Sox salvage NY trip
Blow four-run lead but J.D. shot beats Yankees
NEW YORK — This Red Sox bullpen might create plenty of heartburn in New England, but at least it’s been entertaining.
Heath Hembree and Joe Kelly combined to blow a four-run lead in the seventh inning last night. Then J.D. Martinez saved them with a bloop home run that barely cleared the short porch in right field in the top of the eighth.
Kelly rebounded to escape a jam in the bottom of the inning and
Craig Kimbrel got redemption in the ninth as the Red Sox escaped the Bronx with a 5-4 win to salvage something out of the series.
The Sox flew to New York with a one-game lead in the AL East but will leave tied with the Yankees in first place after losing 2-of-3.
It could’ve been worse. It began as a beautiful night for baseball with a gametime temperature of 62 degrees, and it was beautiful still for the Red Sox in the fifth inning when Hanley Ramirez roped a solo shot off CC Sabathia down the left-field line to put the Sox ahead 4-0.
Four runs looked like plenty with Eduardo Rodriguez pitching his best game of the season on the other side. He struck out 10 his last time out against the Texas Rangers, but gave up five runs on three homers to stain his outing.
But there’s something about the Yankees that brings out the best in Rodriguez. Last night he was throwing the hardest he has in years — lighting up the radar gun with a pitch that touched 97.3 mph, his highest fastball velocity since 2015 according to Brooks Baseball.
With a strong slider and deceiving changeup, Rodriguez held the Yankees to just one hit through four innings.
Even after a 55-minute rain delay caused Sabathia to leave the game, the Red Sox sent Rodriguez back out for a scoreless fifth inning to put him in line for the win. He allowed just the one hit and three walks while striking out eight and lowering his ERA to 4.58.
But the bullpen isn’t making things easy.
With Carson Smith likely unavailable after throwing in three straight games and Matt Barnes already used, Hembree took the seventh inning and loaded the bases with only one out.
Manager Alex Cora called on Kelly to clean up the mess, but he made a bigger one.
Kelly walked Brett Gardner to push in the Yanks’ first run of the game. Aaron Judge hit an RBI single behind him, Didi Gregorius collected an RBI on a groundout to second and Gardner scored the tying run on a wild pitch.
After Martinez homered to right on a shot that surely would’ve been a fly ball out at Fenway Park, Kelly created more trouble for himself with a leadoff walk and two-out single in the bottom of the frame. But he made what might’ve been his best pitch of the season, an 86-mph changeup that dotted the bottom part of the zone to strike out Neil Walker and end the inning.
Kimbrel got redemption in the ninth, mowing through the Yanks top of the order one night after they ambushed him with a pair of extra-base hits that blew the game wide open.
Mookie Betts reached base four times with three hits and a walk, and scored twice.