He got a quick first out before Mike Zunino hit one off the Monster. That would bring Josh Taylor out for the seventh, with the southpaw making his first appearance since hitting the COVID list as a close contact seven days ago. With a walk immediately following that they had a chance for a big inning, but would settle for one run on an RBI base hit from Renfroe to make it an 8-6 game. With the Red Sox now searching for any momentum of their own, Motter got the bottom of the sixth started with a big triple of his own. The Rays were now within one, but Richards did leave runners on the corners after that to maintain the shrinking lead. That put two men on for Jordan Luplow, who usually is a platoon player to face left-handed pitching but this time came through with a base hit against the righty to bring another run home. The Red Sox reliever did strike out two of the first three batters he saw in the inning, but the middle at bat ended in a single, as did the fourth. The offenses went quiet for a couple of innings heading into the sixth with the same score, Richards still on the mound for Boston. Sale would have to be pulled after two more singles, but Garrett Richards stranded those two runners to keep it a 7-5 game. Instead, he sailed it, and Cruz came around for what was effectively a Little League grand slam, pulling Tampa Bay back to within two. The cutoff throw went in to Motter, who tried to get the out at third base. That allowed all three runs to score, but it continued to get worse.
But Verdugo lost the ball in the sun and it bounced off his glove. This is when we got to the most frustrating moment of the ballgame, because it looked like Sale had gotten out of it on a fly ball to center field.
RED SOX SCORE NOW FULL
A couple more singles later, and the Rays had the bases full with Nelson Cruz coming up. Instead, Walls reached on a little infield single to keep the inning alive. Sale was able to get a couple of quick outs to start that inning, and he only needed to get through the nine hitter in Taylor Walls to get out of the inning. But then the fourth happened and this turned into a game again. Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty ImagesĪs I said, it sure seemed like this was setting up for an easy Labor Day for the Red Sox with their ace on the mound. They would send 10 batters to the plate in the inning, and by the time the dust settled it was a 7-1 lead. From here, Boston had a batter get hit, a double high off the Monster - Hunter Renfroe had a single and a double in his first two at bats of this game that missed being homers by a combined roughly five feet - an intentional walk, a single, a double, and a sacrifice fly. Christian Vázquez got things started with a leadoff single before Taylor Motter (who was bizarrely tasked with hitting leadoff in this game) brought him home with a double to give Boston the 2-1 lead. He tallied three more strikeouts over the next two innings, allowing two baserunners without any more runs crossing the plate.Īnd as for the offense, it appeared they were ready to run away with things themselves in the second. Behind three straight one-out singles, the Sox quickly tied the game up, though like the Rays, they left the bases full to end the inning.īut Sale was able to get past that arduous first inning for some quick work over the next couple. Monday’s game was more like those first three. They were facing Ryan Yarbrough, who mostly kept them quiet last week but had struggled mightily in three other starts against Boston this season. But amid all of that, the Rays only put one run on the board, stranding the bases loaded with a chance to break this game open early.Īnd then the Red Sox offense had an answer in the bottom of the inning. Chris Sale was on the mound for a long time in that first inning, needing about 25 minutes to get through an inning that saw a triple (which could have been caught by Alex Verdugo at the wall, though my personal opinion was that it was a more difficult play than I saw some make it out to be), three singles (two of which were of the infield variety), a walk, three strikeouts, and a foul tip that knocked the home plate umpire out of the game. This was a wild game between the Rays and the Red Sox, and it was weird pretty much right from the start.
This was a total embarrassment of a loss for the Red Sox with inexcusable defense leading to a total collapse after leading 7-1. I’m writing this with low battery and no power at home, so I’ll make this section quick.
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