G110: Red Sox 3, White Sox 2 (11)

White Sox - 000 200 000 00 - 2  9  0
Red Sox   - 000 011 000 01 - 3  8  1

Mitch Moreland's opposite field home run, hit into the Monster Seats off the appropriately-named Aaron Bummer gave the Red Sox their eighth walkoff victory of the season - and their third walk off win in the last six days. The Red Sox are now 10-3 in extra inning games, and because Cleveland beat the Yankees 7-2, their AL East lead is now three games. (And they get to feast on Big Game James tomorrow!)

The HR link above is the Chicago feed, which makes it extra-delicious! The ball goes over the Wall and they are utterly quiet before realizing that, sadly, they actually have to do their jobs and say something.

The win was the 400th of John Farrell's Red Sox managerial career and it came on his 55th birthday.

Eduardo Rodriguez (6-4-2-2-5, 118) pitched well, and his teammates tied the score in the middle innings. The Red Sox had managed only one hit through the first four innings, but Rafael Devers, Chris Young, and Xander Bogaerts began the fifth with singles, which resulted in a run. The Red Sox would then squander the opportunity for more. Jackie Bradley reached on a one-out infield hit, loading the bases. Mookie Betts grounded to first and Bogaerts was forced at the plate. Andrew Benintendi struck out on three pitches. Eduardo Nunez hit Carlos Rodon's (7.2-6-2-0-11, 113) first pitch of the sixth for a game-tying home run.

Addison Reed gave up a two-out single to Tim Anderson in the seventh, and Christian Vazquez threw him out when he tried stealing second. In the eighth, Matt Barnes walked Jose Abreu with one out, but got out of trouble on a fielder's choice grounder and a strikeout of Leury Garcia. Craig Kimbrel dug himself a hole in the ninth when Yoan Moncada and Nicky Delmonico singled with no outs. Adam Engel grounded to third, moving the runners to second and third. Kimbrel had the Fenway Park crowd on its feet and roaring as he struck out both Yolmer Sanchez and Anderson.

The Red Sox's bats were very quiet in the later innings. After Nunez's home run, the White Sox retired eight Boston batters in row. Nunez snapped that string with a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth, but Hanley Ramirez struck out. And then the Red Sox were retired in order in the ninth and tenth. In the eleventh, Bummer got Benintendi and Nunez on flyouts and had a 2-2 count on Moreland. But he grooved a slider and Moreland ended the game in grand fashion. (So that makes only three baserunners for the Red Sox over the final six innings, but we'll not worry about that now.)

The Red Sox have won four in a row and the Yankees have lost four in a row. ... Over their last 28 innings, the Yankees have scored a whopping three runs. ... One cool note from New York: Yankees starter Jaime Garcia became the first pitcher to make three straight starts for three different teams since Gus Weyhing in 1895.

July 21: Garcia (7-7-3-1-4, 91) started for Atlanta in a 12-3 win over the Dodgers.
July 24: He was traded to the Twins.
July 28: Garcia (6.2-8-3-3-7, 98) started for the Twins in a 6-3 win over the A's.
July 30: He was traded to the Yankees.
August 4: Garcia (4.2-5-6-4-4, 87) started for the Yankees in a 7-2 loss to Cleveland.

Shocking!:

Carlos Rodon / Eduardo Rodriguez

Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Nunez, 2B
Ramirez, 1B
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Young, DH
Vazquez, C
Bradley, CF

Rafael Devers has reached base in each of his first eight major league games. He's pretty far away from the Red Sox record, however: it's 26 games, set by George Scott in 1966.

Devers has 13 hits in his first eight games. Before last night, his 12 hits were the most by any Red Sox hitter in his first seven career games since Olaf Henriksen had 14 hits in 1911.

Eduardo Nunez has 10 RBI in six games since joining the Red Sox. The only players in Red Sox history to reach 10 RBIs in fewer games are Carl Reynolds (1934) and Jake Jones (1947), who both reached 10 RBI in five games. (Reynolds went on to have 14 RBI in his first nine games.)

Here is something stupid from WEEI: "Vote: Who Is The Heart And Soul Of The Team This Week?" ... My question: Can such an unlikeable team, operating under a season-long dark cloud and struggling to keep pace [sic] with the team below it in the standings, even be said to possess a heart or a soul?

AL East: The Yankees (who the Red Sox, according to at least one sportswriter, are trying to "keep up" with) are 2 GB and the Rays are 3.5 GB. ... NYY/CLE and MIL/TBR.