G26: Red Sox 7, Orioles 1

Red Sox - 021 000 004 - 7 12  0
Orioles - 000 000 100 - 1  5  0

Nathan Eovaldi (7-5-1-1-6, 97) threw seven strong innings and Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland both homered to lead the offense.

Bogaerts (3-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI) hit a solo dong in the third. He also knocked in a run in the ninth, right before Moreland (2-for-4, 3 RBI) hit his seventh homer of the year, a three-run job. Rafael Devers and Christian Vázquez also had two hits each.

Vázquez led off the second inning with a hit and Kevin Pillar walked. José Peraza singled in vaz for one run and Pillar scored on Alex Verdugo's groundout.

Baltimore scored one run in the seventh, on a leadoff solo home run, but Eovaldi retired the next three batters. Ryan Brasier pitched a perfect eighth, striking out two.

The Red Sox put the game on ice in the ninth. Verdugo walked and Devers singled. Miguel Castro came in from the pen. J.D. Martinez grounded into a fielder's choice, with Devers out at second (the call was upheld after the Red Sox challenged). Bogaerts singled to left, making it 4-1 before Moreland left the yard.

Phillips Valdez sandwiched two strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth, both looking, around a fly to left.

The back-to-back victories ties the Red Sox's longest winning streak of the season. ... The pitching staff has allowed only eight hits over the last two games.

Nathan Eovaldi / Asher Wojciechowski

Verdugo, LF
Devers, 3B
Martinez, DH
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Vázquez, C
Pillar, RF
Bradley, CF
Peraza, 2B

Eovaldi

          G   IP    H  RA  BB   K    ERA    AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS   H/9  BB/9
July      2  11.0  13   3   2   8   2.45   .310  .356  .452  .808  10.6   1.6
August    3  16.1  21  15   3  19   8.27   .304  .342  .652  .995  11.6   1.7

Eovaldi's opponents' average, on-base, hits/9, and walks/9 are nearly identical, but his ERA more than tripled in August.

The difference is extra-base hits. Eovaldi gave up four in July: three doubles and one solo home run.

In August, he has allowed 12: five doubles, two triples, and five dongs (two solo, two 2-run, one 3-run).

The Red Sox reinstated Darwinzon Hernandez from the COVID IL.

The Orioles are 12-12, but have lost five of their last six games. They won two of three against the Red Sox at Fenway on July 24-26.

The Red Sox have lost nine of their last ten. Since July 31, they are 4-14. ... They allowed a season-low three hits yesterday, but in the nine games before that (all losses, as you may recall), they gave up an average of 12.8 hits per game.

Try not to get bogged down in the flurry of advanced stats in this highly analytical take from the CHB:

Why does Nate Eovaldi get so much love from Red Sox Nation? ... [F]olks around here talk about him like he's Don Drysdale when he's been more like John Wasdin ... Eovaldi is 47-56 lifetime. He is 6-6 over three seasons since he came to the Red Sox. In the sugar-high days after the 2018 World Series, the Sox gave Eovaldi a four-year, $68 million contract. Since then, he is 3-3 with a 6.32 ERA.

Actually, Eovaldi's ERA in 2019-20 is 5.97, not 6.32. Maybe just stick with W-L, okay, Dan, since anything more than simple addition seems too complicated for you. (Admission: I neither multiplied nor divided to get the correct numbers. I just mouse-clicked a few times.)