BOSTON – Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora and third baseman Rafael Devers offered high praise for one of their opponents on Saturday afternoon.
Yordan Alvarez powered the Houston Astros with two home runs at Fenway Park, helping his team top the Red Sox 5-4.
Alvarez’s first-inning solo homer and sixth-inning two-run shot proved the difference in a closely contested game where the Red Sox had the tying run on second base in the ninth inning.
After the game, Alvarez’s feats didn’t go unnoticed by the Red Sox.
“He just controls the strike zone, hits for average, he’ll take his walks,” Cora said. “For me, he’s up there with (Aaron) Judge, to be honest. Being a lefty, he hits lefties. Seems like he likes hitting here (at Fenway). The wall keeps him close and he can shoot the other way. He’s the closest thing to David, probably, in the game. Very, very, very similar to David Ortiz.”
Alvarez, who’s batting .304 with a .942 OPS and 24 home runs, has long given the Red Sox trouble and unfortunately for them, they’ll be facing him four more times within the next 10 days.
Rafael Devers, amid his own strong season with a .300 average, a .974 OPS and 25 homers, called Alvarez the best hitter in the game. Alvarez went 2-for-4 with a walk on Saturday.
“As a position player, you see him and it looks very uncomfortable to pitch him,” Devers said through a team interpreter. ”I don’t know how the pitcher does it, but I feel like he’s very good.”
With the Red Sox skipping Nick Pivetta in the rotation to give him extra rest and Cooper Criswell on the COVID-19 injured list, Josh Winckowski had the spot start. Winckowski pitched 2 2/3 innings on Wednesday and Cora planned for him to throw the first two or three innings on Saturday. Alvarez crushed a two-out solo homer in the first to put the Astros up early. Winckowski allowed a single but then retired the next nine straight batters — Alvarez’s homer on a well-located 1-0 changeup was the only blemish on his line.
YORGONE!
Yordan Alvarez gets the Astros on the board in the 1st 💪
📺: FS1 pic.twitter.com/nYFgoZERlB
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 10, 2024
“I think he just covers so many areas of the plate,” Winckowski said. “There’s a lot of really good hitters that do have a hole here and there, that if you get to it, you can do well. But I think he just covers so much of the plate. I remember last year here at Fenway I threw him a ball that was in the middle of his shins height-wise and he scooped it the other way. So he just covers so much of the plate and not really many places you can attack him.”
Catcher Danny Jansen tied the game up 1-1 with a solo homer in the fifth, but Alvarez struck again in the sixth with a two-run shot off Brad Keller, who’d entered the game following Winckowski.
The Red Sox called up Keller when Criswell went on the IL and had last pitched in the majors on June 23. On Saturday, Keller threw four innings, allowing the home run to Alvraez and a solo homer to Alex Bregman, but largely navigated a tough Astros lineup to keep the Red Sox in the game. He exited in the seventh with Houston up 4-1.
The Red Sox’s offense, however, was held in check for the second straight day against Houston, this time with right-hander Spencer Arrighetti on the mound. Jansen’s solo homer in the fifth was the first hit of the game for the Red Sox and Masataka Yoshida gave the Red Sox a second hit with another solo homer in the seventh, bringing Boston within 4-2.
109 MPH off the bat of Masataka Yoshida for a HR! pic.twitter.com/s1C9XOShwh
— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2024
A key insurance run in the eighth on a solo homer off reliever Zack Kelly set the Red Sox back further, though. Wilyer Abreu managed a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the eighth to pull the Red Sox within 5-4 and Devers led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, but the Red Sox stranded him on second to end the game.
“We feel very good about our offense,” Devers said. “We are one of the best offenses in the big leagues. There’s days like today that you have to tip your cap to the pitcher. But besides that, we’re in a good spot.”
It’s not time to panic, but the Sox also know they can’t tread water in the standings for too much longer.
Cora was encouraged, however, by a few injury updates earlier on Saturday. Pivetta has a bullpen on Sunday and is expected to start on either Wednesday or Thursday. Reliever Liam Hendriks threw a 20-pitch live batting practice on Saturday and was happy with the results. He’s planning for a third live BP on Tuesday or Wednesday with the intent of then starting a rehab assignment shortly thereafter. Cora said he did not expect rehabbing first baseman Triston Casas to join the team before the homestand is up on Wednesday, but Casas’ rehab clock runs out next weekend, so it seems like at the latest, barring setbacks, he’ll join the team some time in Baltimore.
The Red Sox are in a stretch of 27 games in 27 days with 11 of their next 14 games against teams that currently hold a postseason spot.
“We can’t get frustrated for two games,” Devers said. “We gotta come back tomorrow and try to win that game tomorrow and just turn the page.”
(Photo: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
