The bad news was the Boston Celtics lost Game 3 of their NBA East Final playoff series with the Miami Heat but the Boston Red Sox came from behind to defeat the Seattle Mariners for their fourth straight win. Sox starter Garrett Whitlock got rocked for five runs in just three innings for his worst start of his pro career. Thankfully the Sox bats turned things around by the end. The Mariners took a 4-0 first inning lead and pushed it to 5-0 before the Sox rallied against Mariners starter Chris Flexen. The Sox bats woke up as Rafael Devers hit two home runs, Trevor Story hit a big sac fly and Bobby Dalbec came off the bench to deliver a big rbi hit. With the game tied at 5 thanks to superb bullpen pitching, Christian Vazquez knocked in Franchy Cordero to put the Sox ahead. John Schreiber earned his first win of the season and Matt Barnes turned back the clock a year to record the save. The Sox have now won 4 games in a row including this comeback over the Seattle Mariners 6-5 at Fenway Park.
The Mariners wasted no time getting to Whitlock in the top of the first inning although Adam Frazier popped up to third to start. Ty France singled to left, JP Crawford doubled to left and Julio Rodriguez got a base hit to left to score France to put the Mariners up four batters into the game. Crawford moved to third on the play and Julio promptly stole second. Jesse Winker scored Crawford with a grounder to second with Rodriguez moving to third and Eugenio Suarez ripped a base hit off the Monster to score Julio. Abraham Toro singled to left and Mike Ford beat out a roller to short to score Suarez. Luis Torrens struck out swinging to end the inning with the Mariners up 4-0.
Flexen got the ball in the bottom of the first and Kike Hernandez popped up to second to start. Rafael Devers got a base hit up the middle but JD Martinez flied out to right. Xander Bogaerts singled to left to move Devers to third and Alex Verdugo walked to load the bases but there was no grand slam this time as Trevor Story flied out to right to end the inning.
Verdugo keeled over in the dugout and had to be hauled off on a gurney, loaded into an ambulance and rushed to Mass General's ICU which had Bobby Dalbec replace him for the top of the second inning. Frazier struck out swinging to start before France took strike three. Crawford and Rodriguez stroked back to back base hits but Winker popped up to short to end the inning. The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the second as Franchy Cordero popped up to short to start. Christian Vazquez grounded out to short and Jackie Bradley Jr struck out swinging to end the inning.
Suarez grounded out to second to start the top of the third before Toro grounded out to third. Ford pounded a ground rule double into the right field stands and scored on the single to right by Torrens to ice the game. Frazier grounded out to first to end the inning with the Mariners up 5-0. That was it for Whitlock who had his worst ML outing allowing 5 runs in 3 innings.
Dylan Moore took over for Toro in the bottom of the third and Hernandez popped up to third to begin. Devers cracked his 8th home run of the season to cut the lead and Martinez drew a walk. Naturally Xander Bogaerts banged into a double play to end the inning with the Sox down 5-1.
Tyler Danish came in to pitch the top of the fourth and France lined out to left. Crawford struck out swinging and Rodriguez grounded out to short to end the inning. Dalbec led off the bottom of the fourth and drew a walk, but Story lined out to left. Cordero struck out swinging but Vazquez singled to left only for JBJ to fly out to center to end the inning.
Winker flied out to right to start the top of the fifth but Suarez got a base hit to center. Moore grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Sox struck back in the bottom of the fifth as Hernandez doubled to center to start. Devers cracked his second home run of the game to cut the lead. Martinez doubled to left and Bogaerts got a base hit to center to move JD to third. Sergio Romo came in to pitch and Dalbec got a base hit to center to score Martinez. Bogaerts moved to third on the hit and scored on the Story sac fly to center to tie the game. Cordero struck out swinging and Vazquez lined out to center to end the inning with the game tied 5-5.
Devers hits another one out
Jake Diekman came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Ford struck out swinging to start. Torrens went down hacking and Frazier took strike three to end the inning. Andres Munoz came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth and JBJ flied out to right to start. Hernandez flied out to right but Devers struck out swinging to end the inning.
Hansel Robles came in to pitch the top of the seventh and France grounded out to third. Crawford grounded out to first but Rodriguez doubled to right. Winker struck out swinging to end the inning. Penn Murfee came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and Martinez struck out swinging to start. Bogaerts flied out to right and Dalbec popped up to first to end the inning.
John Schreiber came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Suarez struck out swinging to open. Moore took strike three. Ford grounded out to second to end the inning. Drew Steckenrider came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Story grounded out to third to start. Cordero then woke up the crowd with a scintillating triple into the right field corner and Vazquez hit a ball off the Monster for a single to score Franchy. JBJ forced Vazquez at second to chase Steckenrider. Paul Sewald came in and Hernandez forced JBJ at second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 6-5.
Matt Barnes came in to close out the top of the ninth and Torrens struck out swinging to begin. Frazier lined out to a diving JBJ and France lined out to a running Hernandez to end the game. The Sox had come back to win it 6-5
Hero of the Night is Christian Vazquez. His rbi single in the eighth brought in the go ahead run
The Good:
Rafael Devers was 3 for 4 with two home runs and 3 total rbis.
JD Martinez was 1 for 3 with a wall and a run scored.
Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Alex Verdugo walked in his only at-bat.
Bobby Dalbec was 1 for 2 with a walk and an rbi.
Tyler Danish pitched two scoreless innings.
Jake Diekman pitched a scoreless sixth inning.
Hansel Robles pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
John Schreiber got the win with a scoreless eighth inning.
Matt Barnes earned the save with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Garrett Whitlock got shelled by allowing 5 runs in just 3 innings. He allowed TEN hits.
The Ugly:
Kike Hernandez was just 1 for 5 with a run scored.
Trevor Story was 0 for 3 but drove in a run.
Franchy Cordero was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but scored a run.
Final Thoughts:
Talk about a good news, bad news day. The bad news is the Sox need to get Whitlock out of the rotation before he becomes the next Daniel Bard. The Sox already have five starters in Tanner Houck, Nathan Eovaldi, Rich Hill, Michael Wacha and Nick Pivetta. Whitlock thrived last year out of the bullpen but for some reason Sox brass want him in the rotation. How many times is he going to give up 3-5 runs in just a few innings before they figure out he's better off in the bullpen? The only other thing to squawk about is because the rotation faltered against Seattle this weekend, the bullpen is going to be tired going into tomorrow. They've done their best but apart from Pivetta's gem, the starters have laid an egg since Eovaldi against Houston. They can survive in the short term but this is exactly how things crashed down the stretch last year when the bullpen fell apart due to overuse. Also if you're looking for Connor Seabold, yesterday he was scratched from his start in Worcester with a strained pectoral muscle. He'll be fine in a week or so but he won't be brought up soon. Also Marcelo Mayer hasn't played in over a month because of a bad wrist, comparing him to Nomar Garciaparra is frightently accurate. Now for the good news, that was a hell of a comeback and three weeks ago the game would have been over if the Sox were down 4-0 after the first inning and 5-0 after the third. Finally the Sox showed some life with some big blasts by Devers and clutch rbis from Story, Dalbec and Vazquez. John Schreiber has become this season's scrap heap gem like Ryan Braiser in 2018 and Phillips Valdez in 2020 as he hasn't allowed an earned run yet. Martinez has yet to have an 0 for 4 with no rbi or walk game and we're 40 games into the season. It would be nice if the Sox would give Devers, Bogaerts and Martinez the extensions they want, maybe the team itself can keep this momentum going if everyone's safe and happy. Also there's a rumor that Worcester starter Josh Winckowski could make his ML debut next Saturday in the doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles scheduled. With Seabold out, may as well give him a chance. For those that don't remember, the Sox got him (and Cordero) in the Andrew Benintendi trade. Cordero hasn't come close to the production Benintendi has given to the Kansas City Royals so hopes rest on Winckowski to justify the trade, no pressure right? All in all today was a good win and the Sox are slowly climbing out of their hole and are only 4 games out of the wild card with 122 to go. The win improved the Sox to 18-22, good for 4th place in the AL East. The Sox look to sweep the Mariners and win their fifth straight game tomorrow afternoon when Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 4.32 ERA) takes on Logan Gilbert of the Mariners. The game begins at 1:35 PM at Fenway Park.
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