The Red Sox just beat the Indians in the series opener and now had Chris Sale on the mound, so hopes and expectations were high. In the end, Sale would give up 7 runs, Kimbrel would blow a save to have the Sox down a run in the bottom of the 9th. All’s well that ends well though, as Christian Vazquez became the hero when he smacked a 3 run homer to bring the Sox a walk off victory!
Chris Sale has been so lights out that the fact that he gave up 3 runs in the first inning was shocking to basically everyone. Sale gave up an RBI single to Brantley and then a 2 run RBI double to Santana. Sox 0-3. Bad was made worse in the 2nd inning when Sale gave up 2 more runs when Guyer hit a homer off of him. Sox 0-5. The Sox bats took no time in erasing that damage though. The Sox scored 5 times themselves in the bottom of the 2nd inning to suddenly have a new ballgame. Mitch Moreland hit a 3 run homer, Holt hit an RBI single and then Nunez hit an RBI double. Sox 5-5. New ballgame.
The game stayed tied until the top of the 5th when Sale once again put the Indians back out in front. Sale gave up a 2 run homer to Encarnacion to have the Indians leading 7-5. Sale was swearing at himself as he had a rare outing where he just didn’t have his best stuff. Sale was done after 5 and the rest of the game would be in the hands of the bullpen. Blaine Boyer pitched a scoreless 6th inning and then the Sox bats came back to life in the bottom of the inning and took the lead back. Betts hit an RBI single to have the Sox within one run. The Indians then brought in old friend Andrew Miller and for once, he wasn’t his dominant self either. Miller hit a batter to load the bases and then Nunez hit a bases clearing RBI double off of him to suddenly have the Sox out in front 9-7.
Matt Barnes came out and pitched a scoreless 7th inning before handing the ball over to the new arm in the bullpen, Addison Reed. Reed didn’t start his Sox tenure off well when he gave up a solo home run to Santana to start the game. Sox 9-8. He finished out the inning and then Craig Kimbrel came out for the 9th. Kimbrel has looked a lot more human lately and that would continue last night. Kimbrel gave up a lead off home run to Lindor to tie the game up 9-9. The Indians would end up taking the lead in the 9th on a wild pitch. The Indians now sent their closer Cody Allen to try to finish the job. Devers hit a single to keep the game alive. With two outs, Mitch Moreland struck out, but the catcher lost the ball, so Moreland was safe at first. That error would end up burning the Indians as Christian Vazquez came to the plate. Vazquez ended the game with a 3 run homer to centerfield. This game was sold as a pitchers’ duel, but it ended up being a smash fest that the Sox came out on top of.
Red Sox 12 Indians 10 BOXSCORE
WP: Kimbrel (3-0) LP: Allen (0-6)
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