The Red Sox limped into Fenway Park on Tuesday night for a quick two-game series with the tanking Miami Marlins on the heels of their first series sweep of the season.
Brian Johnson and Jose Urena took the mound for their ballclubs, with Urena pitching in his first game back from suspension after intentionally hitting Braves’ rookie phenom, Ronald Acuna Jr.
The game kicked off in the second inning, when Ian Kinsler got the offense rolling with a high-bounding chopper over third baseman Brian Anderson’s head and into left for a single. Xander Bogaerts came across to score, and the Red Sox were off to a quick 1-0 lead.
However, that lead didn’t last very long. With Johnson on the mound, typically someone is bound to hit a home run. Johnson allowed Isaac Galloway to hammer one over the left-center field fence, in the third inning, for his second of the year to tie the game at one.
In the bottom half, the Red Sox responded nicely. Andrew Benintendi lashed an RBI double to right-center field gap, scoring Jackie Bradley Jr., and giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Two batters later, Bogaerts hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Mookie Betts. Resulting in a 3-1 lead, less than a third of the way into the festivities.
Eduardo Nunez gave the Red Sox some insurance when he barely snuck a home run into the shelf on top of the Green Monster in left for his eighth home run of the season, making it 4-1 Red Sox. Things were looking up for the Red Sox.
However, the Red Sox don’t necessarily have the tightest bullpen in the game. In fact, the eighth inning has become a revolving door of arms in recent weeks. Some nights fans see Joe Kelly, some nights it’s Ryan Brasier, but on Tuesday it was Matt Barnes. Having struggled in his previous eight outings, Alex Cora was looking for Barnes to revert back to his July form, where he emerged as a force in the Red Sox bullpen.
Cora’s wishful thinking did not pay off, however. Barnes gave up a single to Anderson, followed up by a two-run shot from J.T. Realmuto, and a solo home run from Starlin Castro—all while failing to record a single out. He then got a strikeout against Derek Dietrich, but then gave up another hit. Cora then pulled Barnes from the game and on came Heath Hembree to stop the bleeding.
However, he did far from that. Hembree allowed the inherited runner to score, and then allowed another run of his own in .2 innings. After 7 1/2 innings, the score was 6-4 Miami.
The Red Sox of course didn’t go quietly. Jackie Bradley Jr. ripped a two-out, two-run single to tie the game up, and then Mookie Betts took ball-four on a wild pitch, plating the go-ahead run. The Red Sox lead 7-6 with their All-Star closer coming on for the ninth. All but over, right?
Wrong—Craig Kimbrel looked shaky. He blew the save on a single by Magneuris Sierra, who was hitting .161 entering the at-bat. The score was 7-7 after 8 1/2 innings.
Steve Pearce opened the bottom of the ninth inning with a flyout, followed by J.D. Martinez and Bogaerts singles. Eduardo Nunez reached on a fielder’s choice, but a throwing error brought home the winning run to give the Red Sox an 8-7 win.
