Red Sox solve Senga's 'ghost fork' to beat Mets with Vázquez at helm

BOSTON -- Ramón Vázquez sat at the table in the Fenway interview room and took a deep breath as he fought off a shiver.

The temperature at first pitch in Monday’s series opener was in the low 50s with a strong breeze. But the weather wasn’t the contributing factor to Vázquez’s chill -- that would be the postgame beer shower.

With Alex Cora taking the night off to celebrate his daughter Camila’s graduation from Boston College, Boston’s bench coach took over managerial duties and led the Red Sox to a 3-1 win over the Mets.

“Hell of a job by the guys,” Vázquez said. “... Just a good ballgame all around. Scoring early I think was huge, very important for the team, for Hunter [Dobbins] going out there. So, well-played game. Well-played game all around.”

Vázquez took the helm on what looked to be a difficult night on paper.

The Red Sox ended last week as the first team to go up against a current Cy Young Award winner in back-to-back starts, facing Chris Sale and the Braves on Friday at Fenway after taking on the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal on Wednesday.

Though they were clear of defending Cy Young winners, the Red Sox still had their work cut out for them facing Kodai Senga on Monday night. Senga entered the night with a National League-leading 1.02 ERA, which was inflated to 1.43 after he surrendered three runs over his six-inning start.

Jarren Duran welcomed Senga to Fenway Park with a double off the right-hander’s first pitch of the night, before Rafael Devers drew the first of three walks against Senga. Duran scored on an Alex Bregman groundout and Trevor Story’s RBI single gave Boston its second run of the inning.

“That’s Jarren for us,” Vázquez said. “When he starts [ballgames] like that, we score early. It’s a game changer. It was good to see him go out there and be aggressive today. Like I said, scoring early in the game, when we do that, I feel like we have a really good chance to win the ballgame when we score first.”

Though Senga still recorded a quality start, the three earned runs marked a season high for the right-hander, whose signature “ghost fork” had an .085 batting average against entering the opener. Story’s first-inning RBI single came off the pitch, as did Duran’s triple to score Carlos Narváez in the second.

“He’s been pitching really well all season long,” Vázquez said. “That’s a guy that, getting runners early on base, hitting the ball hard … I know I said [pregame], ‘I hope his split finger isn’t good tonight.’ I don’t feel like it was, it was a lot of balls. A lot of his pitches were way out of the zone, which helps with the at-bats. We saw the wild pitch early in the [first] inning. I’m glad it didn’t work out for him today.”

Boston’s eight hits and three runs were enough thanks to a strong outing from Hunter Dobbins, who gave up just the one run and five hits over 4 2/3 innings.

“It was a lot of fun watching those guys work today,” Dobbins said. “Senga’s a great pitcher, so to be able to get on them early really kind of set the tone for the game. Being able to go out there, put up a zero for the guys, too. Just being able to keep that momentum going was huge.”

Vázquez pulled Dobbins in the fifth after only 66 pitches to have lefty Justin Wilson face Francisco Lindor with two men on, a move that worked in Boston’s favor after Lindor struck out in a 10-pitch at-bat to end the inning.

A victory. Good bullpen management. Was Monday night enough for Vázquez to consider managing again in the future?

“I only played here half a season, but I’ve been here with Alex since ‘18,” Vázquez said. “This is a special place. The fact that I was able to manage my first game in the big leagues with this organization and at this ballpark, it makes it even more special. I’m officially retired as a manager, today and on.”