Red Sox Notes: How Bullpen Answered Call In Tough Situations Vs. Mets

BOSTON — Hunter Dobbins would have loved to have given the Boston Red Sox more than just 4 2/3 innings on the mound Monday night against the New York Mets.

But the young righthander had full faith that the bullpen could handle the rest.

“Watching those guys work is a lot of fun,” Dobbins said. “I trust all those guys down there to come in and help me out.”

That was especially true in Boston’s 3-1 win over the Mets at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox bullpen used four different relievers as Justin Wilson, Greg Weissert, Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman covered the final 4 1/3 innings in successful and dominant fashion. The foursome combined to allow only three hits and no runs while striking out five to preserve Boston’s two-run lead.

The relievers weren’t met with easy assignments, either. Wilson took over for Dobbins in the fifth with runners at the corners and two outs with the lethal Francisco Lindor at the plate. The two engaged in a 10-pitch at-bat before Wilson ended the threat by striking out Lindor.

“He’s come up in a lot of situations like that,” Red Sox bench coach Ramón Vázquez said. “I was never a pitcher, but I bet it’s easy to go out there with a clean inning and start a whole inning and finish it. I think coming in situations like that is a tough situation and he came through. He battled one of the best in the game and came through for us.”

Wilson was far from the only Red Sox relief pitcher to face a high-leverage situation. Slaten actually faced the exact same scenario when he came on for Weissert in the seventh inning with runners again on the corners with two outs and Lindor again up.

It took just one pitch from Slaten to get Lindor to ground out before tossing a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Chapman then closed it down, getting a slick double play turned by David Hamilton and Trevor Story to end the game and secure his seventh save of the season.

“We picked each other up. That’s our goal every time out there,” Wilson said. “Greg was big for me and Slaten was big for Greg. A quick inning by (Chapman) at the end and Slaten was amazing tonight. I think anytime you go out there and the bullpen doesn’t surrender a run, especially with traffic on the bases, it’s great.”

Here are more notes from Monday’s Red Sox-Mets game:

— Hunter Dobbins, 25, didn’t look fazed going up against a talented Mets squad in just his sixth big-league start. Dobbins gave up one run on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts. He was pulled after 66 pitches as he was set to face the Mets lineup for a third time.

“He’s got that dog in him,” Jarren Duran said of Dobbins. “I could just tell, hanging out with him in the clubhouse, he’s really calm and collected. And on the mound, he looks like he wants to kill somebody. He’s trying to get after it, and that fires me up to play behind him, make a play for him.”

— Duran continues to be the tone-setter for the Red Sox offense. He doubled on the first pitch of the game from Kodai Senga and in the very next inning, laced an RBI triple into the right field corner. Duran had a hand in two of the three runs Boston scored and is batting .361 over his last nine games.

— Vázquez pushed all the right buttons as he filled in for manager Alex Cora, who missed the game to attend his daughter’s graduation from Boston College. Vázquez made a good decision not to allow Dobbins to face New York’s lineup for a third time and handled the bullpen well from there on. He even won a challenge in the first inning on a play in which Pete Alonso was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

“I don’t know if it’s the first win or not. I’m not sure. I think it is,” said Vázquez, who got a locker room celebration after the game. “It was a cold-beer shower in there. I’m still freezing.”

— The Red Sox and Mets will continue their series from Fenway Park on Tuesday. Walker Buehler is expected to come off the injured list (shoulder bursitis) and get the start. He last pitched April 26 and the Mets will counter with Clay Holmes. You can catch complete coverage of the game on NESN.