Red Sox - 000 021 000 1 - 4 8 0 Orioles - 010 000 020 2 - 5 10 0The Extra-Inning Man on Second rule was in effect for the first time in the Red Sox's 2020 season. Boston scored a run on three consecutive walks (a feat which, under the proper rules of baseball, would be impossible), but lost in the bottom half of the tenth when Matt Barnes and a questionable infield decision loaded the bases and Pedro Severino lined a one-out single to center.
The Red Sox (9-19) are 9 GB the Rays in the AL East.
The top of the tenth began with Alex Verdugo on second. Cole Sulser struck out Rafael Devers, then lost control of the strike zone. He walked J.D. Martinez on a full count*. He walked Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland on four pitches each. That gave Boston a 4-3 lead. They squandered the opportunity for more runs when Miguel Castro fanned Christian Vázquez, tying him up with a fastball on his hands and got Kevin Pillar to pop to second.
*: Martinez actually walked on four pitches, but plate umpire Andy Fletcher called Sulser's outside 3-0 pitch a strike. After walking Bogaerts, Sulser's first pitch to Moreland was a strike, but Fletcher called a ball. (In the bottom of the inning, Fletcher would call another pitch in the exact same spot a strike.)
Cedric Mullins led off the home tenth with a bunt towards first. Moreland raced in and fired to third, but his throw was belt high and too late to get Designated Runner Rio Ruiz. Moreland had planned to throw to third all along; he never hesitated. Hanser Alberto was batting when Barnes threw a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Ruiz to trot home with the tying run.
With the potential winning run at second, Alberto grounded a 2-2 pitch to the left of second baseman José Peraza, who slid to his left to keep the ball in the infield, but his throw to first was late. Anthony Santander was walked intentionally to load the bases. Both the Red Sox infield and outfield came in. Andrew Velazquez swung through a 2-1 fastball before Barnes dotted the low, inside corner for called strike three (exposing Fletcher's inability to call similar pitches consistently).
With two outs, Jackie Bradley came in from center to play at the second baseman's traditional spot, with Peraza on the other side of the bag with Bogaerts and Devers. Pedro Severino took a 1-1 pitch on the outside black before Barnes bounced a curveball that Vazquez blocked. Severino lined Barnes's next pitch, a fastball down the middle at 96, into center field.
Back in the fifth, Bradley tied the game 1-1 with his first home run of the year. Back-to-back doubles by Peraza and Verdugo (who extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a third-inning double) gave Boston a 2-1 lead. They increased it to 3-1 in the next inning as Moreland walked, went to third on Vázquez's single, and scored on an infield hit by Kevin Pillar.
Josh Taylor relieved Martín Pérez (7-5-1-1-6, 94) and retired the first two Orioles in the eighth. But he walked Alberto and Santander homered (#10) to left.
In the ninth, Ryan Brasier got two outs on only five pitches. Ryan Mountcastle singled to third and Chance Sisco walked before Brasier regrouped and struck out Ruiz.
NESN Note: I watched only the ninth and tenth innings, but I still heard at least one mystifying comment from Dave O'Brien. In the bottom of the tenth, O'Brien described Alberto as "a pesky hitter", saying he demonstrated this in his previous time at the plate, when he walked.
Verdugo, LFThe Red Sox called up lefty Jeffrey Springs and righty Robert Stock to replace the departed Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman.
Devers, 3B
Martinez, DH
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Vázquez, C
Pillar, RF
Bradley, CF
Peraza, 2B
Last Night: Cabin Pirror!
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 22, 2020
THAT BALL DIDN'T STAND A CHANCE. pic.twitter.com/VGRsKkd5QJ— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 22, 2020
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