A trip to the 2022 postseason is looking pretty bleak for the Boston Red Sox. Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs on Wednesday night, as the Atlanta Braves swept a brief two game interleague series with an 8-4 win over the Sox at Fenway Park.
Atlanta (66-46) broke a scoreless tie against Boston starter Nick Pivetta in the fourth inning. Austin Riley led off with a single, and then with two outs Eddie Rosario drew a walk. Ozuna followed by taking a 1-1 pitch into the monster seats in left centerfield for a 3-0 Braves lead. The Red Sox got a run back in the fifth when Bobby Dalbec doubled, and later scored on a doubleplay ball hit by Tommy Pham. The guests added on with one out in the top of the seventh against Darwinzon Hernandez, as Michael Harris singled and rookie Vaughn Grissom in his first major league game crushed a two-run homerun 412 feet over everything in left for a 5-1 advantage. Boston fought back in the last half of the inning against reliever Dylan Lee. Dalbec and pinch hitter Jaylin Davis singled with one out, and Pham cut it to 5-4 with a three-run homer to center. Atlanta put it away though with two in the eighth inning on a Rosario RBI double and a RBI sacrifice fly from Ozuna, and added one more in the ninth on an RBI single from Dansby Swanson.
Pivetta (8-9) took the loss allowing three runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Dalbec had two hits, and Pham drove in three with his 14th homerun of the season. Kyle Wright (14-5) earned the pitching win for Atlanta allowing one run on six hits in 6.0 innings. Swanson, William Contreras, and Grissom had two hits each. Grissom became the first Braves player in the modern era to hit a homer and steal a base in a major league debut. Boston (54-58) is four games under .500 for the first time since a 2-1 loss on May 31 at home to Cincinnati (23-27), and are five games out in the battle for the third and final wildcard playoff spot in the American League with four teams ahead of them. The Sox, who are 3-9 in their last 12, stay at home and play Baltimore on Thursday night in a single game makeup at 7:10 p.m., before hosting the New York Yankees for three over the weekend. Josh Winckowski (5-5, 4.68 ERA) gets the ball Thursday against the Birds, while the O’s counter with Dean Kremer (4-3, 3.43)
