After a slow start to the 2021 Major League Baseball season, the Boston Red Sox now have won five games in a row.
The Red Sox extended their streak with a 6-4 extra-innings win over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Saturday. And this one was a battle.
Boston’s bullpen let the team’s one-run lead slip away in the eighth inning, but its bat’s ultimately saved the day in the ninth and 10th innings. Matt Barnes got the win and Matt Andriese got the save.
The Red Sox improve to 5-3 while the Orioles dipped to 4-4.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Seesaw.
Boston and Baltimore traded leads late in this one.
ON THE BUMP
— Garrett Richards put together a solid outing, but ran into trouble early once again.
Trey Mancini and Anthony Santander clobbered back-to-back home runs off the righty with one out in the first. Mancini’s blast was his first since returning to the team after battling cancer.
Richards settled down after that, giving up just one in the next four innings.
In total, Richards gave up three hits and three walks and struck out four on 79 pitches.
— Darwinzon Hernandez took over in the sixth. He gave up two hits and a walk and struck out two in 1 1/3 innings.
— Adam Ottavino entered the game in the seventh with a man on first and retired the side. He hit a snag in the eighth, though.
After the righty gave up up a single and double to leadoff the inning, Ryan Mountcastle scored from third after Kevin Plawecki failed to apply the tag at home.
Alex Cora gave Ottavino the hook after Freddy Galvis ripped a single to left field and drove Ryan McKenna home. He allowed three hits and struck out just one in just over an inning of work.
— The Red Sox leaned on Josh Taylor to help stop the bleeding, and despite walking the first batter he faced, he finished the job.
— Matt Barnes was tasked with sending the game to extra innings, and he did just that with a hitless ninth.
— Matt Andriese got the ball for the 10th and had himself a 1-2-3 inning.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Rafael Devers knocked in the first run of the game with a two-out RBI single in the first.
Devers got in a run-down during Marwin Gonzalez’s at-bat, but Xander Bogaerts managed to score before he was tagged out to make it 2-0 Boston.
— Gonzalez attempted to score from first base in the fourth on a Christian Arroyo double, but was tagged out at home.
— Devers gave Boston its lead back with a two-out home run in the sixth. It was his second of the season, too.
— Bobby Dalbec got his first RBI of the season in the ninth, driving in the game-tying run with one out to make it 4-4.
— Boston made it 5-4 early in the 10th inning after Michael Chavis scored on a wild pitch.
The Sox got another run on a Christian Vazquez single to left.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will wrap up their three-game set against the Orioles on Sunday with a matinee at Camden Yards. First pitch is slated for 1:05 p.m. ET.
