Role reversal: Sox dominate O's at the plate

A week after nothing seemed right for the Red Sox, who stumbled to a season-opening, three-game sweep at the hands of the Orioles, everything is suddenly well in their world.

And it isn’t all about J.D. Martinez, who continued his ridiculous surge to start the season by mauling three more homers to lead the Red Sox to a 14-9 victory over the Orioles on Sunday.

That makes two straight sweeps for the Sox en route to a six-game winning streak -- which is double their longest streak from their non-contending 2020 season.

In sole possession of first place in the American League East, a distinction they hadn’t held at any point since 2018, Boston is showing some encouraging signs across the board coming out of the gate.

Here are three non Martinez-related takeaways from the three-game sweep in Baltimore.

Devers dialed in
Remember when the slow start by Rafael Devers was an early-season narrative? Through the first two series of the season, the lefty masher was 2-for-19 without an extra-base hit. He had also made a couple of shaky defensive plays that helped lead to losses in the first series against the Orioles.

Everything changed this weekend at Camden Yards, where Devers launched four homers over three games, capped by two prodigious blasts on Sunday. The first was a a three-run missile (108.8-mph exit velocity, projected distance of 424 feet). The second one soared out of the yard at 110.8 mph and traveled a projected 439 feet.

“I feel good, obviously,” said Devers. “A couple changes here and there, but like I always tell you guys, I still maintain the same approach I do every single game. Now things are falling in my favor. It feels good to contribute as much as I am right now.”

Devers also made two tremendous defensive plays in the series, including Sunday’s snare of a line drive, which he fired across the diamond to double off DJ Stewart.

“Defensively, he's putting in his work,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “He's doing it. He's staying with the program, same principles we worked in Spring Training, we're doing it on the road, we're doingit at home, and that's going to help him. He's in a great place right now.”

Pivetta gets dirty, equals Wakefield
Nick Pivetta’s performance was much better than his final stat line (6 innings, 4 ER). The righty was in complete command with a 10-1 lead before he served up an inconsequential three-run homer to Trey Mancini in the sixth.

In his four starts for the Red Sox, dating back to last September, Pivetta is 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA. The last player to win his first four starts in a Red Sox uniform was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who did it in 1995.

While Pivetta’s pitching was impressive on Sunday, his grit was just as noteworthy. On what was nearly a passed ball for Christian Vázquez, the ball didn’t bounce as far off the catcher’s glove as baserunner Freddy Galvis anticipated. Meanwhile, Pivetta literally threw his body in front of Galvis and made the tag-out at the plate on a bang-bang play.

“It was my mistake to begin with,” said Pivetta. “I actually crossed up [Vázquez] and we got lucky, he was able to make a great play. I saw the ball was close. When I heard the runner was coming from third, I just tried to get my body in front of the plate and beat him there and get my legs in front so I could block the plate as best I could. I believe the rule is if the ball takes you to the plate, you can block it, so I just wanted to make sure I got there and put myself in good position.”

1-2 punch
The top-of-the-order duo of Kiké Hernández and Alex Verdugo is starting to provide a significant spark, setting up the red-hot Martinez with many RBI opportunities.

Hernández and Verdugo combined for four runs, four hits and four RBIs on Sunday. Verdugo was a tone-setter, hitting a three-run shot to left-center that snapped a scoreless tie in the third. Martinez immediately followed with the first of his three homers. Hernández was in the middle of that rally, belting a single to left to set up the Verdugo homer.

Formerly teammates with the Dodgers, both have more prominent roles in Boston.

“I think it’s like a perfect thing,” said Verdugo. “You have Kiké who can lead off the game, and he can go after the first pitch and potentially hit it out. Or you can have it where he’s battling a 3-2 count and spoils a pitch, or gets a walk, or gets a base hit.

"If he swings and gets the first pitch out or whatever, I can go up there and have an [extended] at-bat. I can see pitches. And also vice versa. He goes up there and has a 3-2, long at-bat, I can go up there and potentially jump on the first pitch that I see because maybe the pitcher wants to get ahead and throw one right there.”