Ryan Feltner got the ball in the top of the first inning and Mickey Gasper walked to start. Ceddanne Rafaela grounded into a double play but Wilyer Abreu walked. Willson Contreras flied out to right to end the inning. Bennett got the ball in the bottom of the first and Willi Castro flied out to left to start. Tyler Freeman flied out to left and TJ Rumfield struck out swinging to end the inning.
Jarren Duran grounded out to second to start the top of the second but the red hot Caleb Durbin doubled to left. Masataka Yoshida walked and naturally with a runner in scoring position, Anthony Seigler lined out to right. Also naturally with a runner in scoring position Marcelo Mayer grounded out to short on the first pitch to end the inning. Hunter Goodman hit one up the elevator shaft to start the bottom of the second and Cole Carrigg grounded out to short. Jake McCarthy struck out swinging to end the inning.
Gasper grounded out to short to start the top of the third and Rafaela grounded out to third. Abreu grounded out to first to end the inning. Braxton Fulford struck out swinging to start the bottom of the third but Kyle Karros got a base hit to left. Ezequiel Tovar lined out to center and Castro struck out swinging to end the inning.
Contreras flied out to right to start the top of the fourth and Duran popped up to short. Durbin struck out swinging to end the inning. Freeman got a base hit to right to start the bottom of the fourth but Rumfield grounded into a double play. Goodman struck out swinging to end the inning.
Yoshida grounded out to first to start the top of the fifth and Seigler struck out swinging. Mayer grounded out to third to end the inning. Carrigg struck out swinging to open the bottom of the fifth and McCarthy popped up to third. Fulford got a base hit to right and stole second, but Karros struck out swinging to end the inning.
Gasper grounded out to second to start the top of the sixth and Rafaela grounded out to second. Somehow Abreu beat out a roller to third and Contreras doubled to right to score him. Duran walked and Durbin got a base hit to left to score Contreras. Yoshida lined out to right to end the inning with the Sox up 2-0.
Tovar took strike three to start the bottom of the sixth and Castro did the same. Freman singled in the hole at short but Rumfield grounded out to short to end the inning. That was it for Bennett who tossed 6 shutout innings at just 72 pitches while striking out 9.
Old pal Brennan Bernardino came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Andruw Monasterio pinch hit for Seigler. Monasterio flied out to center but Mayer doubled to center. Connor Wong pinch hit for Gasper and grounded out to first to move Mayer to third. Rafaela flied out to left to end the inning. Tyron Guerrero came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and Goodman popped up to second to start. Carrigg flied out to right and McCarthy popped up a bunt to Guerrero to end the inning.
Victor Vodnik came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Abreu walked to start. Contreras hit a liner to second and Abreu was doubled off first. Duran grounded back to the mound to end the inning. Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Troy Johnston pinch hit for Fulford. Johnston lined out to first and Eduoard Julien pinch hit for Karros. Julien got a base hit to center and Mickey Moniak pinch hit for Tovar. Moniak got a base hit to right and Castro got a base hit to center. Julien tried for home but was gunned down by Rafaela. Freeman got a base hit to right and Abreu gunned it home to prevent Moniak from scoring. Castro didn't see Moniak going back to third and got thrown out to end the inning. The Rockies got four hits and scored no runs, not even the Red Sox have done that this year.
Durbin walked to start the top of the ninth and moved to second on a grounder to first by Yoshida. Naturally with a runner on second Monasterio flied out to left although Durbin moved to third. Naturally with a runner on third, Mayer grounded back to the mound to end the inning. Aroldis Chapman came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Rumfield got a base hit to left to start. Goodman got a base hit to left and Carrigg caught Durbin asleep with a bunt single to load the bases with nobody out. Naturally McCarthy hit a ball down the left field line that hit exactly the point in the wall where it would ricochet past Duran for a bases clearing triple to end the game. The Rockies had walked off the Sox 3-2.
Jackass of the Night is Aroldis Chapman for allowing four straight hits and 3 runs to lose the game.
The Good:
Wilyer Abreu was 1 for 2 with 2 walks and a run scored.
Caleb Durbin was 2 for 3 with a walk and an rbi.
Jake Bennett tossed 6 shutout innings allowing just 4 hits while striking out 9.
Tyron Guerrero tossed a scoreless seventh inning.
Garrett Whitlock pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
The Bad:
Connor Wong was 0 for 1 at the plate.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 0 for 4.
Anthony Seigler was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
Andruw Monasterio was 0 for 2.
The Ugly:
Mickey Gasper was 0 for 2 but walked.
Willson Contreras was just 1 for 4 but drove in a run and scored a run.
Jarren Duran was 0 for 3 but walked.
Masataka Yoshida was 0 for 3 but walked.
Marcelo Mayer was just 1 for 4.
Final Thoughts:
If the Red Sox had a competent owner, Craig Breslow would have been fired by now. It shouldn't have to come to protecting a lead in the ninth inning over the worst team in baseball if they had an offense that can get more than 2 runs against a pitcher with a 5+ ERA going in. Not to mention yanking Bennett after 72 pitches had the trickle effect of having to use Whitlock & Chapman rather than let him keep going. On top of that, someone on Twitter pointed out that once Wong went in the game, the Rockies hit damn near every pitch thrown by Whitlock & Chapman. The Sox scored just two runs against the worst team in baseball and got walked off with 8 straight hits by the worst team in baseball. Unfortunately when you have owners that are just counting gate receipts by World Cup fans and a GM that's been given a vote of confidence by the same owners, you know nothing will change. Chad Tracy will roll out the same lineups every night, yank starters early and go "golly gee willikers, we'll get em next time" when they lose just like former manager Alex Cora was doing. How do you let the same GM that let the team get this bad handle not only the draft next month but the trade deadline as well? He's blown 2 straight deadlines and the only reason people don't remember how bad 2024 was because they don't remember the season at all. With internal problems in the clubhouse, a lame duck manager, a GM who doesn't need to try and an owner that doesn't care about winning, you can't fix it. This is what the Sox are going to be until John Henry either croaks or sells the team. Once the World Cup is over and the Sox have sold off anyone with value, you'll be hearing pin drops at Fenway come August. The loss dropped the Sox to 31-45, good for last place in the AL East. The Sox look to lose another game to the worst team in baseball tomorrow night when Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.12 ERA) takes on Sean Sullivan of Colorado. The game begins at 8:40 PM eastern time at Coors Field.
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