As for the game, what an unmitigated disaster for the Boston Red Sox bullpen. The Sox enjoyed a 3-0 lead over Nick Martinez and the Cincinnati Reds when disaster struck in the seventh inning. Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a grand slam off of Greg Weissert and scoring another run off him. The Reds then scored 3 runs off of Jordan Hicks in the top of the eighth and the embarrassment was complete. The Sox dropped their 8th game out of 11 as the Reds won 8-4 at Fenway Park.
Brennan Bernardino got the ball in the top of the first and TJ Friedl struck out swinging to start. Matt McLain walked and promptly stole second but Elly De La Cruz struck out swinging. Austin Hays grounded out to short to end the inning. Martinez got the ball in the bottom of the first and Jarren Duran struck out swinging to start. Roman Anthony grounded out to short but Abraham "El" Toro singled to right. Trevor Story singled to left but Wilyer Abreu grounded out to second to end the inning.
Tyler Stephenson grounded out to second to start the top of the second and Rece Hinds grounded out to third. Gavin Lux doubled to left and that was it for Bernardino. Jorge Alcala got Christian Encarnacion-Strand to ground out to third to end the inning. The Sox struck first in the bottom of the second as Ceddanne Rafaela ripped a base hit to right then moved to third on the error by Friedl. Marcelo Mayer popped up to second but Romy Gonzalez hit a sac fly to right to score Rafaela. Connor Wong singled to center but was thrown out at second trying to steal to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
Santiago Espinal struck out swinging to open the top of the third and Friedl flied out to center. McLain beat out a roller to Alcala but De La Cruz lined out to left to end the inning. Duran flied out to center to start the bottom of the third and Anthony did the same. El Toro flied out to left to end the inning.
Chris Murphy came in to pitch the top of the fourth and Hays struck out swinging to start. Stephenson flied out to right and Hinds struck out swinging to end the inning. Story doubled to left to start the bottom of the fourth but Abreu struck out swinging. Rafaela grounded out to third and Mayer flied out to center to end the inning.
Lux grounded back to the mound to start the top of the fifth and Strand popped up to first. Espinal flied out to right to end the inning. Gonzalez grounded back to the mound to begin the bottom of the fifth and Wong grounded out to third. Duran flied out to right to end the inning.
Friedl lined out to right to start the top of the sixth but McLain doubled to left. De La Cruz grounded out to third and Greg Weissert came in to face Hays. Austin grounded out to short to end the inning. The Sox struck again in the bottom of the sixth as Anthony grounded out to second to start. El Toro lined out to left but Story singled to center. Abreu then clocked his 17th home run of the season to increase the lead. Rafaela grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.
Things fell apart in the top of the seventh as Stephenson singled to right to start. Hinds then hit a routine grounder to third....booted by Toro for an error. Lux walked to load the bases and Strand hit a grand slam into the Charles River to put the Reds up for good. Espinal grounded out to second but Friedl doubled to right. McLain lined out to center but De La Cruz singled to center to score Friedl. The boo's rained down as FINALLY Sox manager Alex Cora pulled the incompetent Weissert. Jordan Hicks came in to get Hays to ground out to second to end the inning with the Reds up 5-3.
Reds take the lead
The Sox did fight back in the bottom of the seventh as Mayer hit a ground rule double into the left field stands. Gonzalez blooped a double into left field to score Mayer but was thrown out at third trying to stretch a triple. Wong flied out to center and Taylor Rogers came in to face Duran. Jarren got a base hit to center but Anthony struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox down 5-4.
Hicks fell apart in the top of the eighth as Stephenson singled to center to start. Hinds forced Robert at second but Lux walked. Strand got a base hit to right to load the bases and Espinal singled to right to score Hinds. Friedl then hit a grounder to short and Story booted it for an error. Lux scored on the error and Cooper Criswell came in to pitch. McLain hit a grounder to short and Espinal was thrown out at home. De La Cruz lined out to center to end the inning with the Reds ahead 8-4.
Reds pour it on
Tony Santillan came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Toro struck out swinging to start. Story flied out to right and Abreu flied out to center to end the inning.
Hays singled to center to start the top of the ninth but Stephenson struck out swinging. Will Benson pinch hit for Hinds and forced Hays at second, but Lux singled to right. Strand grounded out to third to end the inning. Emilio Pagan came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Rafaela doubled to left to start. Mayer struck out swinging, Gonzalez went down hacking and Wong lined out to center to end the game. The Reds had won it 8-4.
Reds win
"Get out and stay out, Jackass" - Cora
Jackass of the Night is Greg Weissert. He turned a 3-0 lead into a 5-3 deficit in about 10 minutes.
The Good:
Trevor Story was 3 for 4 with a run scored.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Romy Gonzalez was 1 for 3 with 2 runs scored.
Brennan Bernardino pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Jorge Alcala tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Chris Murphy pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
Cooper Criswell tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
Roman Anthony was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Jordan Hicks allowed 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning.
The Ugly:
Jarren Duran was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Wilyer Abreu was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but the one hit was a 2 run home run.
Abraham Toro was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout and an error.
Marcelo Mayer was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but scored a run.
Connor Wong was just 1 for 4.
Final Thoughts:
The sad thing is there's still 74 games left in the season. The Sox clearly won't get over the loss of Rafael Devers as their offense is just too inconsistent. On top of that, Jordan Hicks can throw 100 but straight as an arrow. The trade looks worse every single day and the Sox are suffering through it. Alex Cora and Craig Breslow might be gone after the season if the season goes down the drain just like it did the previous three years. We're still a month before the trade deadline but it would take a miracle for things to turn around. Let's see how bad things get by the end. The loss dropped the Sox to 43-45, 6 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. After an off-day tomorrow the Sox travel to Washington for a three game set with the Nationals beginning Friday morning on the 4th of July. Lucas Giolito (4-1) takes on Michael Soroka of the Nationals. The game begins at 11:05 AM at Nationals Park
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