The Boston Red Sox had to lean on their bullpen in order to pick up a 5-4 win over the Chicago Cubs at Fenway Park on Friday night.
Boston got six innings out of starter Drew Pomeranz but had to use five relievers over the final three innings to nail down the victory.
With setup man Matt Barnes still serving his four-game suspension for the incident with Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, the Red Sox were forced to mix-and-match arms out of the pen to try and get the final nine outs of the game.
Robby Scott got the first call out of the pen lasting 1/3 of an inning, allowing a run and tallying a strikeout. Next came fireballer Joe Kelly, who surrendered a run on two hits while striking out two.
Heath Hembree got the ball to begin the eighth inning and his night was short lived. Hembree was greeted by a screaming line drive to third base that was snagged by Marco Hernandez. The next two batters, however, would rope back-to-back singles to chase the right-hander from the game.
The Red Sox sent left-hander Robbie Ross Jr. to Triple-A Pawtucket before the game, so it was left to Fernando Abad to get the final two outs of the eighth inning. Abad hadn’t pitched in any high-leverage situations this season but he did the job Friday night. The Red Sox left-hander rung up both Matt Szczur and Kyle Schwarber on changeups to escape the jam and keep the Red Sox’s lead intact.
Closer Craig Kimbrel gave up a two-out double in the ninth but ended up striking out the side to earn the save.
“As much as they were matching up, we were trying to do the same,” manager John Farrell said as seen on “Red Sox Extra-Innings Live.” “(Abad) had two key strikeouts at a pivotal point in the game. And overall, whether it was Drew (Pomeranz) or the guys behind him, we did a pretty good job with runners in scoring position.
“Big pitches to keep big innings from happening. But Fernando’s two strikeouts were key. And Kimbrel was Craig, he’s been overpowering.”
Barnes will be eligible to return from his suspension Sunday night against the Cubs.
Here are more notes from Red Sox-Cubs.
— The Red Sox won their fifth straight one-run game.
— Boston has won its last nine interleague games at Fenway Park and 18 of its last 20.
— Andrew Benintendi has 27 hits on the season, the third-most by a Red Sox rookie in the month of April since 1913. Nomar Garciaparra had 38 in 1997 and Shea Hillenbrand had 34 in 2001.
— Pomeranz held the Cubs hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position. Since 2016, Pomeranz leads the major leagues with a .149 opponent batting average with runners in scoring position.
— Right-handed hitters now are 0-for-19 with 11 strikeouts against Kimbrel this season, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
— Blake Swihart broke out of his slump at Triple-A Pawtucket as he launched his second home run of the season Friday night.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
