Rob Refsnyder hits 2-run homer as Red Sox sweep Tigers, 6-2
BOSTON Rob Refsnyder, who has played for five different teams in seven seasons, has discovered how fragile opportunities are in the major leagues.
The 31-year-old already thinks that Boston, where he is currently on his sixth trip, is the place he has been waiting for.
The Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-2 on Wednesday night to complete their third series sweep of the year. Refsnyder contributed with a two-run home run in the third inning.
Refsnyder has 11 hits in 27 at-bats in just 10 games, driving in 5 runs.
He admitted, “So many aspects of my early career I wasn’t excited or happy with how I was playing.” “The Red Sox, in my opinion, really believe that if you reach the major leagues, you can still improve. Even at the age of 31, they have been an enormous assistance to me. fortunate to have that.”
As Boston won for the eighth time in 10 games, Jarren Duran and Alex Verdugo each added a two-run double. The Red Sox increased their lead to a season-high eight games above.500 thanks to six innings of pitching from Michael Wacha (6-1), who gave up two runs, five hits, and seven strikeouts.
Wacha, who has limited opponents to a.125 batting average with runners in scoring position, was praised by manager Alex Cora for “giving us what we needed.”
For the Tigers, who have dropped nine of 11, Javier Báez smacked a two-run home drive.
Tarik Skubal (5-5) pitched for 4 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on six hits while walking three times and striking out five. In his last three starts, he has failed.
“You want to keep the victory. Despite taking an early lead today, we were unable to win the match “A.J. Hinch, the Tigers’ manager, remarked.
Báez gave the Tigers the lead in the first inning by hitting his sixth home run of the year off Wacha’s first-pitch fastball into the seats above the Green Monster. One night after he came up just short of the cycle, it brought his hitting streak to seven games.
After only hitting one home run in his previous 45 games, Báez has hit three in his last five games.
The advantage persisted until the third inning, when Duran knotted the score with a line shot into the left-field corner that brought home Bobby Dalbec and Christian Vázquez.
The next batter was Refsnyder, who overcame a 0-2 count to lift a fly ball to left-center that ricocheted off the Monster. After a brief review by the umpires, the decision was changed from double to home run.
Since joining Boston as a free agent in December, Refsnyder’s first home run for the team came on the drive.
Detroit faced a jam in the sixth inning with runners at the corners and no outs, but Wacha got out of it by striking out Harold Castro and Robbie Grossman before Spencer Torkelson flied out to centre.
The Red Sox’s ability to combine timely hitting with proficient baserunning and strong defence, according to Cora, is encouraging.
It’s important to have the versatility to apply pressure in places other than the batter’s box.
Along with having several family members in attendance, the 25-year-old also got a pregame congratulatory tweet from Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who met his namesake a few years ago.
“Congratulations and good luck… unless you are playing the Yankees,” he wrote in the message.
ROOM FOR TRAINERS
Red Sox: According to Cora, Duran won’t accompany the team to Toronto for its three-game series the following week because he is unvaccinated against COVID-19 and is therefore not allowed to enter the country under Canadian law.
WHAT AN EVENING
Even though Jeter Downs, a rookie for the Red Sox, didn’t exactly have the major league debut he had hoped for at the plate (0 for 4), the evening was nevertheless memorable.
“The most awesome thing I’ve ever done in my life was that. It still seems unbelievable to me. The conclusion of the game still defies belief. It felt so quick “said Downs. “Oh well, that didn’t work out the way I had hoped. The group triumphed.”