BOSTON — The Red Sox’s bullpen is not in a great place right now. Fortunately, Boston’s bats masked those deficiencies Wednesday afternoon.
After watching their relief unit blow yet another late-inning lead, the Red Sox got the last laugh, plating two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to an eventful 8-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park.
The win gave Boston the series victory over Tampa and a 3-3 record on its six-game homestand.
Here’s how this one went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Roller coaster.
Yes, that’s two words, but it’s the best way to describe a seesaw battle that saw the Red Sox come back from a three-run deficit, blow a two-run lead, and immediately get that lead back with a two-run eighth inning.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Aaron Hill and Jackie Bradley Jr. came up clutch in the eighth.
With the score knotted at 6-6, Hill and Bradley each delivered RBI hits to put the Red Sox up by two, allowing Craig Kimbrel to shut the door on a wild win.
ON THE BUMP
— Wright once again was plagued by the long ball in his second start since returning from the disabled list.
The right-handed knuckleballer lasted just four innings, allowing at least one run in three separate frames. He surrendered two home runs — a two-run blast to Logan Forsythe in the second and a solo shot to Logan Morrison in the fourth — and now has allowed four homers in his last two starts.
Wright surrendered four runs on seven hits over four innings, walking three, striking out three and throwing a wild pitch. It was the second-shortest outing of his career.
— Mookie Betts saved Wright a run in the fourth, throwing out Kevin Kiermaier at second base to end the inning as the Rays outfielder tried to stretch a single to a double. Kiermaier was tagged out before Tim Beckham could score from second base.
— Robbie Ross Jr. pitched scoreless fifth and sixth frames, allowing two hits in two innings of work while striking out one.
— Matt Barnes came on for the seventh, allowing a single but striking out the other two batters he faced.
— Fernando Abad closed out the seventh with a strikeout but ran into trouble in the eighth, allowing a hit and two walks to load the bases with two outs before getting pulled in favor of Junichi Tazawa.
— Tazawa coughed up Boston’s lead, allowing a two-out, two-RBI single to Forsythe before getting the final out of the eighth on a ground out. Both runs were charged to Abad.
Tazawa earned the win thanks to the Red Sox’s late-game heroics.
— Kimbrel pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, recording a strikeout while picking up his 24th save of the season.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Hanley Ramirez delivered the loudest hit of the day, crushing a two-out grand slam in the fifth to transform a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 Boston lead. It was Ramirez’s 19th homer of the season, his seventh career grand slam and second in a Red Sox uniform.
— Xander Bogaerts started the scoring in the first inning with a solo homer to left field, his 17th of the year.
— Bradley Jr. joined the homer party in the sixth with an opposite-field solo blast that extended Boston’s lead to 6-4.
Bradley broke out of a 3-for-16 slump in a big way with a 3-for-4, two-RBI effort.
— Hill came up clutch in the eighth inning, smacking an RBI single to right field that plated Ramirez for what proved to be the winning run. His hit snapped an 0-for-20 streak at the plate.
— Bradley followed Hill’s heroics with an RBI double that scored Brock Holt and put Boston up 8-6.
— Dustin Pedroia continues to be white-hot at the plate. He went 3-for-5 on Wednesday and incredibly has 18 hits in his last 23 at-bats at Fenway.
— Chris Young went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and was replaced by Holt in the eighth inning. Holt stepped up with a pinch-hit base hit that set the table for Hill’s go-ahead RBI.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Timing is everything.
UP NEXT
After an off-day Thursday, the Sox will hit the road for a nine-game trip that begins on the West Coast with series against the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres. David Price is set to start Friday in Oakland, with first pitch scheduled for 10:05 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
