BALTIMORE -- All they needed was extra innings. Again.
In danger of being blown out early, the Red Sox overcome a five-run deficit by the third inning, traded leads back and forth, and ultimately pulled out one of their biggest wins of the season, edging the Baltimore Orioles 10-8 in 11 innings.
Andrew Benintendi rolled a single through the right side to score two runs off reliever Miguel Castro. The win improved the Sox to 14-3 in extra-innings this season.
The win came as the Sox were in danger of seeing their lead over the New York Yankees shrink to just two games. Instead, it remained at three with a dozen games remaining.
A solo homer by Xander Bogaerts – his first homer this month – had tied the game at 8-8 in the seventh.
Two innings earlier, the Orioles, having squandered a five-run lead earlier, stormed back with two runs off the Boston bullpen. First, Pedro Alvarez homered off Fernando Abad. Then, after Brandon Workman took over, Austin Hays reached on an error by Rafael Devers and scored on a double to left by Tim Beckham.
Trailing 6-1 after four, the Red Sox struck back for a six-run fifth, with Mookie Betts providing the big blow – a bases-clearing double off Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy – as the Sox took the lead 7-6.
Doug Fister turned in his second straight poor outing, tagged for five runs in the first two-plus innings, putting his team in a deep early hole once again.
Fister had control issues, walking five, a season-high.
GAME NO.: 150
WHO: Red Sox (85-64) vs Baltimore Orioles (73-77)
WHEN: 7:05
WHERE: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
TV: NESN/MLBN
RADIO: WEEI (93.7 FM)
PITCHERS: Doug Fister (5-8, 4.40) vs. Dylan Bundy (13-9, 4.03)
BOX SCORE: MLB Gameday
SERIES TO DATE: This is the first game of the final series of the season between the two teams, with the Orioles already having clinched the season series by winning 10 of the first 16 meetings, including a three-game sweep at Fenway last month. The series continues through Wednesday in this, the next-to-last road series of the season for the Sox.
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
- It certainly didn't look good for Dustin Pedroia in the top of the fourth inning. Leading off the inning, Pedroia had a foul ball bounce up and strike him in the nose, producing a river of blood as a stunned Pedroia bent over near the plate. His face covered with a towel, Pedroia came out of the game and went directly to the tunnel. It sure looked like a broken nose for the infielder at a time when the Sox are already without two regulars in the infield -- Eduardo Nunez and Hanley Ramirez -- although the Sox updated his condition and said he was diagnosed with a "nasal contusion'' and is considered day-to-day.
- The clock has struck midnight for Doug Fister and it's just about the first inning, either -- though he did manage to give up the requisite run in the first, too. But Fister couldn't get an out in the third and has now been raked for 11 runs and 10 hits in his last six innings. Not long ago, people -- myself included -- had Fister figured for the No. 3 starter in the playoff rotation, but it's hard to envision that now. He obviously needs to make some mechanical adjustments, and soon.
- Give the Red Sox credit from crawling out from underneath the wreckage of a 5-0 hole. With a run in the fourth and six more in the fifth, they not only erased the O's lead, but took the lead themselves. In eight of their last 12 wins, the Sox have come from behind, though, obviously, many of them are by one- and two-run deficits early in the game. This was something else entirely tonight.
- The defense has been uncharacteristically sloppy by the Sox tonight - even aside from the continued struggles by Devers. On the double by Tim Beckham, Andrew Benintendi got a glove on the ball, but it went off the glove. Tough to assess an error there, but it's a play that Benintendi would usually make.
- Both Hanley Ramirez and Eduardo Nunez are closer to being back in the lineup. It's likely Ramirez (shoulder/biceps) will return Tuesday, with Nunez (knee) expected back by Friday in Cincinnati. Nunez couldn't work much on the field pre-game because the tarp was on after an afternoon rain, but did some rehab and strength work done inside. On Wednesday, he'll run the bases here and if he's cleared, will be back against the Reds later in the week. "Wednesday's going to be a good test,'' said John Farrell.
- Farrell plans to give Rafael Devers a day off Wednesday, with an off-day on the schedule Thursday providing two days of rest. Devers made three errors in three games in Tampa and hasn't hit a homer in almost a month (Aug. 19). "We've got to keep in mind,'' said Farrell, "that is his first experience of a sixth month of baseball here in September. He's 20 years of age and there are things he's experiencing for the first time. So we'll look to freshen him up in the middle part of this week.''