the joy of sox: G154: Rays 5, Red Sox 4 (11)

September 21, 2019

G154: Rays 5, Red Sox 4 (11)

Red Sox - 000 100 020 01 - 4  7  1
Rays    - 002 000 100 02 - 5  9  0

Nate Lowe hit a two-run, walkoff home run to lift the Rays over the Red Sox by a 5-4 score in 11 innings for the second consecutive day. Boston played extra innings (and lost) for the third time in the last five games.

Mitch Moreland had hit a solo shot in the top of the eleventh, but Josh Smith could not do his job in the home half. Travis d'Arnaud doubled to left and Johnny Davis went in as a pinch-runner. Lowe then homered on a 2-0 fastball (91 mph) that could not have been more down the middle of the plate if Smith had tried.

Singles by d'Arnaud and Joey Wendle gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead, but Xander Bogaerts homered (#31) to lead off the fourth and, after Willy Adames hit a solo dong in the seventh, Rafael Devers belted his 31st homer of the year in the eighth.

Devers's 31 home runs is the most ever by a Red Sox third baseman, topping Butch Hobson's 30 in 1977.

This is actually the first time I'm hearing of this, so it's pretty cool ... but there's more records I want to try to continue to break. ... I actually had a conversation with [Hobson] at [Red Sox Winter Weekend in January]. And Bogey was the one that told me he was a really good third baseman.

Bogey said that, did he? ... Hmmm. Did Bogey happen to mention that Hobson committed 43 errors in 1978, that his fielding percentage that season was actually below .900? (That's not easy to do, but I guess if your brain-dead gerbil-manager mindlessly runs you out there day after day, anything is possible.) In six seasons with Boston, ol' Mr. Bone Chips was never even an average third baseman. He was -12 Total Fielding Runs in both 1977 and 1978 and -34 for his Boston career.

Thankfully, Bogaerts is a better hitter than he is a Red Sox historian. X also doubled (#51) in the first inning. ... Matt Barnes struck out the side in the ninth. ... Brandon Workman walked the leadoff man in the tenth, which is fast becoming a pattern. (He has allowed a walk or a hit in each of his last six appearances.) After two strikeouts, the runner was thrown out trying to steal.

The Red Sox struck out 16 times, with J.D. Martinez (0-for-5) and Marco Hernández (0-for-4) each going down by way of the K four times. Moreland fanned three times.

Boston used 11 pitchers, which set a team record for a game of 11 innings or fewer. The Red Sox used 10 pitchers in a 10-8 win in 11 innings over the Orioles on September 18, 2017. (Workman and Barnes pitched in that game, as well.)

In games of any length, the Red Sox used 11 pitchers only four days ago against the Giants (15 innings) and they used 12 pitchers on September 5, 2017 against the Blue Jays (19 innings).