For the first time in Fenway Park history, the Red Sox were the away team and Jays starter Ross Stripling got the ball in the top of the first inning. Alex Verdugo flied out to left field to start before Yairo Munoz popped up to second. Rafael Devers whiffed to end the inning. Chris Mazza got the ball in the bottom of the first and Cavan Biggio lined out to right to begin. Randal Grichuk flied out to right and Rowdy "Roddy" Tellez lined out to center to end the inning.
The Sox took the lead in the top of the second inning as Christian Vazquez singled to center to start. Michael Chavis lined out to center but Jackie Bradley Jr beat the shift with a bunt single to third. Bobby Dalbec whiffed but Tzu-Wei Lin hit a ground rule double into the bullpen to score Vazquez. Jonathan Arauz grounded out to second to end the inning but the Sox were up 1-0.
Teoscar Hernandez grounded back to the mound to start the bottom of the second before Jonathan Villar grounded back to the mound. Lourdes Gurriel Jr singled to left and Derek Fisher walked, but Travis Shaw flied out to left to end the inning.
The Sox got another run in the top of the third although Verdugo popped up to short to start. Munoz singled to right but was forced at second by Devers. Vazquez walked and Chavis lashed a base hit to center to score Devers. JBJ whiffed to end the inning but Boston was ahead 2-0.
Mazza held the fort in the bottom of the third as Reese McGuire lined out to left to start. Biggio singled to left but Grichuk banged into a double play to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the fourth as Dalbec grounded out to third to start. Lin grounded out to first but Arauz whiffed to end the inning. Who else but Tellez crushed a 599,000 foot home run to lead off the bottom of the fourth? Mazza recovered to punch out both Hernandez and Villar before Gurriel Jr grounded out to short to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-1. Mazza allowed just one run in 4 innings, good for him.
The Sox got a gift run in the top of the fifth although Verdugo flied out to center to start. Munoz doubled to center and Devers walked to chase Stripling. Sean Reid-Foley walked Vazquez to load the bases and McGuire airmailed a pickoff throw to center which allowed Munoz to score. Chavis whiffed but JBJ was intentionally walked to re-load the bases. Dalbec grounded back to the mound to end the inning with the Sox ahead 3-1.
Josh Taylor came on for the bottom of the fifth and Fisher grounded out to short to start Shaw grounded out to second and McGuire whiffed to end the inning.
Foley turned up the heat in the top of the sixth as Lin watched strike three go by to start. Arauz and Verdugo both whiffed to end the inning. Robinson Leyer came in for the bottom of the sixth and Biggio took strike three to start. Grichuk doubled to left and Tellez walked to put the tying runs on. Santiago Espinal pinch ran for Tellez but Leyer somehow punched out Hernandez. Naturally Villar singled to center to score Grichuk and send Espinal to third. Somehow Leyer punched out Fisher to end the inning with the Sox still ahead 3-2.
Wilmer Font came in for the top of the seventh and Munoz continued his hot streak with a base hit to left. Devers flied out to left and Vazquez banged into a double play to end the inning. Matt Barnes came in to close out the bottom of the seventh and Shaw greeted him with single in the hole at short. Vladimir Guerrero Jr pinch hit for McGuire and the entire Red Sox media started laughing that the Red Sox could get walked off in their own park. Somehow Barnes got Guerrero Jr to bang into a double play and Biggio to go down hacking to end the game. The Sox had won it 3-2.
Hero of the Night is Yairo Munoz. He got 3 hits and scored what turned out to be the go-ahead run.
The Good:
Christian Vazquez was 1 for 2 with 2 walks and a run scored.
Michael Chavis was 1 for 3 with an rbi.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 1 for 2 with a walk.
Tzu-Wei Lin was 1 for 3 with an rbi.
Chris Mazza went 4 innings and allowed just 1 run.
Josh Taylor got the win by pitching a scoreless 5th inning.
Matt Barnes earned his fourth save with a scoreless 7th inning.
The Bad:
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
Jonathan Arauz was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.
Robinson Leyer allowed a run in the sixth inning.
The Ugly:
Rafael Devers was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked and scored a run.
Final Thoughts:
At least Yairo Munoz had his day in the sun with 6 combined hits in the doubleheader. The 25 year old utility infielder is a couple good weeks away from throwing his hat into the second base battle in Spring Training next year. Jonathan Arauz, Michael Chavis and Munoz would be interesting to watch. The Sox barely even put out a competitive team in the nightcap but did just enough to win. Mazza and Taylor did their jobs and its a good thing the game was only 7 innings or else it would have gotten much worse. Right now the Sox have the second worst record in all of baseball and some fans are actually mad that they won. Vanderbilt college pitcher Kumar Rocker is slated to be the number one overall pick and the Sox clearly are in desperate need of pitching. Still, for those of us who don't want to tank, at least the Sox won a close game albeit it was 7 innings. The win improved the Sox to 13-27, last place in the American League. Tomorrow night both the Sox and the Jays will pick names out of a hat to start the game. No matter who pitches, the game begins at 7:30 PM at Fenway Park....and yes the Sox will be the home team this time.
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