There are plenty of words to describe this Boston Red Sox team, and resilient may be the best of them.
Boston won its fifth straight game Tuesday, earning a 10-7 victory in 10 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays in the first contest of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.
With the Red Sox trailing 3-2 in the eighth inning, J.D. Martinez furthered his MVP case by drilling a three-run homer to give the Sox the advantage. It was his 34th longball of the season, which allowed him to retake the Major League lead in dingers.
But after closer Craig Kimbrel blew the save in the ninth, Mitch Moreland came through in the 10th with a three-run shot of his own to lift the Red Sox to victory.
With the win, the Red Sox climb to 80-34, while the Blue Jays climb to 51-61.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Clutch.
The Red Sox found themselves in a few less-than-ideal situations, but each time they were able to rally through with some clutch offense.
ON THE BUMP
— Things did not go overly well for Sox starter Drew Pomeranz, who continued to struggle as he works to regain his form. He allowed two runs on four hits with five walks and one strikeout over 4 2/3 innings. Only 44 of his 84 pitches were for strikes.
With one on and one out in the third, Pomeranz left a 91-mph full-count fastball right over the heart of plate to Devon Travis, and the second baseman took it way out of the park to give Toronto a 2-0 advantage.
In the fourth, Pomeranz allowed a one-out walk but induced a double-play grounder to get out of the inning. He got back into some trouble in the fifth, allowing a leadoff double to Luke Maile. And with two outs he issued a walk, resulting in Alex Cora coming out to end the pitcher’s night.
— Heath Hembree entered for Pomeranz with two on and two out and got Teoscar Hernandez to fly out to bring the frame to a close.
— Brandon Workman took over in the sixth, and with the help of catcher Sandy Leon, weaseled himself out of an ugly jam. He loaded the bases with no outs but responded by getting a shallow fly out for out No. 1. He then was helped by a stellar play from Leon, who raced after Maile’s dribbler down the third base line, grabbed it with his glove and in the same motion applied the tag to the runner dashing for home for the second out. Workman then got the final out on a force at home to work a scoreless sixth.
— Joe Kelly allowed an unearned run in the seventh. Travis singled to left to begin the inning, but Andrew Benintendi uncorked a dreadful throw that sailed way past second base and allowed Travis to take an extra base. Kelly later allowed Travis to get to third on an errant pickoff throw, and he scored to make it 3-1 on a Hernandez sacrifice fly.
— Matt Barnes handled the eighth and allowed the Blue Jays to cut into Boston’s 5-3 advantage. The right-hander allowed a leadoff single to Yangervis Solarte, but after recording two outs, Barnes allowed Maile to smack a double into the right-center field gap to score Solarte and bring the score to 5-4. He escaped the inning with the lead preserved after getting Randal Grichuk to pop out.
— Kimbrel blew the save by allowing a one-out solo homer to Justin Smoak to tie the game at five.
— Tyler Thornburg certainly made things interesting, allowing Kevin Pillar to crush a two-run home run in the 10th to trim Boston’s lead to 10-7. But that was the last damage the Jays would do, with Thornburg eventually closing the game out.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Boston’s first offensive life was shown in the fourth. With the Sox trailing 2-1, Benintendi reached on an error with one out and Moreland walked the next at-bat. Martinez then singled to bring in Benintendi and cut the deficit to one.
— The Red Sox loaded the bases in the eighth and did some damage. Leon drilled a one-out double down the line, and Benintendi followed up Mookie Betts’ walk with a single to get the bases juiced. Moreland plated Leon to make it 3-2 by grounding into a fielder’s choice, with Benintendi getting erased at second in the process.
With runners on the corners, Martinez gave Boston a 5-3 lead by ringing a 2-0 inside fastball off the left-field foul pole.
Just. Dingers. pic.twitter.com/96rAGaDmEc
— NESN (@NESN) August 8, 2018
— With the game tied in the 10th, Moreland came through in a big way. Betts drilled a one-out triple, and Benintendi followed with a walk. With one down and runners on the corners, Moreland blasted a three-run moonshot to right off Ken Giles to give the Sox an 8-5 lead.
Touch 'em all, Mitch. pic.twitter.com/jDqgGloffN
— NESN (@NESN) August 8, 2018
Jackie Bradley Jr. added some insurance a few batters later with a two-run blast of his own to up the score to 10-5.
— Martinez led the Sox with three hits.
— Betts, Benintendi, Moreland Bradley, Leon and Xander Bogaerts each had one hit.
— Eduardo Nunez and Brock Holt went hitless.
TWEET OF THE DAY
The man just loves hitting.
Reasons why work never stops pic.twitter.com/BYApVEzyJs
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 8, 2018
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Jays will continue their three-game set with the middle contest Wednesday. Brian Johnson is set to get the ball for Boston and will be opposed by Mike Hauschild. First pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET.
