G120: Red Sox 5, Cardinals 4

Cardinals - 040 000 000 - 4 10  1
Red Sox   - 002 000 003 - 5  9  2

Mookie Betts doubled off the left field wall with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, knocking in two runs and giving Boston its ninth walkoff win of the season. The victory means the Red Sox maintained their 4.5-game lead over the Yankees.

Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal began the inning hoping to save St. Louis's 4-2 win. But Xander Bogaerts hit Rosenthal's second pitch into the Monster Seats for a solo home run. Rosenthal fell behind Mitch Moreland 3-0 and walked him on a full-count pitch. Chris Young ran for Moreland, Brock Holt pinch-hit for Christian Vazquez, and Zach Duke took over on the mound. Holt struck out swinging and Jackie Bradley walked.

John Brebbia became the Cardinals' third pitcher of the inning. With Eduardo Nunez at the plate, Brebbia took an extraordinary long time holding his set. Nunez called time, and it was granted by home plate umpire Chris Segal before Brebbia began his motion. But catcher Yadier Molina barked something to Segal and St. Louis manager Mike Matheny shot out of the dugout. He pushed his catcher out of the way and began arguing with Segal (and eventually had to be re-directed to his dugout by two other umpires). It seemed like Matheny really wanted to get tossed - and Segal obliged him. Nunez eventually fouled out to first for the second out.

That left everything in Mookie's hands. Betts fell behind 1-2 and Brebbia tried twice to get Betts to chase a pitch low and outside the zone. It was a pitch Betts has chased (and missed badly) before, but he held his swing both times - and the count was full. As soon as Brebbia began his motion for the payoff pitch, the runners took off. Betts swung and lined the ball off the wall. Young scored easily and Bradley sprinted around third. The throw home might have been in time, but Molina could not hang onto it. Bradley slid head-first to the third-base side of the plate and had to dive back and tag it before the winning run counted.

Betts finished the night 3-for-4 with three RBI. ... Rafael Devers walked and doubled.

AL East: The Yankees beat the Mets 5-3. Aaron Judge set a new position-player record by striking out in his 33rd consecutive game. It is my hope that Judge will go on to break the all-time record. Ahead of him on the list is Vida Blue (34 games, 1971) and Bill Stoneman (35, 1971).

Lance Lynn / Eduardo Rodriguez

Eduardo Nunez had two hits last night, giving him 21 hits in his first 11 home games with the Red Sox. That is one hit shy of the franchise record, set in 1926 by Baby Doll Jacobson, who had 22 hits in his first 11 games at Fenway.

Rafael Devers also had two hits last night, giving him 23 hits in his first 17 major league games. The only other Red Sox players to do that are Tom Oliver (1930) and Johnny Pesky (1942). Since Devers joined the club, the Red Sox are 13-5 (and 11-1 in their last 12 games).

Joey Votto of the Reds has reached base at least two times (by hit, walk, or HBP) in each of his last 20 games. That ties the National League record, which is also held by Pete Rose (1979) and Barry Bonds (2004). Votto has a .611 on-base percentage since his streak began on July 26.

The major league record is 21 games, held by Ted Williams (May 31-June 24, 1948). TSW had a .635 OBP during his streak. In 104 plate appearances, Williams struck out only two times. The Reds play the Cubs at Wrigley tonight.

AL East: The Red Sox lead the Yankees by 4.5 games. MFY/NYM.