With the Red Sox and White Sox tied, 1-1, entering the bottom of the ninth, Boston manager Alex Cora chose the trusty Garrett Whitlock to attempt to send it to extras.
Whitlock struck out Eloy Jimenez and Yasmani Grandal through eight pitches, and he was a pitch away from fanning Leury Garcia, as the righty was ahead 0-2.
But Whitlock tossed a swing-inducing, 98-mph fastball right down the heart of the plate as Garcia took it 430 feet over the center field wall for the win.
It was a quiet game until the ninth. The only offense came before that was a two-out, RBI single in the sixth that knocked Nick Pivetta — who made his first start since being out with COVID-19 — out of the game. Pivetta went five strong, but after a fielding error from Kiké Hernandez to start the sixth, the runner scored on the single from Robert to make it 5 1/3 earned run-less frames.
Adam Ottavino finished out the sixth for Pivetta, and Darwinzon Hernandez and Hansel Robles both hurled a pair of scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
Entering the top of the ninth, Boston was down 1-0. Hernandez made up for his error though with a double to lead off the ninth. Two walks from Hunter Renfroe and Rafael Devers loaded the bases, and Alex Verdugo delivered a one-out sac fly to tie it up. The game-tying RBI from Verdugo sent it to the ninth, but the Sox drop their 64th game of the season and miss out on a series sweep.
They’ll take on the Mariners for three to continue the crucial roadtrip, in a trio of 10 p.m. EST starts.
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)