Sox win at a Price
Lefty injures wrist after being hit by a line drive
It could have been a deflating and momentum-turning night for a Red Sox team swimming against the current over the last two weeks.
Six losses in eight games leading into a series with the lastplace Marlins with the Yankees playing well. The last thing the Sox needed was to get swept yet again.
But they stormed back to a late-game win Tuesday night, and last night’s comeback might have been even more spectacular after their only hot starting pitcher, David Price, was hit by a line drive and departed after three innings. The offense exploded for 11 runs on 12 hits in the seventh inning to bring life to Fenway Park in the 14-6 win over the Marlins.
“The last two games both have been very big for us,” said Price, who has a bruised left wrist and is day to day. “It’s not the way we wanted to win these two games, but I think it was good for us to come out, get behind, and to come back late in the game yesterday in the ninth inning and to come back again today the way that we did.”
Paired with a loss by the Yankees,
the Red Sox are 71⁄2 games up in the American League East.
It could have been much worse the way this series was going, with the bullpen blowing two leads Tuesday and Price’s injury causing concern last night.
The Sox entered the bottom of the seventh trailing 5-3, when Eduardo Nunez knocked a single up the middle. Ian Kinsler doubled behind him, setting the stage for a Blake Swihart pinch-hit RBI single to bring the Sox within one.
The suddenly clutch Jackie Bradley Jr., who tied Tuesday’s game with a seventh-inning RBI single, stroked a double to center field to tie the game. Bradley quietly is hitting .278 with 15 extra-base hits in 33 games since the All-Star break.
“The head of the bat is staying through the zone,” Sox manager Alex Cora said. “You don’t see him rolling over too often. He’s staying in that left-center gap. He’s swinging at pitches he can drive. You look at his numbers and I know you can’t throw out the first part of the season, but he’s one of the best offensive players in the big leagues.”
Mookie Betts followed by hammering a double to the right field wall and two more runs were in as the Sox took a 7-5 lead. Betts was 3-for-4 with a walk and was on base eight times in 10 trips to the plate in the two-game series.
It was a clinic in aggressive hitting, as all five hits came on the first, second or third pitch in the at-bat. Not until Brock Holt got up as the seventh batter in the inning did a hitter get deeper than three pitches.
“It’s fun,” Betts said. “Hitting is contagious. Once you get a couple hits, the next guy, everybody can hit and you just pass it on back.”
After Andrew Benintendi bunted Betts to third, Holt then tripled to right. What followed was an intentional walk to J.D. Martinez, singles by Xander Bogaerts, Nunez and Kinsler, a double by Swihart, singles by Bradley and Betts and finally a double play off the bat of Benintendi to end a wild inning.
The 11 runs were the most by any MLB team in a single inning this season, and most by a Red Sox team since 2009.
Benintendi made all three outs in the inning, in which 15 batters recorded plate appearances. The Marlins made four mound visits and made three pitching changes.
In summation, the inning went like this: Single, double, single, double, double, bunt out, triple, walk, single, single, single, double, single, single, GIDP.
“The energy was good in the dugout,” Cora said. “It was good to see. Now we go to Chicago and Atlanta. Chicago is playing great, pitching great. We have to be ready for them. In Atlanta, we know where they’re at in the standings. It’s a tough road trip but we’re ready for it.”
It was everything the Red Sox needed after an ugly start in which Price gave up three runs to fall behind early, then left the game when Austin Dean hit him with a 102 mph line drive. X-rays on Price’s wrist were negative and he was diagnosed with a bruise.
Hector Velazquez went three innings while Tyler Thornburg (who got the win), Ryan Brasier and Drew Pomeranz submitted one inning each.