Everything was going good for the Boston Red Sox. They had won four games in a row and was one out away from their fifth straight win and series sweep of the lowly Seattle Mariners. Nathan Eovaldi tossed 6 2/3 innings of 2 run ball and Trevor Story hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning. Naturally the same bullpen that's blown ten saves this season made it 11 as Hansel Robles served up a ninth inning, two out home run to Eugenio Suarez to tie the game. The Sox went into extra innings 0-6 on the season in extra inning games and naturally the Mariners rallied for the go-ahead run in the top of the tenth against Jake Diekman....what, you think they lost? NOOOOOOO, WRONGGGGGG! The Sox rallied in the bottom of the tenth with two straight base hits to tie the game. With two outs and the bases loaded, Franchy Cordero made himself a hero with a walkoff grand slam to send the Sox to their fifth straight victory and a four game sweep of the Mariners 8-4 at Fenway Park.
Eovaldi got the ball in the top of the first inning and Adam Frazier flied out to center to start. Ty France lined out to left and JP Crawford flied out to right with Eovaldi throwing just 8 pitches to end the inning. Logan Gilbert got the ball in the bottom of the first and Kike Hernandez grounded out to third to start. Rafael Devers struck out swinging and Xander Bogaerts popped up to second to end the inning.
Julio Rodriguez struck out swinging to start the top of the second but Jesse Winker singled to left. Eugenio Suarez took strike three and Mike Ford was also caught looking to end the inning. The strikeout to Rodriguez was the 1,000th strikeout of Eovaldi's career, good for him. Trevor Story led off the bottom of the second with a ground out to third. Franchy Cordero grounded out to first and Christian Arroyo got the start today after JD Martinez was scratched at the last second due to back spasms. Arroyo made Sox manager Alex Cora look like a genius by belting his second home run of the season to put the Sox on top. Jackie Bradley Jr flied out to right to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
Cal Raleigh was rung up for strike three to start the top of the third and Taylor Trammell struck out swinging. Frazier struck out swinging on a 90 mph splitter to end the inning. The Sox blew a rally in the bottom of the second as Bobby Dalbec grounded out to second to start. Kevin Plawecki got a base hit to right, Hernandez doubled to center and Devers was intentionally walked to load the bases. Bogaerts hit a sac fly to right to score Plawecki and advance Hernandez to third. Story walked to reload the bases but Cordero hit a rocket right to France to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
The Mariners damn near struck back in the top of the fourth as France doubled off the top of the Monster to start. Crawford grounded out to short but France moved to third and Eovaldi got a big out when Rodriguez grounded out to short. Winker struck out swinging to end the inning. Arroyo flied out to center to start the bottom of the fourth before JBJ doubled off the Monster. Dalbec grounded out to second and Plawecki struck out swinging to end the inning.
Suarez took strike three to start the top of the fifth before Ford went down hacking. Raleigh flied out to left to end the inning with Eovaldi at 68 pitches. The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the fifth as Hernandez flied out to center to start. Devers grounded out to short and Bogaerts struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Mariners struck back in the top of the sixth as Trammell walked to start. Frazier hit a cheap home run around the Pesky Pole to tie the game before France lined out to center. Crawford flied out to center and Rodriguez struck out swinging to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
The Sox struck again in the bottom of the sixth as Story smashed his seventh home run of the season into the Monster Seats to give the Sox the lead. Cordero grounded out to short but Arroyo singled off the glove of Suarez at third.....no wait! The Mariners challenged that he was out at first and sure enough, replays showed he was. JBJ struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 3-2.
Story hits another home run
Eovaldi returned for the top of the seventh and Winker grounded out to first to start. Suarez struck out swinging but Ford singled to right to chase Eovaldi after 101 pitches. Eovaldi pitched a hell of a game, allowing just two runs in 6 2/3 innings while striking out a career high 11 batters. Sam Haggerty came in to run for Ford as Austin Davis came in to pitch to Raleigh. Raleigh should have walked but the ball four pitch was called a strike. Raleigh struck out swinging on the next pitch to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the seventh as Dalbec grounded out to third to start. Plawecki flied out to left and Hernandez popped up to third to end the inning.
Dylan Moore pinch hit for Trammell to start the top of the eighth and flied out to center to start. Frazier singled to center to chase Davis and Hansel Robles came in to pitch to France. France singled inside the bag at third to put runners at the corners but Crawford hit into a double play to end the inning. Once again the Sox did nothing in the bottom of the eighth with Matthew Festa now on the mound. Devers struck out swinging again, Bogaerts flied out to right and Story went down hacking to end the inning.
Robles came back to finish off the top of the ninth and Rodriguez lined out to right to start. Winker grounded out to second but naturally Suarez hit a home run to the moon to tie the game. Haggerty flied out to left to end the inning but the Sox had blown their 11th save of the season and the game was tied 3-3.
Paul Sewald came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth but Cordero was robbed of a hit by a diving Frazier to start. Arroyo struck out swinging but JBJ hit an opposite field double....only for Dalbec to fly out to right to end the inning.
Jake Diekman was tasked to pitch the top of the tenth with Luis Torrens pinch hitting for Raleigh Haggerty at second to start. Diekman got a good start when Torrens grounded out to short without moving Haggerty....but Moore effortlessly singled to right to put runners at the corners. Naturally Frazier singled up the middle to score Haggerty to put the Mariners up for good. France and Crawford both struck out swinging to end the inning with the Mariners up 4-3.
Dalbec started the bottom of the tenth at second wit Andres Munoz on the mound and Christian Vazquez pinch hitting for Plawecki to begin. Somehow Vazquez did get a base hit to right to move Dalbec to third and Hernandez ripped a base hit to right to score Dalbec to tie the game. The Sox then blew the game as Devers did his job with a base hit to right but rather than hold Vazquez, he was FOOLISHLY sent around and thrown out at home.....BUT WAIT! Sox manager Alex Cora challenged that Vazquez was safe. Unfortunately Vazquez was called out after the replay but Hernandez was at third and Devers at second with only out. Bogaerts was intentionally walked to set up a double play and bring Story to the plate to be a hero again. Unfortunately Story popped up to right.....but Cordero finally justified the Andrew Benintendi trade with a walkoff grand slam to stun the Mariners 8-4 in ten innings.
Hero of the Night is Franchy Cordero. His walkoff grand slam won the game in the bottom of the tenth.
The Good:
Kike Hernandez was 2 for 5 with an rbi and a run scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 2 for 4.
Kevin Plawecki was 1 for 3 with a run scored.
Christian Vazquez singled as a pinch hitter.
Nathan Eovaldi tossed 6 2/3 gutty innings, allowing just the two run homer to Frazier while striking out 11.
Austin Davis tossed a 2/3 of a scoreless inning.
The Bad:
Hansel Robles blew the save by allowing a home run in the top of the tenth.
The Ugly:
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked and scored a run.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked, drove in a run and scored a run.
Trevor Story was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but walked and hit a home run.
Christian Arroyo was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but drove in a run and scored a run.
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 4 but scored a run.
Jake Diekman vultured the win by allowing the go-ahead run to score in the top of the tenth, but the run was un-earned.
Final Thoughts:
First.....the bad news. 11 blown saves...ELEVEN! That's how many games the Sox have blown this season. If they had saved 10 games and blown 9 they'd be a game over .500 right now. It doesn't matter who Cora puts as the closer, they have all failed. At this point keeping Garrett Whitlock in the rotation is asinine considering the lack of a true closer. Unless Cora wants to try Tanner Houck next, the Sox not having a closer has them in fourth place when even a guy like Alfredo Aceves could have had this team within a few games of the New York Yankees. Now for the good news.....WHAT A WALKOFF WIN! The Sox were 0-6 in extra innings this year and when the Mariners took the lead, a lot of fans went home. After all just three weeks ago the game was as good as over. Maybe the Sox have finally woken up for real because they battled back to tie the game, shrugged off a really bad call at home plate and Cordero finally stepped up with a big home run to win a game. Eovaldi struck out a career high eleven batters and Story hit yet another home run. The only other drawback was JD Martinez scratched due to back spasms but whatever, he'll be fine. The Sox may have beaten a bad team four straight but five straight wins is nothing to sneeze at. Jackie Bradley and Kike Hernandez are nearing the Mendoza Line so they're not as useless as they were a month ago either. The win improved the Sox to 19-22, 3 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for third place in the AL East. After an off-day tomorrow the Sox are back in action Tuesday night in Chicago to take on the struggling White Sox in a three game set. Nick Pivetta (2-4, 4.22 ERA) gets the start for Boston against White Sox ace Dylan Cease. The game begins at 8:10 PM eastern time at Comiskey Park.
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