As for the game, hey the Sox won again! After squeaking by the Cleveland Indians on the back of an unlikely Jonathan Arauz home run last night, the Sox won another game by the skin of their teeth against Cleveland. Nathan Eovaldi of the Sox and Cal Quantrill of the Indians locked to a 2-2 tie into the sixth inning and the score remained until extra innings. JD Martinez clobbered a three run home run off Nick Wittgren to put Boston up big but Martin Perez loaded the bases with nobody out. Perez got the first out before giving way to Adam Ottavino. Adam got the second out but Oscar Mercado's base hit cut the lead to two. With the game on the line, Ottavino got Andres Gimenez to ground out to end the game. The Sox had survived to win their third game in a row 5-3 over the Indians in 10 innings.
Quantrill got the ball in the top of the first and Jarren Duran popped up a bunt to Jose Ramirez to begin. Kyle Schwarber then jacked his 27th home run of the season to put Boston on top. JD Martinez singled to center and Bogaerts doubled to left. Johnson booted the ball which allowed Martinez to score and Bogaerts to take third. Rafael Devers grounded back to the mound to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Eovaldi got the ball in the bottom of the first inning and Myles Straw led off with a liner to left. Amed Rosario struck out swinging and Ramirez flied out to center to end the inning.
Alex Verdugo took strike three to start the top of the second before Christian Vazquez flied out to right. Travis Shaw grounded out to first to end the inning. The Indians fought back in the bottom of the second as Franmil Reyes hit a home run all the way to Saudi Arabia to start. Bradley Zimmer doubled to right and Bobby Bradley ripped a base hit to center to score Zimmer, tying the game. Austin Hedges popped up to short and Daniel Johnson took strike three, but Andres Gimenez doubled to left to move Bradley to third. Straw struck out swinging to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
The Sox failed to respond in the top of the third inning as Jonathan Arauz took strike three to start. Duran struck out swinging and Schwarber grounded out to short to end the inning. Eovaldi made quick work of the Indians in the bottom of the third as Rosario, Ramirez and Reyes all struck out swinging in short order.
Martinez grounded out to short to start the top of the fourth and Bogaerts took strike three. Devers walked and Verdugo lined out to center to end the inning. Zimmer grounded out to first to start the bottom of the fourth but Bradley singled to left. Hedges forced Bradley at second and Johnson struck out swinging to end the inning.
Vazquez tried to start a rally in the top of the fifth with a base hit to left but Shaw popped up to third. Arauz forced Vazquez at second and Duran flied out to left to end the inning. Gimenez lined out to center to start the bottom of the fifth before Straw popped up to second. Rosario grounded out to short to end the inning.
Schwarber struck out swinging to start the top of the sixth before Martinez singled to left. Bogaerts flied out to center and Devers took strike three to end the inning. Ramirez popped up to third to start the bottom of the sixth but Reyes doubled to center. As usual rather than let Eovaldi get out of the inning, Sox manager Alex Cora yanked Eovaldi after 5 1/3 innings and 2 runs allowed. He did strike out seven though. Josh Taylor came in and walked Zimmer but Bradley struck out swinging. Hedges lined out to short to end the inning.
The Sox blew a rally in the top of the seventh as Verdugo beat out a roller to second to start. Vazquez walked and both runners moved over on the Shaw sacrifice bunt. The rally ended as Arauz popped up to second and Duran flied out to left to end the inning. Hiro Sawamura came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and Oscar Mercado pinch hit for Johnson to begin. Mercado beat out a roller to short and Gimenez walked, but Straw popped the bunt up to Sawamura. Both runners moved over on the grounder to the mound by Rosario and Ramirez was intentionally walked to load the bases. Sawamura struck out Reyes swinging on a full count to end the inning.
Bryan Shaw came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Schwarber singled to right to start. Martinez lined out to center and Boagerts flied out to center, but Devers got a base hit to right to move Kyle to third. Verdugo struck out swinging to end the inning. Austin Davis came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Zimmer walked to start. Zimmer moved to second on the grounder to short by Bradley and to third on the grounder to the mound by Hedges. That was it for Davis as Garrett Richards came in to face Mercado. Mercado flied out to right to end the inning.
Emmanuel Clase came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Vazquez doubled to left to start. Yairo Munoz pinch ran for Vazquez but Shaw lined out to first and Arauz struck out swinging. Duran grounded out to third to end the inning. Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth with Kevin Plawecki now behind the plate and Gimenez struck out swinging to start. Straw singled to right but Rosario struck out swinging. Ramirez flied out to left to end the inning to send the game to extras.
Nick Wittgren came in to pitch the top of the tenth with Duran starting at second. Schwarber dropped a base hit to left to move Duran to third and Martinez clubbed his 24th home run of the season to put the Sox up big. Bogaerts lined out to first and that was it for Wittgren. Alex Younbg came in to face Devers and he singled to right. Verdugo banged into a double play to end the inning with Boston ahead 5-2.
Martin Perez came in to close out the bottom of the ninth with Ramirez starting at second. Perez imploded as Reyes walked and Zimmer was plunked to load the bases. Somehow he got Bradley to strike out swinging and that was it for Martin. Adam Ottavino came in to clean up the mess and managed to strike out Hedges swinging. Mercado then got a seeing eye single to right that scored Ramirez but Gimenez grounded out to second to end the game. The Sox had survived and won the game 5-3 in 10 innings.
Hero of the Night is JD Martinez, His three run home run put the Sox up for good in the tenth inning.
The Good:
Kyle Schwarber was 3 for 5 with a home run and 2 total runs scored.
Rafael Devers was 2 for 4 with a walk.
Christian Vazquez was 2 for 3 with a walk.
Nathan Eovaldi tossed 5 1/3 innings of 2 run ball. He allowed just 6 hits and struck out 7.
Josh Taylor got the final two outs of the sixth inning.
Hiro Sawamura pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Austin Davis got the first two outs of the eighth inning.
Garrett Richards got the last out of the eighth inning.
Garrett Whitlock got the win with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Travis Shaw was 0 for 3.
Martin Perez was charged with a run in the tenth inning.
The Ugly:
Jarren Duran was 0 for 5 with a strikeout but scored a run.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout.
Alex Verdugo was just 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.
Jonathan Arauz was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Adam Ottavino got the save but allowed an inherited runner to score in the tenth.
Honorable Mention:
Yairo Munoz ran for Vazquez in the top of the ninth.
Kevin Plawecki caught the final two innings.
Final Thoughts:
Wow, don't look now but the Sox are back in playoff contention. The New York Yankees lost tonight so the Sox are just 2 back of them with 31 games left to play. That's not impossible but the Sox are going to have to keep winning since its unlikely the Yankees or the Tampa Bay Rays are going to lose much in September. The Sox desperately needed to win this series with Cleveland considering their last chance to get back in the AL East race begins on Monday against the Rays. Winning tomorrow's game would help too but just making it this far is good enough. The Sox were essentially shut down after the first inning until JD's blast in the tenth but the pitching held up....until the end anyway. Martin Perez should never pitch in a high leverage situation like that, especially if the Sox get to the playoffs. That would be disastrous if he had to hold a lead in the later innings for sure. Still, a win is a win and they earned this one for sure. The win improved the Sox to 75-56, 2 games behind the Yankees for the first wild card spot. The Sox look for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon against the Indians when they send Tanner Houck to the mound against Eli Morgan of Cleveland. The game begins at 2:20 PM eastern time at Progressive Field.
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