. We decided to bring in one of our most productive relievers.”
It was still 3-2 in the eighth when Nunez connected for Boston’s second pinch-hit homer this season.
“It was a matter of having good at-bats and getting to the bullpen,” Cora said.
In other results, it was:
‧ Nationals 9, White Sox 5
‧ Giants 9, Mets 3, 10 innings
‧ Blue Jays 4, Yankees 3
‧ Tigers 9, Rays 6
‧ Indians 5, Twins 2
‧ Braves 12, Pirates 5
‧ Marlins 16, Brewers 0
‧ Cubs 6, Rockies 3
‧ Orioles 12, Rangers 11
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was