G139: Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 2 (19)

Blue Jays - 010 001 000 000 000 000 0 - 2 12  0
Red Sox   - 000 000 002 000 000 000 1 - 3 11  2

Mookie Betts's superlative baserunning skills were a key factor in why the Red Sox were able to push Tuesday night's game into extra innings, and his baseball acumen was on display in the bottom of the nineteenth when he scored from second base on Hanley Ramirez's bloop single to center.

The three Toronto outfielders were playing deep and Betts was in a sprint as soon as Ramirez hit the ball off the end of his bat. By the time Kevin Pillar fielded the ball, Betts was steaming around third. He scored easily, and the Red Sox were victorious in their longest game of the season. (It was actually the longest game in the majors this year, lasting one inning longer than the Cubs' 5-4 win over the Yankees in 18 innings on May 7.)

It was also the second-longest game in the history of Fenway Park. The Red Sox lost to Seattle 8-7 in 20 innings on September 3-4, 1981, but that game was suspended after 19 innings because of a curfew rule, and resumed the following day. The longest game in Red Sox history was played on September 1, 1906; the visiting Philadelphia A's beat Boston 4-1 in 24 innings at the Huntington Avenue Grounds (time of game: 4:45).*

Boston set a new franchise record and tied the American League record by using 12 pitchers. The paint was still fresh on that AL record, as it was set on Monday night by the Angels. The Red Sox's bullpen also set a team record with 13 scoreless innings.

The Red Sox had done next to nothing in the first eight innings against Marco Estrada (7-3-0-3-3, 108) and reliever Dominic Leone. In the bottom of the ninth, the Blue Jays brought in Roberto Osuna, who already had blown nine saves this season.

Osuna walked Andrew Benintendi and Betts followed with a double into the left field corner. Ramirez grounded a 2-2 pitch to third. Josh Donaldson made the throw to first for the out, but Benintendi scored. Betts was waiting a little bit off of second until Donaldson released the ball - then he broke for third. That was perhaps the most important play of the game because when Mitch Moreland grounded to second, Betts crossed the plate with the tying run. Xander Bogaerts reached first when Donaldson bobbled his grounder, and he stole second as Rafael Devers batted for Christian Vazquez. But Osuna struck out Devers and the game headed to the tenth.

In the top of the eleventh, Toronto had runners at first and third with one out against Brandon Workman. Justin Smoak flied to center field. Jackie Bradley made the catch and fired a perfect one-hop throw to the plate, nailing Jose Bautista, who had walked to open the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Betts was stranded at second when Bogaerts struck out.

The Boston bullpen retired the Blue Jays in order in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. A double play wiped out a leadoff walk in the sixteenth. The Red Sox had leadoff singles in the thirteenth and sixteenth and a one-out hit in the fifteenth, but were unable to advance any of those runners.

In the top of the seventeenth, Blaine Boyer struck out the first two batters, but was pulled by manager John Farrell, who brought in Fernando Abad to face the left-hand hitting Ezequiel Carrera. The move backfired as Carrera hit a first-pitch single. Richard Urena followed with a single to right and there were runners at first and third. Abad got ahead of Raffy Lopez 1-2, and Urena stole second. Lopez ended up fouling off four pitches before finally taking a curve on Abad's ninth pitch for strike three.

There was some excitement in the top of the eighteenth when Donaldson took a pitch that was up and in (though clearly in the strike zone) for strike one. Donaldson disagreed with umpire Marvin Hudson and as he was back in the batters box preparing for Carson Smith's second pitch (yes, Carson Smith!), he was still yapping because Hudson suddenly ejected him. Miguel Montero finished the at-bat by grounding out. Rob Reysnyder reached on an infield error, but was thrown out to end the inning by Sandy Leon when he tried to steal second.

Betts began the bottom of the nineteenth with a line drive double off the wall against Chris Rowley, who was in his fourth inning of relief. Ramirez swung and missed a pitch and fouled off two more before dropping his single into shallow center. The game lasted exactly six hours.

The start of the Yankees-Orioles game was delayed by rain for 2:14 and it wasn't until the eighteenth inning that we learned that the Yankees had blown a 6-1 lead and lost when Manny Machado hit a two-run walkoff homer against Dellin Betances.

The Red Sox's lead in the AL East is 3.5 games.

*: The longest game in major league history was also played in Boston, when the Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers played to a 1-1 tie in 26 innings on May 1, 1920. And the Pawtucket Red Sox won the longest game in professional baseball history, beating the Rochester Red Wings 3-2 in 33 innings. The game began on April 18, 1981, was suspended after 32 innings, and finished on June 23.

Marco Estrada / Eduardo Rodriguez

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

In nine starts since coming off the disabled list on July 17, Rodriguez has a 5.47 ERA.

MFY Watch: The Yankees (2.5 GB) play at Baltimore.

Stuff from last night:

The Angels set an American League record when they used 12 pitches in their win over the A's. Also, the Angels are the first team in MLB history to play four consecutive games lasting longer than 3:49:

Friday, September 1: Rangers 10, Angels 9 (4:33)
Saturday, September 2: Angels 7, Rangers 4 (10) (4:09)
Sunday, September 3: Rangers 7, Angels 6 (3:49)
Monday, September 4: Angels 11, Athletics 9 (11) (4:38)

Avisail Garcia of the White Sox did not like it when Cleveland's Trevor Bauer threw him some nasty breaking pitches that he could not hit. Bauer suggested that he get right back in the box and, after striking him out, directed him back to the bench. Bauer's breakdown of their interaction is quite amusing.

Giancarlo Stanton's 53rd home run of the year was also his 33rd solo shot. That's the most one-run homers since David Ortiz hit 33 in 2006.

J.D. Martinez became the first player in Diamondbacks history to hit four home runs in a game, as Arizona beat the Dodgers 13-0. Martinez became the first player since Mike Schmidt (1976) to hit three home runs in a game in the seventh inning or later (he went deep in the 4th, 7th, 8th, and 9th). Arizona pitcher Robbie Ray struck out 14 batters. His 53 strikeouts against the Dodgers this year are the most against the Dodgers in one season since 1908, when Christy Mathewson of the Giants had 58.

Pablo Sandoval is now 0-for-his-last-33. Since getting back to San Francisco, where he is properly appreciated, Sandoval is hitting .196 and slugging .268.