Jarren Duran homers, Alex Verdugo continues to hit, Kutter Crawford impresses in first spring start
The Red Sox continued their Grapefruit League play on Monday facing the Minnesota Twins. Kutter Crawford took the mound for his first start of the spring. He was impressive over two innings, throwing 13 pitches, yielding two hits while punching out two Twins batters.
"We're going to stretch him as a starter and then we'll see," said manager Alex Cora last Friday. The 26-year-old wants to be a starter but also expressed to NESN’s Tom Caron that he will do whatever the team asks of him this season.
Jarren Duran was equally impressive during this game, collecting two hits, one was a solo homer over the wall in left. Both of Duran’s hits went opposite field, which has been a trend for many of the Red Sox hitters in this game.
Alex Verdugo added two more hits, he has four hits this spring. Verdugo went 2-for-3 with a strikeout batting out of the number two hole.
Duran and Verdugo continued to look sharp before they report to Team Mexico for the World Baseball Classic.
Ceddanne Rafaela picked up an RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth inning. The top prospect came in to pinch hit for Duran. Rafaela smashed the first pitch he saw, a breaking ball from Twins pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson into left field.
Greg Allen would follow with a sacrifice fly that plated Enmanuel Valdez, giving the Red Sox a 3-1 lead.
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Catcher Caleb Hamilton was involved in a rare sac-fly play. Hamilton reached second base in the bottom of the eighth, following a wall-ball double. He would score on a Rafaela sac-fly to deep centerfield from second base.
The Red Sox used eight pitchers, who were all relatively effective outside of Joe Jacques who gave up two hits and a run, Taylor Broadway who walked two batters. Collectively, they struck out nine batters, including Brendan Cellucci who struck out the side in the top of the eighth.
Boston will continue their spring schedule on Tuesday night when they play the Marlins from Roger Dean Stadium. The Red Sox are 2-0-1 so far this spring.
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