Boston Red Sox 10, Miami Palms 6
The first half ended the same way much of it has unfolded for the Miami Palms:
Some encouraging offense.
Some resilience.
And just enough pitching trouble to undo it all.
Boston pounded out 18 hits Sunday afternoon at Coca-Cola Palms Park, surviving a spirited Miami comeback attempt to take the series finale 10–6 and send the Palms into the All-Star break at 49–48.
🌊 Boston’s waves never stopped
The Red Sox lineup never really gave Miami a chance to breathe.
Rafael Devers led the charge with two home runs and four hits, Xander Bogaerts piled up four hits of his own, and Boston kept traffic moving inning after inning.
Even when the Palms seemed poised to settle the game down, another rally arrived.
Manny Parra battled through four innings, but the decisive stretch came in the fifth. Boston broke the game open against Brian Matusz, scoring five runs in a chaotic inning that turned a manageable deficit into a mountain.
“Just too many mistakes over the plate,” manager Scott Hatteberg said. “Against that lineup, they don’t miss many.”
💥 Miami fights back
To their credit, the Palms didn’t fold.
Pat Grant launched a three-run homer during a four-run sixth inning that suddenly brought life back into the ballpark. Brock Holt and Francis Polk chipped in RBI hits, and Frank Sohn continued his quietly excellent first half with three more hits and a pair of doubles.
For a brief moment, trailing 9–6, the game felt within reach.
Boston’s bullpen shut that window quickly.
After Miami’s sixth-inning rally, the Palms managed just one hit the rest of the afternoon.
🧢 Uniform watch
Miami closed the first half in their teal home alternate uniforms, a fitting look for a loud, humid Sunday game that had a little bit of everything—except enough shutdown pitching.
📊 First-half checkpoint: 49–48
And so the Palms arrive at the break one game over neither .500 nor disaster.
They sit:
- Tied for second place in the AL East
- 11 games behind New York
- 9 games back in the Wild Card race
The first half has been uneven, unpredictable, occasionally frustrating—and undeniably entertaining.
The offense has often looked playoff-caliber.
The pitching has often looked survival-based.
Yet somehow, Miami remains hanging around.
🔍 The first-half storylines
Encarnacion’s thunder
Still the centerpiece bat.
Gardner’s leadership
The tone-setter every night.
The emergence of Jaspero Gonzalez and Ian Pfaff
Unexpected youth injections into the lineup.
Jarod Lantz stabilizing the rotation
Arguably the club’s biggest pitching development.
The bullpen surviving heavy usage
Especially Chris Martin, Cody Allen, and Jeremy Jeffress.
The rotation uncertainty
Still the defining question entering the second half.
🎆 What comes next?
The break arrives at the perfect time.
Some players need rest.
Some need reset buttons.
And the front office needs answers.
Because the Palms are close enough to dream—but flawed enough that standing still may not be an option.
“We’ve shown what we can be,” Hatteberg said afterward. “Now it’s about whether we can sustain it.”
The second half will answer that question.
Boston Red Sox 10, Miami Palms 6
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Boston Red Sox (8-5) Miami Palms (49-48)
Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave
------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- --- ------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- ---
Downs 2b 5 0 2 0 1 0 3 2 0 2 .222 Gardner cf 5 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 .315
Martinez dh 6 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 .316 Gonzalez 1b 5 1 1 0 0 0 7 1 0 0 .287
Devers 3b 6 2 4 3 0 1 1 2 0 1 .296 Grant lf 5 1 3 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 .286
Bogaerts ss 5 1 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 .389 Korb 3b 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 2 .279
Benintendi lf 6 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 4 .269 Sohn rf 5 1 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 .282
Verdugo rf 6 1 1 1 0 2 2 0 0 2 .333 Koch ss 4 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 .255
Bradley Jr. cf 3 2 2 1 2 0 6 0 0 0 .333 Holt 2b 4 1 2 1 0 2 3 1 0 0 .268
Vazquez c 5 2 2 1 0 1 7 0 0 0 .222 Castillo c 3 0 0 0 1 1 7 0 0 2 .197
Moreland 1b 1 1 1 2 3 0 6 0 0 0 .366 Polk dh 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .200
-- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- --- -- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
Totals 43 10 18 10 7 7 27 6 0 14 Totals 39 6 12 6 3 7 27 6 0 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Boston Red Sox 1 2 0 1 5 0 1 0 0 10 18 0
Miami Palms 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 6 12 0
LOB- Boston Red Sox 14, Miami Palms 9; 2B- Downs(1), Sohn 2(25); 3B- Bogaerts(1);
HR- Devers 2(4), Bradley Jr.(5), Moreland(3), Grant(14); RBI- Bogaerts(11), Martinez(3),
Devers 3(10), Vazquez(10), Bradley Jr.(11), Moreland 2(9), Verdugo(10), Holt(29),
Sohn(33), Grant 3(52), Polk(1); SF- Moreland(1); GIDP- Benintendi(1); RLSP- Bogaerts 2,
Martinez, Devers, Benintendi 2, Verdugo 2, Downs, Koch 3, Castillo;
DP- Miami Palms 1;
Boston Red Sox IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Rodriguez(W 2-0) 5.0 8 2 2 1 4 2.14
Barnes 1.0 3 4 4 1 1 14.63
Perez 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 4.42
Workman 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0.00
Miami Palms IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Parra(L 8-9) 4.0 8 4 4 1 5 5.34
Matusz 0.2 6 5 5 1 1 5.30
Conley 1.1 0 0 0 3 0 5.91
Allen 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 4.14
Morin 2.0 2 0 0 2 1 3.86
Inherited runners-scored- Conley 3-1; Pitches-strikes- Rodriguez 68-48, Barnes 24-12,
Perez 27-14, Workman 12-8, Parra 74-48, Matusz 19-11, Conley 28-11, Allen 17-12,
Morin 29-16; Batters faced- Rodriguez 24, Barnes 7, Perez 7, Workman 4, Parra 21,
Matusz 9, Conley 7, Allen 5, Morin 9;
Temp - 86, Sky - Cloudy, Wind - SSW 16MPH
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