Red Sox 11, Rays 7

 

Can you believe it? That actually listened to me! I had some pretty harsh words for the Boston Red Sox after Thursday's loss (tough love) and they apparently responded, scoring more than one run in an inning last night for the first time since September 14 and earning a much-needed win against the Tampa Bay Rays. 

The game started in typical Red Sox fashion - an RBI single in the second inning, a solo Bregman homer in the third - but then Jarren Duran broke it open in the seventh with a massive, 401-foot, two-run homer to deep right center. 

And then the fun began. Leading 4-3, the Sox scored a whopping seven runs in the eighth inning alone with four singles, three walks, a double, a throwing error, and a hit-by-pitch. A total of 13 at-bats. The feeling of elation was almost giddy.

Then the fun ended. Up 11-3, reliever Chris Murphy loaded up the bases with two walks and a single in the bottom of the ninth, and then gave up a two-out grand slam home run, reminding us that despite all the joy, we're still only a pitch or two away from elimination. After the grand slam, Murphy still gave up to more singles before finally getting the last out and ending the game, but wow, what an ugly, scary end to what was otherwise a big win.

For the record, Garrett Crochet got the Rays to strike out nine times over six innings, giving up three runs on four hits.  

The Red Sox and the Astros are tied for the last Wild Card slot at 84-70. The apparently unbeatable Cleveland Guardians are 1½ games back. Last night, Cleveland won - again - their 8th consecutive win and 13th of their last 14. Otherwise, it was a good night for Boston across the MLB scoreboard - the Yankees lost, 4-2, to Baltimore, Toronto was humiliated, 20-1, by Kansas City, and Houston lost to Seattle, 4-0.

The Red Sox magic number is now seven. With upcoming series against Toronto and Detroit, the Sox aren't going to win seven of the remaining eight games, and we're going to have to rely on Detroit taking revenge for their recent sweep by the Guardians and returning the favor in Cleveland next week. Ideally, I'd love to end the season on a Boston 8-0 run, but realistically, if we can manage to go at least 4-4 and Cleveland can be contained to 6-3 (they have one more game than Boston on their schedule down the stretch), we're in.

Hope is a fragile thing. It's crushed when expectations are too high, and starves when they're too low. In between those two extremes, it constantly worries about what happens if the expectations it allows aren't met, and we're not sure if we can trust that most unreliable of witnesses. So it's one game at a time and cheer for one more win until the season's over. 

Tonight, we're putting those hopes on starting pitcher Kyle Harrison (1-1, 4.05), who started the season for San Francisco before getting traded to the Red Sox. He'll be facing the Rays' Adrian Houser (8-4, 3.11). Despite their pitching advantage, the Rays are 1½-run underdogs.

Let's go, Sox!