A Koji Uehara-less bullpen could not get the job done Tuesday for the Boston Red Sox.
In their first game since learning their closer would miss the remainder of the season with a fractured wrist, the Red Sox’s relief corps surrendered five unanswered runs and blew a save in a 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Miami Marlins.
GAME IN A WORD
Juxtaposition.
Marlins pitchers retired the final 13 Red Sox batters, with Boston’s final baserunner coming in the sixth inning. Miami’s batters, meanwhile, racked up seven hits, five walks and five runs over the final five frames after falling behind 4-0.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Justin Bour tripled off Craig Breslow with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, scoring Dee Gordon from third base with the winning run.
The Red Sox’s bullpen was not a well-oiled machine, as the Marlins scored all five of their runs after starter Steven Wright left the game (though the knuckleballer was charged with two of them). Boston blew a four-run lead in the ballgame, with the Marlins pushing across the tying run in the ninth inning against Junichi Tazawa to force extras.
ON THE BUMP
— Seeking his third consecutive quality start, Wright found himself in his first jam of the night in the second. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Miami, but Wright had the benefit of then facing his counterpart, Marlins starting pitcher Justin Nicolino. He got the southpaw to ground out to first to end the threat.
Miami packed the seconds again one inning later — two more singles and another walk, all with two outs — but Wright again avoided danger, getting J.T. Realmuto to fly out to center to retire the side.
One of Wright’s few relaxing innings came in the fourth, as he retired the side in order on three consecutive flyouts to Bradley in left field. One of those grabs was of the highlight-reel variety:
[tweet https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/631263031075278848 align=’center’]
Wright struggled from there on out, however. He issued two more free passes in the fifth before stranding runners on the corners, then allowed a double and a walk to the first two batters in the sixth. That ended his outing, as acting manager Torey Lovullo (John Farrell missed the game as he recovered from hernia surgery) opted to bring in right-hander Ryan Cook.
— Cook’s Red Sox debut wasn’t exactly encouraging. The former Oakland A’s reliever, whom Boston acquired in a trade-deadline deal, allowed both inherited runners to score — via groundout and single — and committed a throwing error before retiring the side.
Both of those runs were charged to Wright, whose final line read as follows: five-plus innings, two runs (both earned), five hits, five walks, four strikeouts.
— Tommy Layne fared no better. The recently recalled left-hander walked the only two batters he faced in the seventh on 10 pitches before being lifted for Alexi Ogando.
— After Ogando took over, Gillespie reached on an infield single to load the bases. Each of the next two batters flied out to right, with Ichiro Suzuki’s traveling deep enough to score Derek Dietrich from third and cut Boston’s lead to 4-3.
Ogando then blew a 96-mph fastball past Adeiny Hechavarria to pick up the final out, stranding runners on the corners.
— Jean Machi began the eighth with two quick outs before surrendering a double and walking a batter. That walk put the potential go-ahead run on base, but Machi recovered to induce an inning-ending groundout, sending the Sox into the ninth up one.
— Aiming for his first save since 2012, Tazawa allowed two one-out singles in the ninth, uncorked a wild pitch to put both runners into scoring position and allowed the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly by Hechavarria.
— A leadoff triple by Gordon doomed Breslow in the 10th. The left-hander intentionally walked Martin Prado and struck out Dietrich before surrendering Bour’s game-winning single.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Betts got off on the right foot in his return from his concussion-induced absence. The center fielder led off the game with a single up the middle, took second on a Brock Holt groundout and advanced to third on a base hit by Xander Bogaerts. That’s where he remained, however, as David Ortiz followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play.
— Bradley followed up Sunday’s monster performance by tripling over the head of center fielder Cole Gillespie in his first at-bat Tuesday. Betts singlds two batters later to drive in Bradley with the game’s first run.
— Bradley and Betts teamed up for run No. 2, as well. The former notched a one-out single off Nicolino in the fifth and came around to score when Marlins third baseman Martin Prado couldn’t handle a scorching ground ball off the bat of Betts.
Betts ended up on second base but initially was not awarded a hit, as Prado controversially was charged with an error on the play. The official scorer later changed that ruling, however, giving Betts a double.
— In the sixth, Boston’s other killer B provided the scoring. Bogaerts led off the inning with a single, scampered to third on an Ortiz base hit and came home on a Nicolino wild pitch to make it 3-0 Red Sox.
Rusney Castillo tripled to right field two batters later, driving in Ortiz.
TWEET OF THE GAME
[tweet https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/631290143266058240 align=’center’%5D
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will wrap up this brief two-game series — and their eight-game road trip — Wednesday afternoon. A Thursday off-day will follow, with the Sox welcoming the Seattle Mariners to Fenway Park on Friday to kick off a 10-game homestand.
Thumbnail photo via Robert Mayer/USA TODAY Sports Images
