The Boston Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit on Wednesday night against one of the best pitchers in baseball, getting a two-run double from Justin Turner with two outs in the seventh inning to defeat the Atlanta Braves 5-3 in interleague action at Fenway Park. Boston sweeps the two game series over Atlanta, who also owns the best record in the league.
A great pitching matchup had Brayan Bello going for Boston and Spencer Strider for Atlanta. The two starters kept the game scoreless through five innings. In the sixth, the Braves (64-36) broke the deadlock. Michael Harris II led off with a double, and then Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by a pitch by Bello. Ozzie Albies would follow by taking a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right centerfield for a homerun and a 3-0 lead. Rafael Devers got the Red Sox on the board in the last of the sixth with a two out solo homerun around the pesky pole in rightfield to cut it to 3-1. With one out in the seventh, Triston Casas made it a one run game by homering to dead center off Strider. It was the 15th of the season for the Boston rookie. Connor Wong followed the longball by Casas with a single, ending the night for the Atlanta starter on the mound. Pierce Johnson came on to pitch, and the next batter Yu Chang reached on an error by Albies at second base to put runners on first and second. After Jarren Duran grounded out to move both runners into scoring position, Turner came up clutch with two outs with the game winning two-run double high off the green monster in left centerfield on an 0-1 pitch for a 4-3 advantage. Adam Duvall added some breathing room with a solo homerun to right center with one out in the eighth inning. Kenley Jansen came on for the ninth to try to pick up the save and hit leadoff batter Sean Murphy with a pitch, and then allowed a one out single to Kevin Pillar to put runners on first and third. The threat was ended though when pinch runner Forrest Wall was thrown out trying to steal second on a perfect throw by Wong, and then Jansen struckout Orlando Arcia swinging to end the game.
Joe Jacques (2-1) would get the win in relief for Boston. Bello in his no-decision allowed three runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in his 6.0 innings of work. Jansen got his 22nd save of the season against his former team. Turner, Casas, and Wong had two hits each as the Red Sox improve to 55-47. Johnson (1-6) took the loss for Atlanta and also got charged with the blown save. Strider gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Albies led the way with two hits. Boston is now 15-5 since June 30 (best in MLB), and their win Wednesday was their 30th comeback victory of the season (4th in the league). The Sox, who are currently just 1.5 games out for the final American League wildcard playoff spot, will get a day off Thursday and travel to San Francisco to open a three game interleague series with the Giants on Friday night at 10:15 p.m. A pair of right handers will toe the rubber in game one with Kutter Crawford (4-5, 4.04 ERA) expected to take the ball for Boston, while San Francisco will go with Logan Webb (8-8, 3.48).
Story by Chris Lessner /Video courtesy of the MLB website
