Red Sox rally past Marlins
BOSTON — Xander Bogaerts is one of five finalists to make the upcoming AllStar Game, his possible trip coming down to an online popularity contest.
After Tuesday night, the Boston shortstop probably got quite a few votes from the New England area.
Bogaerts drove in three runs on a two-out single in the seventh to lift the Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Marlins at Fenway Park.
Miami led 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh before everything fell apart.
“This is a frustrating loss, no doubt about that,’’ said manager Dan Jennings, whose team has lost three straight.
“We can’t hang our heads. We battled, just didn’t get it done in that seventh inning when we had a chance to finish it out.’’
Miami starter Dan Haren was in line for his seventh win of the season before Boston tore through the bullpen.
Steve Cishek got the first out of the inning before loading the bases on a single, walk and an error from third baseman Miguel Rojas.
Mike Dunn came in and struck out Brock Holt for the second out. Carter Capps was brought in to face Bogaerts and was in for a battle.
After fouling off two pitches once reaching a full count, Bogaerts lined Capps’ 99-mph fastball just out of Dee Gordon’s reach at second and into right field.
All three runners took off on contact, and all three scored on the rare basesclearing single.
“We knew the runners would be on the move,’’ Jennings said, “and they would clear the sacks if the ball got into the gap. Hell of an at-bat for the kid. Capps has been great for us all year, our formula is to close out games and win. We still have the same amount of confidence in him.’’
The bottom of the seventh wiped out all the good Miami did in the top of the inning as the Marlins broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of runs.
Catcher J.T. Realmuto led off the inning by lining a shot off the Green Monster in left and beating the ensuing throw in and tag.
With first baseman Travis Shaw playing in and way off the line, Cole Gillespie went opposite field and laced a grounder down the
line at first where he had plenty of vacant real estate.
Realmuto jogged home with the go-ahead run.
Gillespie worked to third and made it 3-1 when he scored on Christian Yelich’s double over the head of center fielder Mookie Betts with two outs.
“Two runs isn’t a sure thing although the way our backend guys have been throwing, we sure felt good,’’ Gillespie said. “Again, you can’t take things for granted. They got guys on base and Boegarts got a big hit.’’
Yelich previously tied the score at 1 in the third inning as his two-out single scored Gillespie from second.
Yelich had been 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position before that hit. He was 2 for 2 in such situations Tuesday.
“He had three hits, made a catch up against the [Monster],’’ Jennings said of Yelich, who went 3 for 4 to extend his hit streak to nine games. “Big night for him.’’ Boston opened the scoring in the second as catcher Ryan Hanigan slapped a two-out single to right scoring Shane Victorino.
After Miami tied it in the third, Boston looked to break things open in the bottom of the frame after Holt led off with a single then moved to third on a double from Bogaerts.
Haren was in trouble, but closed things out to keep the game tied by getting David Ortiz to line out to Mike Morse at first, striking out Hanley Ramirez (looking) and popping up Pablo Sandoval.
Ramirez, the former NL batting champ while with the Marlins, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.
“I got out of the secondand-third with no out jam,’’ Haren said. “Once I did that, I was able to settle in. They had a lot of guys on early but I made some pitches, got some double plays.’’
Miami had something going in the sixth with Yelich and Morse on with one out. Wade Miley kept things status quo by getting Justin Bour to ground out and striking out Ichiro Suzuki.
Ichiro continued his career-long slump as he went 0 for 3 and is hitless in his past 28 at-bats. He struck out looking in his first two plate appearances and grounded out to second to end the eighth after replacing Jeff Baker (oblique) in the second inning.