It wasn’t a very exciting home opener for the Boston Red Sox Friday afternoon until a three-run inning in the eighth sparked some life but it wasn’t enough as the Sox fell in the home opener.
Nick Pivetta let up four runs early and was pulled after just a pair of innings, forcing the bullpen to stretch for seven innings — though it was a fairly solid performance from the ‘pen. Phillips Valdez (two innings), Ryan Brasier, and Austin Davis all hurled hitless innings but Hirokazu Sawamura yielded two hits on a walk, and two runs scored off him in the fifth, though he pitched a clean sixth.
Boston’s only production before a three-run rally came in the eighth was a solo big fly from Alex Verdugo, though a comeback started to piece itself together when Kiké Hernandez’s RBI double led to Rafael Devers’ two-run shot to make it a 6-4 ballgame.
However, Matt Barnes worked himself into a jam in the ninth by walking a pair of hitters to start the inning, and two runs scored after a single and hit batsmen. The Red Sox went down 1-2-3 in a lifeless ninth inning.
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