Life after winning a World Series isn’t always easy, and the Boston Red Sox are finding it difficult to replicate last year’s success, as their 6-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays becomes their ninth in a row, this time coming due to a huge throwing error by Andrew Miller.
The relief pitcher was going for the double play but threw to second base with on one on it. With the game tied at 5-5 in the 15th inning Cole Figueroa was able to do what he was brought into the game for: Pinch run, and score the winner for the Rays, scoring six consecutive runs to get out of a rough start.
The Red Sox fall to 20-28, losing nine in a row and 10 of their last 11. The game started so well for them, scoring five runs in the first inning, capped by a three-run homer from A.J. Pierzynski. But David Price got over that awful start and finished allowing only one more hit and no runs in the next seven innings, finishing the game after eight, striking out seven batters and walking only two.
The Rays got back into the game rather slowly until the 5th inning, when Jake Peavy continued to implode and gave up a two-run double off of Brandon Guyer, who was 4-for-7 on the day, helping Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce tie the game at 5-5.
The game lasted five hours and 16 minutes. From that double from Guyer, we had 10 innings with no score and barely any hit. The Red Sox finished the game on an abysmal 6-for-49, as Price’s relief provided seven innings with only one hit and no walks. The Red Sox had a much more difficult time clearing the lineup in front of them, until it fell to Miller to pick up the loss, getting slightly jammed in his inning, making a huge mistake that cost his team the game.
Got the comebacker. I went to go throw like instinct. You spin around and start to see everything unfold, and at the last second saw I didn’t have a play. I didn’t have anybody getting to the bag and just didn’t have time to hold onto the ball. You do the best you can with what you have. That’s the mode we’re in right now.
Injuries have shaken up this Red Sox lineup, but nine games in a row for a team that looked so good last year and hasn’t changed much except for letting Jacoby Ellsbury leave to their nemesis which many thought wouldn’t have that much of an impact isn’t understandable. The Rays pitch well, and except for that rare first inning, they’ve been shutout in 23 of 24 innings in this series against the Rays, with the previous game also ending in the final inning.