Vazquez walkoff home run rescues Red Sox
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Most people probably paid to see Chris Sale make his 22nd start of a season that might be the best by a Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 1999.
Instead, Sale pitched his worst game of the year, All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel blew a save and the sellout crowd still got one of the most entertaining games of the year. And a worthy ending. It goes down as a 12-10 walkoff win over the Cleveland Indians, courtesy of a Christian Vazquez three-run home run, but if ever one win could count as two, this one was it.
“You can’t ask for more than that,” said shortstop Xander Bogaerts. “This was a Playstation game.”
The Red Sox erased three leads, ignored a remarkable catch by a tumbling-over-the-bullpen-wall Austin Jackson to rob Hanley Ramirez of a home run and endured disastrous relief pitching from their newly acquired set-up man, Addison Reed, and Kimbrel in the ninth.
In the bottom of the frame, Mitch Moreland struck out for what should’ve been the final out with a man on second, but the pitch escaped catcher Yan Gomes and Moreland reached first.
Vazquez then ended the insanity with a three-run blast to dead center off Indians closer Cody Allen.
“Clutch,” said Bogaerts. “We needed that, to be honest.”
To make it sweeter, Vazquez said his dad was in the stands for just the third time this season.
“I was trying to hit the ball hard, but it never came to my mind to hit a homer,” he said. “That’s when they come, when you’re not trying.”
Momentum was lost and then gained in large chunks, with the Red Sox overcoming their largest deficit of the season, as the Indians were up 5-0 by the second inning, making seismic progress with a bases-clearing double by Eduardo Nunez in the bottom of the sixth.
They gifted Sale a much-deserved bailout from his worst start of the year.
“It definitely wasn’t the night when we went out there and showed our best stuff,”
Kimbrel said of him and Sale. “But we still got the win, that’s what this game is about. You’re not going to have your best stuff every night and that’s why we’re a team. Our team really picked us up tonight and our bats showed up. It was just an allaround win.”
Paired with a loss by the Yankees, the Red Sox took over first place in the AL East in the type of game capable of shaping the entire month, if not the season.
“We were scrapping,” Sale said. “It was a dog fight. Legit. Any time you put a lot of effort and a lot of emotion into this game, to come out on top is huge.” (Boston Herald)
Tigers 4, Yankees 3
Anibal Sanchez pitched a season-high 6 2/3 innings, and Shane Greene recorded a five-out save as Detroit held on for a victory over New York.
Sanchez (3-1) recorded an out in the seventh inning for only the second time this season as a starter. He allowed two runs and six hits while pitching to contact during most of his 101-pitch outing.
Greene was named closer Monday after Justin Wilson was traded to the Chicago Cubs, and he recorded his first save of the year and third of his career.
John Hicks hit a three-run homer and Justin Upton added a solo homer for Detroit, which won for the fifth time in its past 13 games.
Marlins 7, Nationals 6
The first-place Washington Nationals lost star pitcher Max Scherzer to a neck spasm and then blew a six-run lead, falling 7-6 to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night at Marlins Park.
Scherzer hit his first career homer, a three-run blast, in the top of the second inning, but he could not throw a pitch in the bottom of the second. He left as a precaution and said postgame that he is day-to-day.
Miami’s Marcell Ozuna hit a threerun homer, tying the score 6-6 in the fifth, and teammate Derek Dietrich had the go-ahead RBI with a triple in the same inning.
Washington’s Howie Kendrick also had a big game, going 5-for-5 with a two-run homer. He tied his career high with five hits.
Rays 6, Astros 4
Evan Longoria hit the second cycle in franchise history, and Tampa Bay fended off Houston at Minute Maid Park.
Longoria homered in the first inning, hit an RBI triple in the third, singled in the seventh and doubled in the ninth.
Logan Morrison clubbed his 27th homer while recording a pair of RBIs for the Rays, who squared their fourgame series with the Astros.
Dodgers 3, Braves 2
Kenta Maeda won his fourth straight start, giving up two hits in seven innings, not allowing a runner past first base, as Los Angeles beat Atlanta to stretch its latest winning streak to nine games.
Maeda (10-4) struck out six and walked one in his longest start since June.
Dodgers rookie slugger Cody Bellinger hit his 29th homer and Yasiel Puig had a double, single and stolen base, scoring twice.
Braves starter Lucas Sims turned in a solid outing in his major league debut. Sims (0-1) worked six innings and gave up three runs and six hits. The 23-yearold right-hander struck out three, hit a batter and didn’t issue a walk.
Cubs 16, Diamondbacks 4
Chicago clubbed five home runs, including one by starting pitcher Jon Lester, in a rout of Arizona during the series opener at Wrigley Field.
Anthony Rizzo homered twice, and Ian Happ and Javier Baez each had one homer as the Cubs matched a season high for homers in a game.
Lester hit his first major league homer – a two-run shot to left field in the third inning.
He also fanned pinch hitter Jack Reinheimer in the fourth inning for the 2,000th strikeout of his career.
Patrick Corbin (8-10) lasted just three innings as the Cubs hit him for eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits.
(Reuters)