The Boston Red Sox dropped their fourth straight Tuesday night to the Toronto Blue Jays, as Jake Diekman could not hold on to a three-run lead in the ninth.
It seemed as if Boston had woken up from a dry spell in the eighth, as before the only production was a sac fly from Kiké Hernandez in the fourth inning until a four-run top of the eighth put the Sox out in front, 5-2. A trio of hits from Rafael Devers, Christian Vazquez, and Trevor Story (RBI double) began the inning and tied it up at 2-2, while Xander Bogaerts’ RBI double and Hernandez’s run-scoring single made it a three-run lead.
On came Hansel Robles for the eighth, who tossed a scoreless bottom of the frame, and after Boston wasn’t able to add to their lead in the ninth despite a pair of walks, it was up to Diekman. A pair of doubles from Raimel Tapia and Santiago Espinal that led off the inning made it 5-3 in a hurry before George Springer blasted a two-run, game-tying homer.
In the 10th, Story — the ghost runner — was moved over to third, but J.D. Martinez struck out on a high fastball to retire the side. Matt Strahm, who finished the ninth for Diekman, had the bottom half of the 10th, though a pair of walks (one intentional) loaded the bases with the ghost runner. Strahm was able to set down Matt Chapman via the punchout, but on came Matt Barnes with one out, in which a nine-pitch at-bat against Tapia ended in a walk-off sac fly.
Nick Pivetta tossed 4 2/3 innings on the mound, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out six, though he gave out four free passes. Austin Davis had 1.2 one-hit innings, while Hirokazu Sawamura and Ryan Brasier each had one batter of work.
The 7-11 Red Sox will send Michael Wacha to the mound tomorrow while Garrett Whitlock gets the nod in the series finale Thursday. Had Whitlock not been starting Thursday, he could have been very useful yesterday and or tonight out of the bullpen for Boston.
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