Red Sox Get Extra Inning 6-4 Victory Over O’s; Extend Win Streak to 5

The Red Sox picked up the 6-4 victory Saturday night in extra innings over the Orioles. Garrett Richards had a solid bounce back performance. Nothing special, but definitely a step in the right direction after his first start.

“Tonight, just in the first inning, I got clipped on a couple first pitches,” said Richards, who allowed 2 runs in 5 innings of work in a bounce back start. “It’s going to happen but just keep the foot on the gas and keep moving forward and keep making pitches.”

The Red Sox got going early. They got up 1-0 in the top half of the first, and Rafael Devers would cause a pickle, but that would allow Xander Bogaerts to score to make it 2-0.

Richards would not have the best of starts to his start, as at first it looked like he was going down the wrong path. 2 solo shots for the O’s would tie the game at 2 a piece.

In the bottom half of the 2nd inning, both teams would go down scoreless. But Rafael Devers would make a mental mistake that luckily wouldn’t cost the Red Sox a run. He forgot how many outs there were and didn’t tag the runner at 2nd on a steal.

“For some reason Raffy (Devers) didn’t tag the runner,” Cora said. “Just one of those where I wanted to slow the game down. I just felt like everything was going fast. It was a different feel today actually with the fans. They were into it. There were a lot of them. It just felt that way. Even myself, I had to slow down a little bit early on. So just a message (to players) like, ‘We have nine innings. If we play it this way, it’s going to be too fast for us.’ So we did a good job after that.”

Rafael Devers redeem himself in the 6th inning with a solo shot to make it 3-2.

Ottavino would strand Darwinzon Hernandez’s runner that Hernandez put on 2nd in the 7th, but would give up the lead in the 8th. Ottavino surrendered 2 runs to give the Orioles the 4-3 lead. Devers would make another redemption play though, on a ball hit down the line. He made the backhand play with a one-hopper throw, to keep the Red Sox within one run.

“He didn’t panic,” Cora said. “He knew the runner and that’s what we’re talking about. Just anticipate the play and go from there.

The Red Sox would answer right back in the 9th. With runners on the corners and one out, Bobby Dalbec would beat out a double play ball, that would’ve ended the game if Dalbec didn’t beat it out. Marwin Gonzalez scored, it was knotted at 4.

“I mean, the hits will come,” Dalbec said postgame. “I’m happy to get an RBI there and put the team in a position to win the game. So, that’s what I’m thinking about if I got a hit on it.”

Dalbec has struggled this season, hitting just .095. He has just 2 hits on the year and no home runs in 21 plate appearances.

“That was huge,” Cora said. “He’s a little bit down, obviously, he’s not swinging the bat the way he’s capable. But he took some tough changeups and then he put the ball in play and good things happen.”

Matt Barnes would pitch a scoreless bottom half of the 9th to keep it tied and send it into extras.

A passed ball would score Michael Chavis in the 10th, giving the Red Sox the 5-4 lead. They would muster another run off of a Christian Vazquez RBI single that drove in Verdugo.

Matt Andriese would close the door for the Red Sox first save of the year, and the Red Sox 5th straight win.

“It’s a hungry team,” Matt Barnes said. “I mean it’s a 162-game season. We’re going to lose some games in a row even moving forward. But the way that we were able to bounce back and get the W and sweep the Tampa Bay Rays and then come here and get the first two, it’s been a lot of really good energy and everybody’s kind of meshing together.”

The Red Sox are currently atop the AL East, at 5-3 on the season after starting the year out 0-3. They’re the first AL East team to lose the first 3 games of the season, only to bounce right back and win the next 5 since the 2003 Blue Jays.“

You know, it’s a good vibe,” Cora said. “It’s a good vibe. We got a bunch of good baseball players. That’s the way I see it.”

The Red Sox will take on the Orioles at 1:05 PM EST on Sunday to try for the series sweep. Nick Pivetta will get the nod for the Red Sox.