BOSTON — The Red Sox got a little taste of their own medicine Friday night.
The Red Sox entered their game against the Houston Astros on an historic offensive tear, but it was the Astros who got the last laugh at Fenway Park, racking up 13 hits to hand Boston a 7-6 loss in a game played through steady rain.
Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright came back to Earth, allowing five earned runs over 4 1/3 innings in his shortest outing of the season to date. Boston put up five runs in the second inning but scored just one run over the final seven frames to snap a five-game winning streak.
Here’s how it all went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Slosh.
Both teams labored through the rain-soaked affair, combining to use 11 different pitchers over the 3-hour, 49-minute contest. The rain never delayed the game, but it certainly didn’t make things easy on either pitching staff, as the Red Sox and Astros combined for 13 runs on 24 hits.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
George Springer launched a two-run homer onto the Green Monster in the sixth inning.
The Astros right fielder’s blast broke a 5-5 deadlock to give Houston a two-run lead. Travis Shaw responded with a solo shot shot in the bottom of the frame, but that was the last run the Red Sox could muster.
ON THE BUMP
— Wright didn’t fare too well in the wet stuff. He worked a quick first four innings but ran into all sorts of trouble in the fifth, allowing four runs on four consecutive hits before getting the hook with one out in the frame. He allowed season highs in hits (nine) and earned runs (five), tallying three strikeouts and two walks.
— Matt Barnes helped Boston escape more damage in the fifth, inducing a Luis Valbuena pop-up and striking out Carlos Gomez to end the inning. The sixth didn’t go as well, as Springer, Barnes’ former University of Connecticut teammate, chased him with a two-out, full-count homer to right field. Barnes was tagged with the loss.
— Robbie Ross Jr. recorded the last out of the sixth inning and cruised through the seventh, striking out two as part of a 1-2-3 frame.
— Koji Uehara allowed a double to Jose Altuve in an otherwise unblemished eighth inning.
— Craig Kimbrel issued two walks on a pair of close pitches in the ninth but also struck out two batters to prevent any further damage.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox scored five runs in the second inning during an early offensive outburst. Ryan Hanigan’s double with the bases loaded drove in two, and Jackie Bradley Jr. sliced a single to right field to drive in another run. Hanigan then scored on a wild pitch, and Mookie Betts added an RBI single for good measure to give the Sox a comfortable early lead.
— Boston’s white-hot bats cooled until the sixth inning, when Shaw launched his fifth homer of the season, a solo blast to dead center that brought the Red Sox within a run.
— Shaw finished 2-for-3 and now is 10-for-19 with eight RBIs and eight runs scored in his last five games.
— The Red Sox’s normally potent offense went out with a whimper. Houston’s bullpen retired seven of the last batters it faced, including five via strikeout. Boston managed just one hit over the final three innings.
— Bradley Jr. extended his hitting streak to 19 games, giving him the longest streak in Major League Baseball this season. He finished 3-for-4 with one run batted in and is batting an incredible .591 on Boston’s current homestand.
— Xander Bogaerts stretched his hitting streak to eight games with a single in the first inning. He finished 2-for-4.
— Hanley Ramirez went 1-for-3 with a run scored, giving him at least a hit in 15 of his last 16 games.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
Aren’t numbers fun?
UP NEXT
Clay Buchholz will look to pick up his third win of the season when gets the start Saturday afternoon against the Astros. Houston will counter with right-hander Collin McHugh. First pitch at Fenway is set for 1:05 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
