Bill Koch

Sunday

Sep 23, 2018 at 11:29 PM


CLEVELAND — There haven’t been too many club records to date this season the Red Sox have left on the table.


Road victories in a single campaign will be one of them. Boston will remain locked with the 2002 team at 51, and there are no chances remaining outside of Fenway Park this season to pick up another.


The Red Sox fell short in the 11th inning for the second straight night at Progressive Field. Greg Allen grounded a one-out, bases-loaded single through the [...]

CLEVELAND — There haven’t been too many club records to date this season the Red Sox have left on the table.

Road victories in a single campaign will be one of them. Boston will remain locked with the 2002 team at 51, and there are no chances remaining outside of Fenway Park this season to pick up another.

The Red Sox fell short in the 11th inning for the second straight night at Progressive Field. Greg Allen grounded a one-out, bases-loaded single through the left side as Cleveland edged Boston, 4-3, in front of 27,879 fans.

William Cuevas turned in five scoreless innings of relief but couldn’t come up with a sixth, absorbing a tough-luck loss. Jose Ramirez drew a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second and took third when Tzu-Wei Lin bobbled a grounder by Erik Gonzalez. Yandy Diaz was intentionally walked to create a force at every bag, but Allen sent a two-hopper off Robby Scott into left field to end it.

Not even another spectacular performance from Mookie Betts was enough to power the Red Sox, who also remain one win shy of setting a new franchise record for victories in a season. The 1912 World Series winners have company at the top for at least one more day with 105.

Houston left it up to Boston to take care of its own business regarding home field advantage throughout the American League playoffs. The Red Sox entered Sunday night still with a magic number of 1 after the Astros took care of the Angels, 6-2, in an afternoon matchup.

Betts matched the career high he set in 2016 by smashing his 31st home run of the season. He opened the fifth by sending a wicked liner 409 feet to right-center field, knotting the game at 3-3. Each Betts homer this season has come out of the leadoff spot, topping Nomar Garciaparra’s franchise record of 30 that he set during a Rookie of the Year campaign in 1997.

Betts grounded a one-out double to the corner in left in the seventh, making it 46 for the year to match another career high he set in 2017. It was a league-best seventh four-hit game for Betts and the 20th time he’s reached base at least four times in a game this season. Barry Bonds was the last to touch that mark in 2004, a year in which he won the last of his seven National League Most Valuable Player honors.

The Betts double in the seventh also gave him three extra-base hits in the game, the seventh time he’s done that this season. No other player since 1908 has accomplished that, with Betts mixing in a pair of three-homer efforts at the Angels on April 17 and against the Royals on May 2. Betts now has 17 career games of three extra-base hits or more, the most of any player since 1900 before his 26th birthday.

Boston squandered its early 2-0 lead thanks a sloppy fourth inning that included two errors, a passed ball and four Cleveland hits. Edwin Encarnacion lined an RBI single to center that chased Hector Velazquez and Melky Cabrera lined a two-run double to the right field corner against Steven Wright. It was the first time entering a game in the middle of an inning for the knuckleballer this season, and Wright exited facing a 3-2 deficit.

Betts blasted a double to left center leading off the first and eventually scored on a wild pitch by Adam Plutko, making it 1-0. Christian Vazquez singled to center leading off the third and was moved around thanks to a single to right by Betts and a one-out walk by Xander Bogaerts. Rafael Devers bounced to first with the bases loaded, an RBI groundout that made it 2-0.

Bogaerts left the game in the middle of his at-bat in the seventh. The Red Sox listed him as day-to-day with left shoulder soreness. Tzu-Wei Lin took over with a 1-and-2 count and struck out, stranding Betts with the go-ahead run at third base.

Boston squandered another chance to take the lead in the eighth, drawing back-to-back walks to start a rally and loading the bases when Jackie Bradley Jr. was hit by a pitch with two outs. Christian Vazquez popped to Jose Ramirez in short right, allowing Neil Ramirez to escape the jam. The Red Sox stranded 13 men in all, including seven in scoring position.

 

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25