G162: Red Sox 5, Orioles 4

Orioles - 003 000 010 - 4  6  2
Red Sox - 002 001 101 - 5 12  1

The 2019 Red Sox's season ended on a high (and, perhaps, wistful) note. Brandon Workman struck out the side in the top half and Mookie Betts scored on Rafael Devers's single in the bottom half. Betts had begun the inning with a walk. Devers's hit was his third of the day and 201st of the season.

Devers's chopper glanced off the glove of shortstop Richie Martin, who was playing on the right side of the infield. The ball rolled slowly into the outfield and when Betts saw right fielder Steve Wilkerson casually grab the ball and then ponder where to toss it, Mookie dashed for the plate, and scored easily.

The Red Sox finished with a record of 84-78, a drop of 24 wins from last season. They finished in third place in the AL East, 19 games behind the Yankees, and 12 games out of the Wild Card race.

Wilkerson had robbed Jackie Bradley of a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, with a crazy, half-cartwheeling, catch worthy of JBJ himself, at the point in right where the bullpen wall ends and the short wall begins. Boston had runners on first and third with no outs in the inning, but Marco Hernández lined into a double play before Bradley's deep fly.

Matt Barnes coughed up the Red Sox's 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth, blowing the save of what would have been Eduardo Rodriguez's 20th victory of the season. Xander Bogaerts committed a fielding error and Barnes allowed a one-out single. After getting the second out, Barnes gave up a game-tying single to Jonathan Villar.

The Orioles took a 3-0 lead off Rodriguez (7-4-3-2-8, 115) when EdRo walked the leadoff batter in the third and gave up three consecutive hits with one out. The Red Sox quickly got two runs back, however. Gorkys Hernández tripled with one out and JBJ was HBP. Betts singled in Gorkys and Devers singled in Bradley. A wild pitch put runners at second and third, but Betts was tagged out at the plate on Bogaerts's grounder to short.

Boston tied the game in the sixth as Bogaerts walked, the Orioles made a pitching change, J.D. Martinez singled to right, a passed ball moved the runners up to second and third, Mitch Moreland walked, and Christian Vázquez singled. After another change of pitchers, the chance of additional runs was squandered as JDM was forced at the plate and the next two batters were retired.

The Red Sox had three batters finish with a batting average over .300 and 30+ home runs for the first time in history: Rafael Devers (.311/32), Xander Bogaerts (.309/33), and J.D. Martinez (.304/36).

Chandler Shepherd / Eduardo Rodriguez

Betts, RF
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Martinez, DH
Moreland, 1B
Vázquez, C
Holt, 2B
G. Hernández, LF
Bradley, CF

Pitchers have minimal control over whether they get a "win" - you can get a "win" by allowing eight runs, but not get a win by allowing zero runs in 7+ innings (that's happened 32 times this season) - but Rodriguez could be awarded his 20th win of the season today. If so, he would be the sixth Red Sox lefthander with 20 wins, and the first in 66 years!

Red Sox Lefthanders, 20-Win Seasons
Jesse Tannehill - 1904, 1905
Ray Collins     - 1914
Babe Ruth       - 1916, 1917
Lefty Grove     - 1935
Mel Parnell     - 1949, 1953

A counting stat that cannot be awarded until the game is over is suspect. You hit a double - and a double is immediately added to your stats. Same thing with stolen bases, strikeouts, even errors (though sometimes those are changed after the game is complete). But if you give up six runs in two innings, you have to wait at least seven more innings to learn if you got the loss (or the win!).