After blowing two late leads Tuesday night, the Boston Red Sox ended up walking off on the Miami Marlins on an error in the ninth inning to take an 8-7 win at Fenway Park to end a three game losing streak.
An Ian Kinsler RBI single in the second, an Andrew Benintendi RBI double and a Xander Bogaerts sacrifice fly RBI in the third, and a solo homer by Eduardo Nunez in the sixth had Boston up 4-1 until the top of the eighth. Matt Barnes came out of the Sox bullpen, and was greeted with a Brian Anderson single. A two run homer by J.T. Realmuto then cut the lead to 4-3. The next hitter Sterling Castro tied it with a solo homer, and later in the inning Rafael Ortega with the bases full hit a two run single off Heath Hembree to give visiting Miami (53-80) a 6-4 lead. Four out of the five runs were charged to Barnes in the inning.
Boston (91-42), rallied back in the bottom half of the eighth. A two out, two run single by Jackie Bradley Jr made it 6-6. A wild pitch on ball four to Mookie Betts allowed Kinsler to score from third to make it 7-6 Sox, all off Marlins reliever Tayron Guerrero. Craig Kimbrel tried to save it in the ninth but after one out, walked back to back batters. Magneuris Sierra tied it with an RBI single blowing the save for Kimbrel. After Steve Pearce pinch hit and flied out to begin the home half of the ninth, JD Martinez and Bogaerts singled. Nunez then bounced one to Marlins shortstop J.T. Riddle, who tagged second for an out, but the throw to first was low and skipped past first baseman Miguel Rojas allowing Martinez to score the game winner from second base.
Martinez, Bogaerts, Nunez, Kinsler, and Bradley all had two hits a piece to lead the 12 hit Boston attack. Ortega, Anderson, Realmuto, and Castro had two hits a piece out of the 13 for visiting Miami.
Brian Johnson started for the Sox and got a no decision, allowing one run, five hits, one walk, with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Brandon Workman worked 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, Joe Kelly got a hold (19) with a scoreless inning. Barnes was charged with four runs on four hits in just 0.1 inning. Kimbrel (4-1) got his fifth blown save but also got the win. Jose Urena also got a no decision allowing four runs on six hits in 6.0 innings for the Marlins. Drew Steckenrider (4-3) took the loss in relief, allowing the unearned run in the ninth.
Boston sends David Price to the bump in the second and final game of this series Wednesday at 6:35. Miami counters with Trevor Richards.
