Red Sox reactions: Boston’s two most reliable relievers blow game (and chance to join 1912 club in history books)
· Yahoo Sports
BOSTON — Instant reactions from the Red Sox’ 4-3 loss to the Athletics at Fenway Park on Sunday:
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1. The Red Sox had a chance to become just the second team in franchise history to win their 10th straight series. But the 1912, which won 11 consecutive series from Aug. 4 through Sept. 15, 1912, still remains the only team to do it.
2. Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman — Boston’s two most reliable relievers — couldn’t get the job done with Boston leading 3-2 in the eighth inning. Whitlock received a blown save and Chapman took the loss.
Whitlock allowed a game-tying double to Jonah Heim in the eighth, just the second earned run he has allowed in his past 20 outings. Heim’s 302-foot, 90.5 mph double landed on the left field warning track after Jarren Duran leaped for it. It looked like a play Duran, an above-average defender, might make but the double did have a .320 expected batting average and tied the game 3-3. It would have been an impressive catch if he made it.
3. Aroldis Chapman then allowed the go-ahead run after retiring the first two batters in the ninth inning. Alika Williams singled with two outs and stole second base. Chapman had Williams potentially picked off, throwing to first baseman Willson Contreras. But Contreras did not make a clean throw to second base. It sailed into the outfield.
Williams scored on Max Muncy’s double, making it 4-3 A’s.
4. The Red Sox’ comeback attempt in the ninth fell short.
Jahmai Jones — pinch hitting for Duran against A’s left-handed reliever Hogan Harris — singled to begin the bottom of the ninth with Boston down 4-3. Eli White struck out on three pitches. Caleb Durbin — pinch hitting for catcher Jake Rogers — then walked to put runners at first and second for Nick Sogard.
Sogard grounded into a force-out at third base for the second out. Then Ceddanne Rafaela lined out 101.8 mph to left field to end the game.
5. Right fielder Eli White, who the Red Sox acquired from the Braves for pitcher Tyler Uberstine before Monday’s trade deadline, had his fingerprints all over this game. The right-handed hitter was in the lineup against right-handed starter T.J. Ginn because right fielder Wilyer Abreu needed to DH after sitting out Saturday with some swelling in his lower leg. DH Masataka Yoshida also was sick.
White stroked three hits, including an RBI single in the second inning against Ginn to tie the game 1-1. But he also struck out with a runner at first base and no outs in the ninth inning with Boston down 4-3.
6. White began Boston’s two-run rally in the fifth inning. He bunted for a hit to lead off the inning with the Sox down 2-1. White reached third base on Jake Rogers’ hit-and-run single with no outs. Rogers’ single went through the hole at shortstop after shortstop Jacob Wilson went to cover second base with White running.
White scored when Ginn made an errant throw to home plate on Nick Sogard’s bunt, tying the game 2-2.
7. Boston went ahead 3-2 in the fifth inning on Wilyer Abreu’s 339-foot sacrifice fly to right field. Abreu had been scratched from Saturday’s lineup after he fouled a ball off his lower leg Friday.
8. White was also involved in a defensive play that allowed the A’s to take a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. White — typically known for being a strong defender — went into a slide to try to catch Tyler Soderstrom’s 311-foot liner down the right field line. He slid into the wall and the ball got past him into the corner, allowing Soderstrom to reach third base with a leadoff triple. White appeared to have no play and likely should have stayed on his feet to try to hold Soderstrom to a double.
9. Soderstrom ended up scoring on Tommy White’s ground-out to shortstop to make it 2-1. The Red Sox were playing the infield halfway in and Andruw Monasterio had no chance at a play at the plate; so he got the sure out at first base.
10. Left-hander Erik Miller, who Boston acquired from the Giants for Marcelo Mayer before last Monday’s trade deadline, opened the game. Miller created his own jam when he threw wild to first base on Wilson’s bunt single. That put runners at second and third base with no outs. But Miller settled down and allowed just the one run while striking out two.
11. The Red Sox had a rare bullpen game. Brayan Bello allowed just one run and struck out four in four innings. Tyron Guerrero tossed a perfect sixth inning and Jovani Morán tossed a perfect seventh. But Whitlock and Chapman failed to finish it off.
12. The Red Sox will open a four-game series in Toronto on Monday. Right-hander Sonny Gray (14-2, 2.78 ERA) will start for Boston while righty Jameson Taillon (2-6, 5.96 ERA) will pitch for the Blue Jays.
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