Watching with Ortiz is catcher Dioner Navarro.
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Ortiz entered this season with 14 consecutive years of at least 20 home runs while he has hit 30 in a total of nine seasons.
“His retention is great, ” marveled Farrell.
On Wednesday, Ortiz blasted the go-ahead homer in a 5-2 victory over the White Sox as part of a 2-for-5 night that raised his average to.
Boston took the lead in the fifth when David Ortiz hit a no-doubt two-run homer of his own, which he’ll do.
“Every time they mention your name next to someone who’s legendary, it’s humbling”, Ortiz said.
RHP Clay Buchholz (0-3) will seek his first win of 2016 when he makes his sixth start of the season Wednesday against the White Sox. Clay Buchholz (1-3) was sharp over seven innings in Boston’s fourth win in five games. “Just going through a tough stretch right now”.
“I grew up there”, he said. “I think that really shows the determination of this team”.
The 40-year-old designated hitter has already announced this season will be his last, but at this rate, the Red Sox may refuse to accept his retirement.
Juan Nicasio (3-3) had won his first three home starts after being signed as a free agent, allowed four runs – one earned – eight hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.
Xander Bogaerts had three hits, including an RBI single off Rodon in the second.
That was enough in Buchholz’s best outing of the season.
“We had our chances but we didn’t capitalize on them, ” Harrison said. Arrieta (6-0) struck out five and walked two while lowering his ERA to 0.84.
Abreu pulled a fastball on the inside corner for a 402-foot homer, his fourth, to left field with a man on base in the first. He is batting. 464 (13 for 28) during a seven-game hit streak.
Buchholz has thrown in the strike zone on 48 percent of pitches in five starts this season, down 10 percentage points from his final five starts in 2015, which led the majors during that stretch. The Pirates have lost four straight following a six-game winning streak.
Red Sox: 1B Hanley Ramirez was a late scratch because of flu-like symptoms….
“I served up a cookie to him and he hit it pretty deep”, Rodon said. Even looking at Sale or Quintana, they’re still doing things and you learn something every time you’re out there.
Besides the Ramirez homer, the Red Sox managed only three singles off of Quintana. Farrell said he is more comfortable using right-handed reliever Carson Smith on back-to-back days than having Smith work multiple innings.
With Eduardo Rodriguez in the midst of a minor-league rehab stint in Triple-A Pawtucket and Joe Kelly beginning his rehab with the PawSox on Friday, Buchholz’s spot in the rotation has come into question.
The White Sox opened the scoring in the first inning on Abreu’s RBI triple off the wall in right-center field. The Red Sox began the night having won three straight and seven of eight. The Red Sox would give him another run in the top of the 7th when Ortiz hit an RBI single to score Betts.
Rodon (1-4) said he was supposed to throw a fastball away on the pitch to Ortiz, but instead he was taught a valuable lesson.
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Rodon wrote Danks’ old jersey No. 50 in the dirt on the back of the pitcher’s mound.
