That almost was fun. Instead, it was just stressful.
The Boston Red Sox dropped the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 after an exciting come-from-behind offensive performance was squandered by a walk-off single from Alec Bohm.
The Phillies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second, extended it to 4-1 in the third after a shaky inning from MartÃn Pérez on the mound, but thanks to the hot bats of Rafael Devers, Alex Verdugo and Bobby Dalbec, the Red Sox climbed back into it with four unanswered runs.
With the win, the Red Sox fell improve to 14-29 while the Phillies improved to 21-17.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Brutal.
There’s no other way to describe being one out away from the win and having the other team walk it off.
ON THE BUMP
— Pérez got the start for Boston. It wasn’t his best outing, but he got enough run support from the offense to keep things close.
In the first inning, he walked a batter but didn’t give up a run or hit.He ran into some trouble in the second, giving up a solo shot to Didi Gregorius for the Phillies to take an early 1-0 lead.
The third is where things got hairy for Pérez. He walked Bryce Harper with the game tied before recording two outs. However, the sacrifices allowed Harper to advance to third and then score on an error.
Pérez walked two more batters after that, and Gregorius and Phillip Gosselin scored thanks to a single from Bohm.
The Red Sox starter bounced back in the fifth and sixth innings. And thanks to a handful of home runs, he almost recorded the win. He threw five full innings, giving up four earned runs on five hits and six walks with two strikeouts.
— Ryan Brasier came in to relieve Pérez, but got into a jam right away.
He walked Andrew Knapp and Andrew McCutchen singled after recording an out on the first batter he saw. Brasier struck out Rhys Hoskins, but had to face Harper next with two outs and two on.
Harper flew out to strand the runners and Boston got out of the inning maintaining its lead.
— One run game. Enter closer Matt Barnes.
Barnes walked J.T. Realmuto to start before recording a K for the first out. But with a single from Gregorius led to runners on first and third with just one out.
He struck out Adam Haseley with seven pitches to bring up Bohm, and the rest was history, with the Phillies third baseman hitting a single after a patient at bat.
Barnes was handed the loss after giving up two runs off two hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Don’t look now, but Boston has been home run happy of late. In the Red Sox’s last three games, they’ve recorded 13 home runs.
Devers started the trend, absolutely smoking the hardest hit homer of his career, and the second-hardest hit one of any Red Sox player, to tie the game at 1-1 in the top of the second.
Later in the fifth, Verdugo and Devers went yard back-to-back to bring the Red Sox within a run. They were both crushed as well, with Verdugo taking his home run 423 feet to right field and Devers’ traveling 417 feet to left.
Dalbec wanted to join in on the fun, though. He tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning, going 425 feet to left.
— Devers finished hitting 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs to lead the Red Sox offense. Christian Vazquez was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate starting at catcher.
— J.D. Martinez, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Michael Chavis didn’t record a hit in the contest. Martinez walked once.
TWEET OF THE GAME
We wonder what song Chavis was dancing to.
UP NEXT
This is a quick turn around. The Red Sox play the second game of Tuesday’s double-header with the Phillies at 7:40 p.m. ET, from Philadelphia.
Thumnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images
