As for the game, Murphy's Law continues for the 2022 Red Sox. In a weird game held in front of 2,000 little leaguers, the Boston Red Sox were embarrassed once again by the Baltimore Orioles. The O's literally slapped four hits to score two runs off Sox starter Nick Pivetta and after an unlikely home run by Franchy Cordero to tie the game, the O's got 3 runs off John Schreiber who had been dominant all year long. It seems like when the Sox absolutely have to have a hit from someone, they don't get it. When they need a shutdown inning to keep their season alive, they don't get it. The O's got the hits when they needed and the outs when they needed to take the game 5-3 at Muncy Bank Ballpark.
O's starter Dean Kremer got the ball in the top of the first inning and Tommy Pham led off with a double into the left field corner to start. Alex Verdugo moved Pham to third with a fly ball to center but naturally Xander Bogaerts hit a bullet to Ramon Urias who just happened to be standing on third to double off Pham to end the inning. The O's wasted no time getting to Pivetta in the bottom of the first as Cedric Mullins effortlessly slapped a base hit to left to start. Adley Rutschman hit a routine pop up to left and Pham fell down trying to make the catch for a "single". Anthony Santander laughed at the Sox dugout as he slapped a base hit to center to put the O's up three batters into the first. Ryan Mountcastle hit a routine fly out to center but Kike Hernandez threw the ball nowhere close to the infield to allow Rutschman to take third. Somehow Kyle Stowers struck out swinging but Urias hit a ball just out of reach of Christian Arroyo for ANOTHER slap single hit to score Rutchsman to ice the game. Austin Hays hit a bullet to Rafael Devers to end the inning but the O's had put the game away 2-0.
Rafael Devers got a lucky hit to center to start the top of the second and somehow JD Martinez drew a walk. Naturally Christian Arroyo banged into a double play and Kike Hernandez.....got a base hit to center to score Devers to cut the lead. Was NOT expecting that! Bobby Dalbec as expected struck out swinging on a straight fastball down the middle to end the inning with the Sox down 2-1.
Somehow Rougned Odor struck out swinging to start the bottom of the second before Jorge Mateo went down hacking. A pissed off Pivetta struck out Mullins swinging as well to end the inning.
Shockingly Kevin Plawecki got a base hit to left to begin the top of the third but naturally Pham hit into a double play. Verdugo flied out to right to end the inning, Rutschman grounded out to short to start the bottom of the third but Santander doubled to left. Santander was thrown out at third on the grounder to short by Mountcastle and Stowers struck out swinging to end the inning.
Bogaerts popped up to first to start the top of the fourth and Devers grounded out to short. Martinez doubled to left but Arroyo struck out swinging to end the inning. The O's threatened in the bottom of the fourth as Urias grounded out to second to start. Hays grounded out to third but Odor was plunked and Mateo ripped a base hit to left. Mullins forced Mateo at second to end the inning.
Hernandez grounded out to third to start the top of the fifth and Dalbec took strike three right down the middle. Plawecki also watched strike three go by to end the inning. Rutschman froze for strike three to start the bottom of the fifth and Santander grounded out to short. Mountcastle struck out swinging to end the inning.
Pham walked to start the top of the sixth bit Verdugo flied out to left. That was it for Kremer as Dillon Tate got Bogaerts to fly out to center and Devers to ground out to first to end the inning. Flowers struck out swinging to start the bottom of the sixth and Urias took strike three. Hays walked and that was it for Pivetta after 103 pitches. The first inning killed him as he left after allowing 2 runs in 5 2/3 innings while striking out 9 batters. Matt Strahm came in to pitch to Odor and naturally walked him. Mateo flied out to center to end the inning.
ESPN showed Baltimore was 44-1 leading after 6 innings and Os proved why as Martinez struck out swinging to start the top of the seventh. Arroyo flied out to right and Hernandez flied out to left to end the inning. Mullins took strike three to start the bottom of the seventh and that was it for Strahm. Matt Barnes came in and struck out Rutschman swinging but Santander got a base hit to right. A wild pitch moved Santander to second but Mountcastle grounded out to second to end the inning.
The unthinkable happened in the top of the seventh as the 27th man Franchy Cordero pinch hit for Dalbec in the top of the eighth AND HOMERED TO TIE THE GAME! Jarren Duran was originally supposed to pinch hit for Plawecki but when O's manager Brandon Hyde pulled Tate for Cionel Perez, Sox manager Alex Cora sent Rob Refsnyder to pinch hit for Duran. Refsnyder took strike three right down the middle, Mountcastle robbed Pham of a base hit and Verdugo flied out to left to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
Cordero ties it up
Reese McGuire took over behind the plate for the bottom of the eighth and Stowers struck out swinging to start. Urias walked and that was it for Barnes. John Schreiber came in and immediately plunked Hays before walking Odor on four pitches not even close to load the bases. Ryan McKenna pinch ran for Urias and naturally Matero chopped a bases clearing double down the left field line to effectively end the game. Schreiber is cooked this year folks. Cora waived the white flag by sending in Austin Davis to pitch and he struck out Mullins swinging. Rutschman walked but Santander popped up to short with the game pretty much over 5-2 Baltimore.
Tyler Nevin came in for Stowers with Felix Bautista on the mound for the top of the ninth. Somehow Bogaerts smashed his 10th home run of the season to start to cut the lead, but Devers struck out swinging. Martinez grounded out to short and Arroyo grounded out to third to end the game. The O's took 2 out of 3 and pretty much eliminated the Red Sox with a 5-3 win.
Jackass of the Night is John Schreiber. All he needed was two outs instead he gave up the backbreaking 3 run double to lose the game.
The Good:
Tommy Pham was 1 for 3 with a walk.
JD Martinez was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Kike Hernandez was 1 for 3 with an rbi.
Franchy Cordero hit a pinch hit home run.
Kevin Plawecki was 1 for 2.
Nick Pivetta allowed just 2 runs in 5 2/3 solid innings, allowing 6 hits and striking out 9.
Matt Strahm tossed 2/3 of a scoreless inning.
Austin Davis got the final two outs of the eighth inning.
The Bad:
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 4.
Christian Arroyo was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts.
Rob Refsnyder struck out as a pinch hitter.
Matt Barnes took the loss by getting charged with the go-ahead run.
The Ugly:
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 but the one hit was a home run.
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but scored a run.
Honorable Mention:
Reese McGuire caught the bottom of the eighth.
Jarren Duran "pinch hit" in the eighth.
Final Thoughts:
That should pretty much do it. The Tampa Bay Rays won to push the Sox 6 games behind them with just 40 to play. It would take an epic collapse by Tampa and a hot streak by the Sox to even get close and that's not happening. The Sox absolutely cannot beat AL East teams and its been proven all season. The Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, The New York Yankees and the O's always make the clutch pitch, the clutch catch and the clutch hit against the Red Sox when they gotta have it. The Sox showed in this series that they don't. They should have been swept by the O's but got lucky. Schreiber is pretty much on fumes mostly due to Chaim Bloom giving Alex Cora garbage to work with besides him. Injuries to Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock during the season didn't help, but Cora had to go to Hansel Robles, a deadarmed Matt Barnes, Darwinzon Hernandez and other guys that just didn't get the job done. Someone's going to pay for this year's failure at the end of the year. Either Cora, Bloom or both has to go for this. As it is, the Sox went from 6 outs and a win away from the World Series to last place in less than a year. The loss dropped the Sox to 60-62, firmly in last place in the AL East. The Sox now return home to take a beating from the surging Toronto Blue Jays. After an off-day tomorrow, on Tuesday night Josh Winckowski (5-5, 5.19) gets creamed by Captain TBD of the Blue Jays. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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