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It was a beautiful day today for the start of the Red Sox 2020 baseball season, and the Sox played almost flawless ball in defeating the Blue Jays by a score of 4-1. The weather was warm in Toronto and the sold out crowd was treated to a rare early spring game with the dome open. Interim manager Ron Roenicke proudly came out to home plate, eagerly shaking hands with the umpiring crew and embracing his Blue Jays counterpart Charlie Montoyo.
Given all the changes in the Red Sox, the starting lineup had lots of new faces, with Jose Peraza at second and the surprising Jonathan Lucroy not only making the roster but taking his place behind home plate for game 1.
Scheduled starter Eduardo Rodriguez almost had to be scratched because of an upper respiratory ailment, but his swift recovery allowed him to give the Sox five strong shutout innings before handing the game over to a batch of relievers, some more familiar to Sox fans than others.
The game started pretty quietly, as only one baserunner made it to second for either team through the first two innings. But at the top of the third, Lucroy led off by lining a shot into the gap for a stand-up double, followed by a walk to Andrew Benintendi. Twins starter Hyun-Jin Ryu walked Rafael Devers to load the bases before seemingly regaining his composure, getting a strikeout followed by an infield fly.
You couldn’t help Sox fans from wishing that Mookie Betts had been coming up next rather than Jackie Bradley. But JBJ had been surprisingly inserted into the cleanup spot after knocking the ball all over the place during the last week of spring training. And when the man is hot he is hot. JBJ came through with a line shot that hit just inches from the top of the right field wall, allowing all three Sox to score before he was out trying to stretch his hit into a triple.
The game was pretty well decided by then, with Rodriguez recording seven strikeouts and three hits in his five innings. Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Taylor, and Matt Barnes threw a shutout inning each before Brandon Workman came in to close it out. With two outs, Workman gave up a solo shot to old friend Travis Shaw to ruin the shutout, but when Bo Bichette took strike three for the final out, there were hugs all around as the Sox celebrated a positive beginning to what they hope will be a beautiful season.
You know, it really might have happened that way…
