Sunday was a tremendous day for the Boston Red Sox. After a rain delay turned into a postponement, April 7th turned into one of the better days for the ball club in a while. While the Texas Rangers series may have shown why Alex Cora’s side isn’t quite ready to take the next jump, winning the Baltimore Orioles series and sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals indicates that this team will be able to mount a legitimate playoff push.

Devers delivers

Undoubtedly, the hero in the early game was Rafael Devers. The DH homered earlier for the first time of the season. While looking to tie things up in the ninth, he fell behind 0-2 in the pitch count. As has been the case even during his slump, he didn’t chase, however. Instead, he hung around and ended up taking a ball four with loaded bases that brought in the tying run to force extra innings.

Wilyer Abreu continued to do what fans have come to expect of him and ended up hitting an RBI single to give Boston a 5-4 win in the 10th inning. The Red Sox found themselves in this position, though, in large part thanks to the man who had been under a lot of understandable scrutiny from baseball viewers. After being down two runs heading into the ninth, the offense did enough to not only force extras, but then get the win outright.

You Get a Hit, And You get A Hit

Roughly an hour later, the full dynamic of this team’s batting could be seen. In an 18-7 win, Boston saw 22 hits prove to be more than enough to ensure the second victory of the day. Abreu and Devers combined for six RBIs, as Alex Bregman had six on his own, including a two-run homer that quickly put the second game of the day out of hand.

On a night like this, a lot of credit could go around. The standout play of the entire day belonged to Abreu, however. His throw during the top of the third from right field to get Lars Nootbaar out was simply incredible. More importantly, it happened at a time when Boston was up 5-1. A runner in scoring position there could have easily switched the momentum of the game. Instead, St. Louis was on the wrong end—from their perspective—of an incredible play to force the second out.

TWO pitching stories BY emerging talents

Two Boston pitchers made their home debut for the organization at Fenway Park on Sunday. Massachusetts native Sean Newcomb nearly went five innings as he threw for five strikeouts and only gave up one run. Hunter Dobbins, meanwhile, made his first MLB start during the second game. The rookie went five innings, gave up two runs, and struck out five batters as well.

Both starters look in control and showed good arm talent. Cora will continue to trust them moving forward. For Dobbins in particular, he had the luxury of playing when the Red Sox were able to pour in the runs. In terms of a debut, it was about as good of an environment as anyone could have asked for.

A Trade with the Crew

The Brewers and Red Sox announced a trade that sent RHP Quinn Priester to Milwaukee, while the Brewers sent prospect Yophery Rodriguez, a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick in the 2025 draft and a player to be named later or cash considerations. Milwaukee then cleared a roster spot by designating LHP Grant Wolfram for assignment and subsequently dealing him to the Orioles.

With the above two pitchers brought up to the majors, it looks like Priester is not in the Sox’s immediate plans. Between the Pirates and Red Sox, he has 99 2/3 innings in the big leagues with a 6.23 ERA. His strikeout rate is well below average at 15.2%, while his 9% walk rate is closer to an average big leaguer. But, to give him credit, his 55.2% ground ball rate is very strong.

To make matters worse the Sox had to start 2025 with three of their projected starters on the IL: Brayan Bello, Lucas Gioloto, and Kutter Crawford, which just cements the obvious thinking of Priester within the Boston organization.

Rodriguez, on the other hand, was a noteworthy international signing out of the Dominic Republic who has played 165 professional games thus far between the Dominican Summer League, Single-A, and High-A, with a combined batting line of .254/.361/.408. after signing a $1.5M bonus. He was ranked as the Brewers’ #14 prospect by Baseball America.

Pointing The Finger

Earlier this week catcher Conner Wong broke his finger. That propels Carlos Narvaez into the everyday catching duties, with only 14 games of MLB experience under his belt. Blake Sabol was recently recalled to serve in the backup role, but he is only a once-a-week catcher at best; he is more of a utility player. They also have Seby Zavala with Triple-A Worcester, but he has a career line of .205/.271/.342 and has an even worse start to his current season stat line of .136/.136/.182 with the WooSox.

Because of all the above, the Red Sox decided to point the finger at free agent catcher Yasmani Grandal and give him a minor league contract. It is assumed he will need a few weeks to get up to major league speed, as he was not in Spring Training camp with any team.

102 at 37

On Wednesday night new 37 year old Aroldis Chapman set Boston Red Sox history. He did this by recording the fastest pitch ever thrown by a Red Sox in their long talented history. The record pitch that registered at 102 MPH covers both regular and Spring Training games. Not only did he throw the record breaker 102 MPH pitch, but he also threw multiple pitches over 100 MPH.

Michael Ballentine (editor at http://www.WeLikeSportzpc.com) and the writer of this article Gabrielle Esparza compare and rank the top 3 active pitchers with the most strikeouts in the podcast below. One of them is Boston’s own Aroldis Chapman.

Boston is starting to click, and they are proving to be a dangerous team. The pieces seem to work well together and Cora, still tinkering with the rotation, appears to have a lot of good depth as well. It’s still early in the season, but early returns suggest that the Red Sox will be a tough side for all of baseball to face in a crowded AL East at the top.

Photo Credit; Per Sources, USA Today, BoSox Injection, MassLive, The Boston Globe, Yahoo Sports

Stats and Info Credit; MLBTradeRumors.com

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