TORONTO — Michael Chavis just can’t stop making his presence felt during this charmed start to his Red Sox career.
Boston appeared determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Wednesday night before the rookie had the final say at Rogers Centre.
Chavis smashed a solo home run to left-center field in the top of the 13th inning, finally putting the Red Sox on top to stay. Boston survived a night of squandered leads and nervy bullpen performances to [...]
TORONTO — Michael Chavis just can’t stop making his presence felt during this charmed start to his Red Sox career.
Boston appeared determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Wednesday night before the rookie had the final say at Rogers Centre.
Chavis smashed a solo home run to left-center field in the top of the 13th inning, finally putting the Red Sox on top to stay. Boston survived a night of squandered leads and nervy bullpen performances to record a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays.
It was the 10th home run in just 28 career games for Chavis, and it came from behind in the count 1-and-2. Jimmy Cordero ran a cut-fastball back out over the plate and straight into the barrel of the bat, a place from which the ball tends to jump when Chavis doing the swinging. His 424-foot blast finally turned the lights out on Toronto and set up the Red Sox to claim a four-game series victory in Thursday’s matinee finale.
Mookie Betts appeared to have won the game for Boston the previous inning. His solo shot to center snapped a 4-4 deadlock, only to be answered by Rowdy Tellez in the bottom half. Tuesday night’s hero was at it again for the Blue Jays when he cracked a solo shot to center, knotting the game at 5-5.
Heath Hembree vulture a victory after blowing the save in the 12th. Ryan Brasier was the lone Red Sox reliever to emerge unscathed, working a scoreless 11th and turning things over to Hembree in line for the win. Tellez had other ideas and made it an even more extended night for the 18,285 fans on hand.
Marcus Walden the first to blow a save in the ninth, surrendering the tying run. Brandon Drury lined a one-out double to the gap in left-center and pinch hitter Danny Jansen sent a two-out single into right to knot the game at 4-4. Eric Sogard left the winning run aboard when he grounded routinely to first, but Boston was already in serious jeopardy in its fifth extra-inning game of the season.
Walden staved off defeat by escaping a bases-loaded, one out jam in the 10th. Freddy Galvis struck out swinging and Drury flew to deep left, with Andrew Benintendi ranging back to make the catch just shy of the warning track. It was just the second time Walden had allowed an earned run in his last 12 outings, a span of 20 1/3 innings.
Rafael Devers delivered what appeared to be the killer blow leading off the top of the eighth, sending a breaking ball from Derek Law over the fence in left. He became just the sixth Red Sox player to homer in three straight games at age 22 or younger, joining all-time greats like Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Carl Yastrzemski. That gave Boston a 4-2 advantage and would have stood as the winner.
Mitch Moreland’s RBI groundout in the seventh had made it a 3-1 game, and he also struck in the third when the Red Sox did half of their scoring. Two-out singles to right by Moreland and Xander Bogaerts staked Boston to a 2-0 lead, one they eventually relinquished later on.
Rick Porcello was touched for a single run in six innings of work, and it marked a milestone for a promising rookie. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off the bottom of the fourth by smoking a drive to deep center for a solo homer. It was his first round-tripper in front of the home fans in Toronto and the fifth in his 21 career games.
Porcello was in command otherwise, scattering four hits and striking out four against no walks. Guerrero was the only member of the Blue Jays to touch second base against the right-hander, who has posted a 2.78 earned-run average over his last seven starts. Boston has dropped only one of those games, that coming in a 3-1 defeat against Houston on Friday night.
Brandon Workman made life hard on himself after retiring the first two men he faced in the seventh. Left-handed hitters entered just 1-for-25 with six walks against the right-hander, but Freddy Galvis and Billy McKinney sandwiched a single and a walk around a double from Drury. Luke Maile drew a walk to force in a run, making it 3-2, but Sogard bounced to second to end the threat.
Matt Barnes also squandered half of a 4-2 advantage when he was summoned in the eighth. Justin Smoak ran into a curveball down in the zone and ripped it down the line in right for a one-out solo home run, the third allowed by Barnes this season. He retired the next two men without incident, delivering the Red Sox to the ninth.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25