The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Red Sox use 11-run inning to reel in Marlins
BOSTON — Mookie Betts homered early and had a two-run double in Boston’s 11-run seventh inning as the Red Sox rallied for a 14-6 victory over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night after their hottest pitcher, David Price, was knocked out with a bruised left wrist.
The 33-year-old lefty exited in the fourth after being struck by a line drive off the bat of Austin Dean on the final play of the previous inning.
Boston’s bats knocked around the Marlins’ pitchers a few innings later.
With the Red Sox trailing 5-3, Blake Swihart had a pinch-hit RBI single and Jackie Bradley Jr. tied it with a double before Betts hit his go-ahead shot into the rightcenter gap off Adam Conley (3-4). Brock Holt followed with a pinch-hit triple and scored on Xander Bogaerts’ single.
Eduardo Nunez and Ian Kinsler had RBI singles before Swihart doubled home his second run of the inning and scored on Bradley’s single. By the time it was over, Boston had its biggest inning of the season.
Betts and Eduardo Nunez each hit a solo homer for the Red Sox, who won for the 22nd time in their last 26 interleague games. They increased their AL East lead to 7 1⁄2 games over the New York Yankees, who lost to the Chicago White Sox.
Dean and Derek Dietrich each had a solo shot for the Marlins. Starlin Castro had two RBI singles.
Tyler Thornburg (2-0) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the win.
Signed to a $217 million, seven-year contract as a free agent before the 2016 season, Price has clearly been Boston’s best pitcher since the All-Star break, going 4-0 with a 1.09 ERA in six starts before Wednesday, prompting him to say recently: “To be able to get back to the pitcher that Boston signed, it’s about time.”
Price raised his arms quickly in self-defense on Dean’s head-high shot, scrambling after the ball to the right side of the mound, but ended up covering first when first baseman Steve Pearce picked it up and tossed it over for the final out of the inning. Price gave up three runs and five hits.
The left-hander looked at his hand as he walked to the dugout and headed straight down the steps toward the clubhouse, followed closely by a team trainer, pitching coach Dana LeVangie and manager Alex Cora.