Finally, something the Red Sox can feel good about
As far as John Farrell could tell, this was as close as the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, vomiting, keeping-them-from-playing-baseball Red Sox had been to full strength since the start of the season.
The first week of the season felt like it was directed by Steven Soderbergh, less about baseball and more a medical thriller with a virus that wiped out a solid chunk of the Sox’ roster, forced the team to disinfect its clubhouse, and even left teams following their trail worried about catching whatever was left in their wake.
Before the Twins arrived in Detroit, they asked the Tigers to fumigate the visitors’ clubhouse after the Sox left on Monday.
But being able to write some of the team’s most important names on the lineup card Tuesday night gave Farrell some relief. Hanley Ramirez was back in the lineup after the stomach ailment knocked him out of four games. Xander Bogaerts was back at shortstop after traveling to Aruba following the death of his grandmother. And for the first time since March, lefthander Drew Pomeranz took the mound against big-league hitters.
Inching closer to having a healthy squad, the Sox scored an 8-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles in their return to Fenway. Pomeranz gave the Sox six-plus strong innings, allowing just one run on four hits with six strikeouts (his most since last August).
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