The Boston Red Sox’s recent success came to a halt Tuesday evening, allowing a five-game winning streak to come to an end.
After giving up a comfortable three-run lead in the seventh inning, Boston forced extra innings but was unable to recover in their 5-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies in 11 innings at Fenway Park. Boston’s bats got off to a hot start, but got quiet as the game moved along and lead quickly shrank.
Chris Sale was lights out for most of Tuesday’s outing, allowing just two earned runs and three hits while striking out an impressive 17 batters over seven innings. A two-run homer in the eighth from Charlie Blackmon off Brandon Workman swiped Sale from the win.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Disappointing.
A stellar start by Sale couldn’t prevent the Sox from blowing a comfortable lead.
ON THE BUMP
— Now this is the Sale we know and love.
The southpaw tossed 17 strikeouts Tuesday evening, a career-high for the lefty. He even tied a club record for the longest strikeouts streak by a Red Sox pitcher (six) to begin a game since the start of the Expansion Era in 1961.
After allowing only one hit through the first six innings, Sale gave up a two-run homer to Nolan Arenado in the seventh, cutting the Sox’s lead to one.
— Workman came in to relieve Sale in the eighth but was unable to maintain the lead, giving up a two-run homer to Charlie Blackmon to give the Rockies a 4-3 lead.
Workman would eventually get out of the inning.
— Matt Barnes entered the game in the ninth, pitching a 1-2-3 inning. He would return to the mound for the 10th and struck out the side.
— Ryan Brasier took the mound for the 11th, walking two men before allowing an RBI-single to Mark Reynolds with two outs in the inning. This gave Colorado a 5-4 lead.
Brasier was able to escape the inning without allowing any more runs to score, but the damage was done.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox were first on the board Tuesday evening thanks to another homer hit by Michael Chavis.
The second inning solo shot gave the Sox an early 1-0 lead.
(The umps briefly reviewed the play, but it was eventually upheld.)
— The Sox didn’t stop there, launching two more homers over the Green Monster in the third.
First, it was J.D. Martinez who crushed one into center field, extending Boston’s lead to two.
Devers followed that up with a solo shot of his own, giving the Sox a 3-0 lead.
— Down one run in the eighth, the Sox tied the game on an RBI-single hit by Mitch Moreland.
But any chance of adding to that was squandered when Eduardo Nuñez grounded into a double play to end the inning.
— Boston had one last chance in the bottom of the 11th to either tie or win the game, but were unable to get anything going.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Hockey wasn’t the only interesting thing going on in Boston sports Tuesday evening, despite the Sox’s loss.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will continue their brief two-game series against the Rockies on Wednesday, with Eduardo Rodriguez set to take the mound for Boston. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. ET.
