BOSTON — One after another, the home runs kept coming.
A Red Sox team that ranked near the bottom of the majors in home runs through the first five weeks of the season has since turned Fenway Park into a launching pad.
The Sox connected on a season-high five home runs against Orioles starter Bruce Zimmermann on Sunday afternoon as they rode the outburst to a 12-2 win.
They moved to 23-25 on the year, evened the series, 2-2, and will complete the series finale on Monday night.
The takeaways:
1. Power explosion
The last time the Red Sox hit five homers in a game was also against the Orioles in a 16-2 win last August.
This time, the Sox got power from all parts of their lineup.
Bobby Dalbec started things off with a two-run blast over the Green Monster in the second inning to give Nick Pivetta an early 2-0 lead. Dalbec hasn’t been playing a whole lot lately, but got the start against the left-handed Zimmermann on Sunday and didn’t disappoint. He also homered to push the Sox ahead in their 5-3 win in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader. He has three homers on the season.
Dalbec has lost much of the playing time at first base to Franchy Cordero, who started Sunday’s game in left field to give Alex Verdugo some rest. Two batters after Dalbec homered, Cordero demolished one to center field that traveled an estimated 448 feet, the longest home run hit by anyone on the Red Sox this season.
With most of the playing time at first base this year having gone to Dalbec and Cordero, the club entered Sunday ranked 29th in MLB with negative-0.7 WAR and 29th with a .554 OPS from the positon.
But Dalbec is starting to show signs of waking up, and his manager thinks it’s all a matter of timing. Meanwhile, Cordero has looked like the player the Sox hoped he’d be when they acquired him from the Royals as part of the Andrew Benintendi deal last year. Cordero added a two-run double later in the game and is now hitting .282 with 12 RBIs in 25 games for the Sox this year.
Rafael Devers, Christian Arroyo and Kiké Hernandez added home runs to keep the Sox rolling in this one.
2. Devers looking like an MVP
After collecting four hits in the first game on Saturday, Devers was on base twice Sunday and connected on his team-leading 11th home run of the season while his .345 average ranks sixth in MLB.
He’s leading the league with 70 hits, 19 doubles and 125 total bases.
Entering Sunday, Devers’ 2.8 WAR ranked third in the American League behind Mike Trout (3.1 WAR) and Jose Ramirez (2.9 WAR). If Devers rated as a better defensive player, he’d probably be on top. Regardless, he’s put himself in the conversation for MVP during the first two months of the season and continues to impress in his ability to hit to all parts of the field.
It’s too bad the Sox weren’t able to lock him up to a contract extension before the season; he’ll be a free agent after 2023 and if he stays healthy and productive, should command a $300-million contract.
3. Nick Pivetta still sharp
As the Red Sox have turned around their season over the last few weeks, one of the most noticeable changes has been with Pivetta, who started the year 0-4 with a 7.84 ERA through his first five starts and looked lost on the mound.
Pivetta and his coaches thought it was a mechanical issue and hoped that a few adjustments would save his season. They were correct.
The 29-year-old right-hander tossed six innings of one-run ball Sunday to advance to 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA over his last five starts.
He walked himself into some trouble in the third and fourth innings, but was able to work through it as he struck out five.
Over his last five starts, Pivetta is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA.
Tanner Houck relieved Pivetta in the seventh and threw two scoreless innings. It seemed like a waste of Houck’s services in a blowout game, but the Sox had a matching six-run lead entering the seventh inning on Friday and the bullpen blew that one. Houck has allowed just one run over his last four relief appearances spanning 12 innings.
