Rafael Devers had six hits and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a solo homerun in the 10th inning Tuesday night as the Boston Red Sox outlasted the Cleveland Indians 7-6 at Progessive Field.
Boston jumped on Cleveland starting pitcher Mike Clevinger early on. Mookie Betts led off the game with a wall ball triple to left center field. Devers followed with a double to left to score Betts. Betts made it 2-0 with an RBI single in the top of the second to score Marco Hernandez. Sale was good over the first six innings. He set a major league record when he retired Oscar Mercado swinging to end the third inning for strikeout number 2000 of his career. The left hander is now the quickest to reach that milestone reaching the feat in 1,626 innings pitched, beating the previous record set by Pedro Martinez in 2002 with the Red Sox in 1711.1 innings. The Indians did finally get to him in the fourth inning when Carlos Santana hit a solo homer to center field to cut the lead in half. It was the third consecutive game with a homerun for Santana who had the walkoff solo shot on Monday night in the ninth inning. Mitch Moreland and Hernandez both added RBI singles in the fifth to increase the lead to 4-1, and knocked Clevinger out of the game after pounding him for 11 hits.
The Red Sox would try to tack on and pull away to give some run support to help earn the seventh win of the season for Sale. Devers had a two run double in the sixth to extend to a five run lead. A two out walk in the bottom of the sixth though to Santana followed by a two run homer to right field by Franmil Reyes would cut it to 6-3. Sale had his night come to an end when after a key Red Sox error by Devers, Francisco Lindor hit a two out two run double down the left field line in the seventh to make it a one run game at 6-5. Boston would then need to turn to a bullpen that has been up and down especially of late. Mercado followed with an infield single off reliever Matt Barnes, but Barnes was able to strike out Santana to stop the rally. The combination of Barnes, Josh Taylor, and Nathan Eovaldi in the bottom of the eighth kept the lead in tact heading into the ninth inning. Brandon Workman would come on in the one run game in the bottom of the ninth to try to earn the save. Greg Allen would lead off with a single, and would steal second base with Tyler Naquin batting. Workman would strike out Naquin swinging. Lindor would come through again when he would tie it 6-6 with a double that rolled to the wall in left center in the gap past Andrew Benintendi scoring Allen. It was the 22nd blown save by the Red Sox, tied for the most in the American League with Oakland. Lindor got aggressive and tried to steal third base with Mercado batting and was thrown out by Sandy Leon. Mercado flied out to right fielder Betts to send the game to extra innings.
Bradley Jr. put Boston (63-59) back in front in the top of the 10th with a one out solo homerun to right field. Devers had his sixth hit in as many at bats with his fourth double of the night with two outs, but was caught in a run down between third and home on a diving play by second baseman Jason Kipnis on a hard hit ball by Xander Bogaerts. Andrew Cashner would come into the game in his new role out of the bullpen to try to once again earn a Red Sox victory. Santana led off with a bloop single to left, but then was forced out at second base when Mike Freeman bunted one too hard to Moreland down the first base line who threw out Santana. Cashner struck out Jose Ramirez swinging for the second out, and would finally end the game when Roberto Perez also struck out swinging.
With the blown save Sale got a no decision for Boston going 6.2 innings allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits, with two walks and 12 strikeouts. Workman (9-1) despite the blown save earned the win. Cashner earned his first career save. Devers was 6-6 with four doubles and two singles and three RBI. He is the first player in the modern baseball era (1900) to have a six hit, four double game. Devers is now the hits leader in all of major league baseball with 158. He is also now one of only five players in Red Sox franchise history with six hits in a game. Betts, JD Martinez, Hernandez, and Bradley Jr. all had two hits each. Lindor had three hits and three RBI for Cleveland. Santana also added a pair of hits. The Sox outhit the Indians 16-9. Nick Wittgren (4-1) took the loss allowing the homerun in the 10th that gave Boston the win. Clevinger went 4.2 innings allowing four runs on 11 hits. The Indians go to 72-48 on the season.
The rubber game of the three game series is scheduled for a 1:10 p.m. first pitch on Wednesday afternoon. Boston is expected to start Brian Johnson in a bullpen game for the visitors, while Shane Bieber is expected to toe the rubber for the Tribe.
Boston third baseman Rafael Devers makes a throw to first base in a game earlier this season against the LA Dodgers at Fenway Park. Devers and his teammate Chris Sale both made history in a 10 inning Sox win over the Cleveland Indians Tuesday night. Photo courtesy by Delaney Gardner
