The good news is the Sox were actually competitive in tonight's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The bad news was they found a way to lose anyway. After David Price suffered a 2nd inning meltdown, the Boston offense went into the toilet. The Sox did manage to tie the game in the 7th but Arizona still walked off in the bottom of the ninth to send the Sox to a 2-8 record with their 5-4 victory at Chase Field.
Luke Weaver got the ball in the top of the first inning and Andrew Benintendi grounded out to second to start. Mr. Mookie Betts took a 3-2 pitch right down the middle for strike three before Steve Pearce lined out to second to end the inning. Price initially started well in the bottom of the first as Adam Jones grounded out to short to start. Ketel Marte flied out to right before Wilmer Flores lined out to left to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the second as Xander Bogaerts walked to start. Rafael Devers singled him to third before Nunez beat out a double play to score Bogaerts. Jackie Bradley Jr lined out to center before Christian Vazquez was walked to get to Price. David made Weaver pay with a base hit to right to score Devers with another run. Benintendi stroked a ground rule double to score Vazquez. With a chance to break the game open....Mr. Mookie grounded out to short to end the inning with the Sox ahead 3-0.
Naturally once the Sox took the lead, the Diamondbacks roared back to get it back in the bottom of the second. David Peralta singled to right but Christian Walker popped up to first. Eduardo Escobar doubled Peralta to third and Nick Ahmed singled home Peralta to put Arizona on the board. Carson Kelly doubled home both runners to tie the game although Weaver whiffed. Jones singled home Kelly to give the Diamondbacks the lead but he was thrown out at second trying to stretch to end the inning. The Sox have officially trailed in all ten games they've played this season and were down 4-3.
The Sox beat the ball in the dirt in the top of the third inning as Pearce grounded out to second, Bogaerts grounded out to short an Devers also grounded out to short to end the inning. Price bounced back in the bottom of the third inning as Marte was frozen for strike three to start. Flores walked but Peralta banged into a double play to end the inning.
Nunez tried to start a rally in the top of the fourth by getting a base hit to right to start. The rally ended as Nunez was erased on a force by JBJ before Vazquez whiffed. Price whiffed to end the inning. Price got Walker to ground out to short to start the bottom of the fourth before Escobar singled. Ahmed flied out to right before Kelly whiffed to end the inning.
Benintendi singled to start the top of the fifth but Mr. Mookie banged into a double play. Pearce looked at strike three to end the inning. Ildemaro Vargas pinch hit for Weaver and grounded out to short to start the bottom of the fifth. Jones singled but was erased on the Marte force. Flores whiffed to end the inning.
Yoan Lopez shut the Sox down in the top of the sixth as Bogaerts popped up to first to begin. Devers lined out to center before Nunez grounded back to the mound to end the inning. Price came back for one final inning in the bottom of the sixth as Peralta grounded out to second to start. Walker lined out to center and Escobar flied out to left to end the inning. Price pitched well apart from the second inning but left trailing after allowing 4 runs in 6 innings of work.
Somehow the Sox rallied in the top of the seventh against Yoshihisa Hirano. JBJ walked but Vazquez whiffed. JD Martinez pinch hit for Price and singled JBJ to third to chase Hirano. Andrew Chafin walked Benintendi to load the bases and the Diamondbacks made a double switch. Jarrod Dyson came in to play center with Flores going to first, Marte moving from center to second with Archie Bradley on the mound. All Mr. Mookie could do was hit a sac fly to score JBJ to tie the game. Mitch Moreland pinch hit for Pearce and walked to reload the bases....but Bogaerts grounded into a force to end the inning with the game tied 4-4.
Moreland stayed in the game at first with Martinez in left with Brandon Workman now on the mound in the bottom of the seventh. Ahmed looked at strike three before Kelly flied out to left. Dyson grounded out to second to end the inning.
Devers walked to open the top of the eighth before he went to second on the Nunez sacrifice bunt. With the go-ahead run at second....JBJ whiffed and Vazquez flied out to left to end the inning. Ryan Brasier came in for the bottom of the eighth and Jones popped up to short. Marte singled to right but Flores flied out to center. Peralta grounded out to first to end the inning.
Greg Holland came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Martinez flied out to right to start. Tzu-Wei Lin made his season debut by pinch hitting for Brasier only to ground out to short. Mr. Mookie whiffed to end the inning. Colten Brewer came in for the bottom of the ninth and Alex Avila pinch hit for Holland only to strike out. Escobar singled and decided to go all the way home on the single by Ahmed. Betts was able to gun down Escobar but Ahmed took second. Naturally after the big out....Kelly singled home Ahmed to win the game for Arizona. A brutal 5-4 loss for the Sox for sure.
Jackass of the Night is Colten Brewer. He allowed the walkoff run in the bottom of the ninth
The Good:
Andrew Benintendi was 2 for 4 with a walk and an rbi.
Mitch Moreland walked as a pinch hitter.
Rafael Devers was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Eduardo Nunez was 1 for 3 with an rbi.
JD Martinez was 1 for 2 at the plate.
Brandon Workman tossed a scoreless 7th inning.
Ryan Brasier pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
The Bad:
Tzu-Wei Lin was 0 for 1 as a pinch hitter.
Steve Pearce was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 4 but drove in a run.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 3 but walked and scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 but walked and scored.
Christian Vazquez was 0 for 3 but walked and scored.
David Price allowed 4 runs in 6 innings of work for a no decision but was 1 for 2 with an rbi at the plate.
Final Thoughts:
Can this season end already? Do we really have to put up with this for a whole season? The Sox are the complete opposite of last year where they keep finding ways to lose rather than find a way to win. Last year the Sox would have scored in one of the later innings to win but not this year. Price pulled a Dice K and had one bad inning but didn't pitch that badly. The offense couldn't hit in the clutch which was a staple of last year. This year is rapidly turning into 2014 and it comes at a bad time with the New York Yankees struggling out of the gate with key injuries too. Hopefully the Sox can salvage the series tomorrow when Hector "The Insurance Policy" Velazquez goes one on one with Merrill Kelly. The Game starts at 3:10 PM Eastern Time at Chase Field.
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