Red Sox Notes: Alex Verdugo Has First Big Moment(s) With Red Sox In Win Vs. Blue Jays

Friday was Alex Verdugo’s moment. Or, moments.

It was the evening that everyone, collectively, said, “Ah. That’s why they wanted him.”

And maybe no one put it better than Sox manager Ron Roenicke.

“He gets you pretty excited, doesn’t he?”

Indeed.

The energetic right fielder, who was the centerpiece going back to the Boston in the Mookie Betts trade, had shown promising flashes over his first two weeks with the Red Sox. But it was in Friday’s 5-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays that things really went wild for him.

Verdugo launched a pair of homers into the Monster seats in the win, and just a half inning after hitting his second blast, Verdugo robbed ex-Sox infielder Travis Shaw of a home run, which would’ve cut Boston’s ninth-inning lead to one. His scream in jubilation from having made the catch was audible on the NESN broadcast.

“Great game for Dugie,” Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland said after the game. “He’s definitely one of those guys who wears his emotions on his sleeve, so him bouncing all over the place and obviously robbing that home run there at the end was awesome.”

We always knew the talent was there from his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now we’ve seen it in a Red Sox uniform.

“It was amazing just to go out there and contribute, have a good swing and to also rob one is huge. …” Verdugo said. “Taking a home run back, that’s one of the most exciting plays in baseball. And after just hitting one, man I was on cloud nine. I was letting it out.”

It was the second straight game with a homer for Verdugo, who also blasted one into right in the Red Sox’s win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. He’d been topping a lot of balls to begin the season, but now it appears he’s ironed out some of those issues and driving balls the way many envisioned he would.

Here are some other notes from Friday’s Red Sox-Blue Jays game.

— Moreland hit another homer Friday, his fourth of the season, which is good for a share of the team lead with Christian Vazquez.

Although Moreland has been platooning with Michael Chavis at first this season, the lack of consistency in playing time hasn’t knocked him out of a groove.

“I’m just trying to go up there, get a good pitch and put a good swing on it,” Moreland said after indicating he didn’t know what specifically it was that was setting him up for so much success at the plate. “Right now I’m happy with those results. Just trying to keep it simple, stay within my game plan and, like I said, put a good swing on a good pitch.”

— Andrew Benintendi had another rough night at the plate, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. That drives his batting average down to .061, which, obviously is not ideal for anyone — no less a leadoff hitter.

Pretty much daily, Roenicke has been asked if he is considering moving Benintendi out of that spot. He’s yet to rule it out, but even after Friday’s game he wouldn’t confirm if Benintendi hitting elsewhere was the plan beginning Saturday.

“I think about this every day. I know you guys ask me, but I think about this all the time, about what we should do, what we can jumpstart this offseason with and what’s the best way to try it,” Roenicke said. :And so these things are on my mind all the time, they’re on (hitting coach) Tim Hyers’ mind, I ask him about things. We want to wait until the right time, and when it is — and you’ll see if the lineup is that way (Saturday) then you’ll know that I think it’s the right time.

— The bullpen saw plenty of action, with six different relievers being used over as many innings.

It was in large part an aggressive move on Roenicke’s part to preserve a lead. Sox starter Ryan Weber had, per usual, been a little up and down through three innings, and when he allowed a single to begin the fourth, Roenicke was not taking any chances with Boston up 4-2 at the time.

It was a shrewd move in the moment and in retrospect, and something we might continue to see if the Red Sox are ahead with a starter on the mound not known for going deep into games.

“With Nate (Eovaldi) because of his history we know he can still go deep in games and still throw the ball well, and we know Martin (Perez) can as well,” Roenicke said. “I think it’s important that when we’re trying to win games and we’ve got a lead or we’re close that — we have a lot of confidence in our bullpen. I know we’re still having some innings that are a little tight I should say, but we still know when we go there that we’ve got good guys coming in that we feel like they’re going to throw up zeroes and we’re going to be able to hold on and win games.”

Because of the number of relievers used, Roenicke indicated the team might consider making a roster move ahead of Saturday’s game against Toronto to being in some fresh arms.

Thumbnail photo via Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports Images