BOSTON — The Red Sox just keep on beating the Red Sox — and this time, the result was a blowout loss in extra innings.
Two innings after a couple of Boston defensive miscues allowed the Orioles take the lead in the eighth, Baltimore teed off on reliever Isaiah Campbell in a six-run 10th inning as Baltimore finished off a three-game sweep with a 9-4 win. The Red Sox, despite a late, game-tying pinch-hit homer by Connor Wong, fell to 7-6; they have dropped four of five.
Behind another strong start from Garrett Whitlock, the Red Sox carried a 2-1 lead into the eighth. But continuing a pattern that has haunted them all season, defensive miscues opened the door wide open for Baltimore. To lead off, lefty Joely Rodríguez got Jackson Holliday to hit a grounder toward third, but Pablo Reyes let it through his legs for an error. After striking out Gunnar Henderson, Rodríguez induced a perfectly replaced double play ball to Ceddanne Radaela at second, but shortstop David Hamilton missed the base before firing to first, allowing Holliday to be safe on second. One pitch later, the Orioles had the lead for the first time when Anthony Santander tucked a Greg Weissert sweeper into the seats near Pesky’s Pole for a 3-2 lead.
Wong’s first homer of the season — a towering solo blast off lefty Danny Coulombe that cleared the Green Monster — re-injected life into the Red Sox in the bottom of the inning. But after longtime elite closers Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel traded scoreless innings in the ninth, Gunnar Henderson made Campbell pay with a Monster shot that plated the automatic runner and put the O’s up two. A double, walk and single later, Cedric Mullins made it 6-3 with an RBI single. That’s when Colton Cowser finally put the Red Sox out of their misery with a three-run blast to turn it into a blowout. It was his second homer of the night.
The bullpen, which was short Chris Martin, Brennan Bernardino and Josh Winckowski after each experienced heavy workloads in the first two games of the series, blew another terrific start by Whitlock, who continued his strong start to the season by allowing just one run on four hits in five innings and recording four strikeouts. He now has a 1.29 ERA in three starts. Campbell, on the other hand, continued to struggle, and has allowed eight earned runs in the last two nights. His ERA has ballooned to 12.79.
Long before the late-inning craziness, the Red Sox struck early. Facing talented young O’s righty Grayson Rodriguez, Jarren Duran led off the bottom of the first with a line drive double to center, then scored when Masataka Yoshida chopped into a groundout for the second out. Triston Casas then benefited from some luck, as a shallow pop-up he hit to right field dropped between fielders, then into the stands for a ground rule double. Wilyer Abreu, who entered having just two hits in 20 plate appearances on the season, drove him in with a double off the Green Monster that made it 2-0.
Whitlock escaped trouble in the second, when he struck out Wednesday hero Jordan Westburg to end the inning with two men in scoring position, then allowed his only run in the fifth, when Cowser, a newly minted Red Sox killer, halved Boston’s lead with his first big league home run. Justin Slaten then continued his career-starting scoreless streak with two blank frames before Cora, with little left in the bullpen, turned to Rodríguez.
In the bottom of the 10th, Duran’s RBI double to lead off the inning made it a five-run game. He and Abreu were the only two Red Sox with multiple hits.
Red Sox sacrifice DH spot again
For the second time in just over a week, the Red Sox sacrificed the designated hitter spot in their lineup. After Wong entered as a pinch-hitter and then (in an unorthodox move) took over at second base, catcher Reese McGuire was ejected for arguing a called third strike. Wong had to move to catcher and the Red Sox, with Ceddanne Rafaela already in the game, had no more available bench players because infielders Romy Gonzalez (wrist) and Rafael Devers (shoulder) were unavailable. At that point, Cora had to install Yoshida in left field (his first inning in the field of 2024) and put a pitcher in the DH spot. The pitcher never ended up hitting.
Long homestand continues with Angels visit
After taking two out of three from the Angels in Anaheim last weekend, the Red Sox will conclude their season series with the Halos when they come to Fenway for a weekend set. Los Angeles will be the middle visitor of a season-long 10-game homestand; the Guardians will follow them into town.
Here are the pitching probables:
Friday, 7:10 p.m. ET (NESN) — LHP Reid Detmers (2-0, 1.64 ERA) vs. RHP Tanner Houck (2-0, 0.00 ERA)
Saturday, 4:10 p.m. ET (NESN) — RHP Griffin Canning (0-1, 8.38 ERA) vs. TBA
Sunday, 1:35 p.m. ET (NESN) — LHP Tyler Anderson (2-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Brayan Bello (1-1, 4.11 ERA)