Mookie Betts had enough of the monkeyshines and swatted a leadoff homer off Aaron Sanchez to open the top of the first inning, giving the Red Sox the instant lead. The slumping Andrew Benintendi flied out to center but Hanley Ramirez caught a break when Teoscar Hernandez dropped a routine pop up in right, allowing Hanley to reach first. Hanley was erased on the force by JD Martinez and Rafael Devers whiffed to end the inning. The Sox had made Sanchez throw 24 pitches and led 1-0.
As usual this past week, as soon as the Sox got the lead they immediately coughed it up. Steve Pearce wasted no time in hitting a leadoff double against Eduardo Rodriguez (3-0, 3.63 ERA) to open the bottom of the first when Eduardo Nunez failed to make a swiping tag. Hernandez lined out to right but Justin Smoak hit a routine ground ball to Devers.....who turned around and fired it into the stands, scoring Pearce to tie the game. Yangervis Solarte flied out to left and Kendrys Morales whiffed to end the inning, but it was tied 1-1.
Nunez compounded his inablity to tag out Pearce by striking out on 3 pitches to open the top of the second. Jackie Bradley Jr grounded out to second and Christian Vazquez continued his miserable season by whiffing badly to end the inning. Rodriguez settled down in the bottom of the second as Russell Martin grounded out to second to start. Kevin Pillar lined out to left but Devers dove on a ball hit by Lourdes Gurriel Jr and swam on it for another error. Aledmys Diaz grounded out to third to end the inning.
The incompetent Red Sox offense did nothing in the top of the third as Brock Holt grounded out to second, Betts whiffed and Benintendi grounded out to first to end the inning. Rodriguez got revenge on Pearce by striking him out to begin the bottom of the third before Benintendi snared a high fly ball by Hernandez at the left field wall. Devers redeemed himself with a nice barehanded play and toss to Ramirez doing a split to rob Smoak of a hit to end the inning.
The Sox failed to score in the top of the fourth as Ramirez whiffed to start the frame. Somehow Martinez got a lucky single up the middle but Devers popped up to left. Nunez grounded out to third to end the inning. Rodriguez got Solarte to ground out to second to end the inning as Sox analyst Jerry Remy talked about the no-hitters he's seen and been apart of. Dave Righetti liked that. Morales grounded out to short and Martin grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
The Sox struck back in the top of the fifth although JBJ drew a lucky walk to open the frame. Vazquez couldn't hit the ball out of his hand lately but he was hit with a pitch. The Sox screwed up when Holt hit a double into the gap but JBJ stopped to see if it would be caught, Vazquez nearly overran him but JBJ did score although Vazquez had to stop at third. Jays manager Jay Gibbons waddled over to the umpires to challenge to see if JBJ did get passed, but he didn't. Still both runners should have scored but Vaz didn't when Betts flied out to right. Benintendi walked to load the bases but Ramirez made JBJ look like an even bigger jackass by banging into a double play to end the inning with the Sox only ahead 2-1.
The Jays made the Sox pay in the bottom of the fifth inning for their horrid baserunning although Pillar grounded out to first to start. Gurriel Jr singled and stole second when Vazquez' throw barely reached second. Diaz grounded out to third but Pearce singled home Gurriel Jr to tie the game. Hernandez singled but Smoak grounded out to third to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
The Sox got a lucky baserunner when Martinez was plunked to start the top of the sixth inning but Devers whiffed again. Nunez whiffed and JBJ watched strike three go by to end the inning. The Jays and Maple Leafs scored at almost the exact same time to bury each Boston team as Solarte crushed a 800 foot bomb off Rodriguez to give the Jays the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth. Morales grounded out to second but Martin walked. Pillar flied out to left and Gurriel Jr lined out to left to end the inning.
Danny Barnes took over for Sanchez for the top of the seventh with Randall Grichuk taking over for Pearce. Vazquez flied out to center but Holt singled up the middle. All of a sudden the Sox took the lead when Betts blasted an opposite field two run home run to right. Benintendi walked and swiped second. Benintendi swiped third and Ramirez walked to put runners at the corners. That was it for Barnes as Seung Hwan Oh came in and walked Martinez to load the bases. More bad baserunning occured when Devers flied out to right....but Benintendi hesitated going home and the run didn't score. Nunez grounded out to first to end the inning with the Sox ahead 4-3, but it should have been by more.
Rodriguez returned for the bottom of the seventh and got Diaz to ground out to first to begin. Rodriguez fired a 3-2 fastball by Grichuk to end this outing. It wasn't pretty but he went 6 2/3 innings and allowed just three runs. Heath Hembree came in to strike out Hernandez to end the inning.
Tim Mayza came on to pitch the top of the eighth inning. JBJ watched strike three go by, Vazquez flied out to center but the red hot Holt singled to right to chase Mayza. Jay Gibbons waddled to the mound and brought in Ryan Tepera to pitch to Betts. Betts flied out to left to end the inning. With 20 pitches on his arm from last night, Sox manager Alex Cora brought in Joe Kelly to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning. Smoak and Solarte grounded out to second and Morales whiffed to end the inning.
Tyler Clippard had the top of the ninth inning for the Blue Jays. Benintendi flied out to center and Ramirez grounded out to third but Martinez drew a walk. Devers earned a hat trick with a strikeout to end the inning. Craig "The Buzzard" Kimbrel looked to shook off last night's disaster to nail down the save in the bottom of the ninth. Martin hit one up the elevator shaft to begin before Pillar grounded out to short. Gurriel Jr flied out to right to end the game. The Sox had come from behind to win 4-3.
Hero of the Night is Mookie Betts. His two home runs and 3 rbi's were instrumental in the 4-3 comeback win.
The Good:
JD Martinez was 1 for 2 with 2 walks.
Brock Holt was 3 for 4 with an rbi and a run scored.
Eduardo Rodriguez got the win by tossing 6 2/3 solid innings, giving up 3 runs off 6 hits and a walk.
Heath Hembree retired the only man he faced.
Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 6th save of the year with a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Rafael Devers was 0 for 5 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts and 2 errors....yuck!
Eduardo Nunez was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 but walked and scored.
Christian Vazquez was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
The Ugly:
Andrew Benintendi was 0 for 3 but walked twice.
Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 4 but walked.
Final Thoughts:
It was ugly as all hell but a win is a win. The Sox needed a win after dropping three straight and they'll take it. Devers and Benintendi have hit big slumps and Nunez appears to be favoring his knee. Luckily Xander Bogaerts is on his way back and Holt is on a hot streak so Eduardo should get some rest when Xander returns. Rodriguez pitched well despite Devers' incompetence in the field and it looks like Betts has turned back the clock to 2016. That's what they were missing last year so if he can keep this up all year, we're talking MVP consideration. Their horrid baserunning almost bit them in the ass with JBJ and Benintendi being unable to score from third base, hopefully that can be addressed. Its a good thing the Sox won because the New York Yankees are on a 5 game winning streak. It helps they happen to have a three game set at home against the Minnesota Twins, a team that absolutely cannot win at Yankee Stadium. Tomorrow the Sox end their roadtrip with Chris Sale (1-1, 1.86 ERA) taking on Marco Estrada in the finale at 7:07 PM in the Skydome.
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