BOSTON --- It finally felt like 2018 again for the first time this season at Fenway Park.
These were the Red Sox who simply refused to be beaten during their record-setting dash to a championship last season. This was the result that simply had to happen to salvage a split in the opening home series of 2019.
Rafael Devers dropped a walkoff single into short right field as Boston changed course for at least one night. The Red Sox recorded their first home victory of the [...]
BOSTON --- It finally felt like 2018 again for the first time this season at Fenway Park.
These were the Red Sox who simply refused to be beaten during their record-setting dash to a championship last season. This was the result that simply had to happen to salvage a split in the opening home series of 2019.
Rafael Devers dropped a walkoff single into short right field as Boston changed course for at least one night. The Red Sox recorded their first home victory of the season a 7-6 thriller against the Blue Jays.
Mookie Betts drew a one-out walk and Mitch Moreland smoked the tying double to the base of the wall in center field, making it 6-6. It was the first blown save in 35 chances for Toronto closer Ken Giles, and the worst was yet to come. J.D. Martinez was intentionally walked. Xander Bogaerts drew a walk and Devers collected his first career walkoff RBI with a broken-bat knock over the drawn-in infield.
The mood in the Back Bay was somewhat foul before the deciding rally. Freddy Galvis drove a solo home run to right field off Ryan Brasier in the eighth to snap a 5-5 tie, and Boston was in danger of suffering only its second sweep in the last two years. The Red Sox didn’t drop their 10th game until May 8 last year and didn’t lose their fourth series until falling in two out of three games against the Athletics from May 14-16.
Nathan Eovaldi slipped through the first two frames thanks to inning-ending double plays, but he wasn’t as fortunate in the third. Justin Smoak fouled off three straight pitches on 3-and-2 before catching up with a 99.1-mph fastball at the bottom of the strike zone. He ripped a liner to deep center that settled into the first row of the bleachers, giving the visitors a 3-0 lead.
Eovaldi issued the fourth walk of his outing to Randal Grichuk and in stepped Rowdy Tellez, a veteran of just 104 plate appearances coming into Thursday and a top-30 prospect within the Toronto organization. He jumped all over a cut-fastball from Eovaldi and launched a towering drive beyond the visiting bullpen in deep right field, one measured by online service Baseball Savant at a disputed 505 feet. It was a considerable two-run blast regardless of its accurate length, giving the Blue Jays a 5-0 cushion.
Eovaldi managed to grind through five innings, but it was the first time in his career the right-hander had walked four batters in back-to-back outings. His two homers allowed raised the tally among the Red Sox rotation to an ugly 18 in just 13 games. Boston’s starters remain the only group in the big leagues yet to notch a victory this season.
The Red Sox squandered a golden opportunity to take the lead in the first. Sanchez threw strikes on just 12 of his first 22 pitches and Boston loaded the bases on a one-out walk by Martinez. Bogaerts struck out swinging on a curveball down and away and Devers bounced to short, allowing Sanchez to escape.
Boston eventually struck in the third when Martinez launched an RBI double deep into The Triangle in right center and Devers lined his own RBI double to right. Dustin Pedroia sliced an RBI single inside the bag at first to make it 5-3, driving in his first run since Sept. 29, 2017 – a span of 559 days. Bogaerts scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and Moreland drove a solo homer to the home bullpen in right in the seventh, knotting the game for the first time at 5-5.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25