Triston Casas had a notable day at the plate, hitting his first home run of the spring and playing a crucial role in a significant seventh-inning comeback as the Red Sox overtook the New York Yankees 9-4 on Wednesday afternoon.
Casas’ homer was a solo shot in the top of the fourth off Yankees starter Carlos Rodon, a 421-foot hit to deep right center field that equalized the score at 1-1. Then in the seventh, after Dalton Guthrie leveled the game at 4-4 with an RBI single, Casas obtained a walk on eight pitches to load the bases, setting the scene for Tyler McDonough’s go-ahead two-run double.
In total, the Red Sox scored five runs in the seventh, all of which were attributed to former Red Sox minor leaguer Oddanier Mosqueda. Enmanuel Valdez also hit a home run in the fifth, his second homer of the spring.
In his third start of the spring, Nick Pivetta struggled against a Yankees lineup mostly consisting of regular big league players. The right-hander allowed three runs over three innings, giving up four hits and a walk with three strikeouts while throwing 37 of his 62 pitches for strikes.
Pivetta allowed an RBI single to Anthony Rizzo in the bottom of the first, and then allowed two consecutive baserunners to start the fourth, after which he was substituted with no outs. Joely Rodriguez then allowed both of Pivetta’s inherited runners to score on an Anthony Volpe two-run double, and in the bottom of the fifth, Rodriguez also let through a solo home run by Gleyber Torres.
Two positives for the Red Sox pitching staff were Justin Hagenman and Greg Weissert, both recently obtained in trades and performing excellently so far this spring.
With his scoreless sixth inning on Wednesday, Hagenman — who was acquired in last summer’s Kiké Hernández deal — has now had six consecutive scoreless outings to start the spring, striking out seven and allowing only one walk and three hits over 5.2 innings. Weissert, one of the pitchers acquired in the Alex Verdugo trade, also had a scoreless inning and has now allowed only one run in his first 5.2 innings this spring.
Meanwhile, Verdugo went 0 for 3 in his first game against his former team. He is currently batting .190 with a .530 OPS in the spring.
