MIAMI - Two innings after it appeared they had put this one away, the Red Sox pulled ahead again in the 13th -- and this time, finished the job.
Hanley Ramirez launched a double to left scoring Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi to give the Red Sox a wild 4-2 win over the Miami Marlins. The Sox used seven pitchers, with Heath Hembree closing it out in his second inning of work.
Benintendi had singled home Eduardo Nunez in the 11th, only to have Matt Barnes give the run back in the bottom of the inning with consecutive tw0-out walks and a double by Cameron Maybin. It took a strong relay from Benintendi to Xander Bogaerts to Christian Vazquez to nail Justin Bour at the plate and keep the score tied.
The Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a run-scoring single by J.D. Martinez -- then didn't score again over the next nine innings.
Chris Sale started and allowed just one run, but was lifted after five innings when his pitch count got to 93 pitches. It was Sale's second no-decision in as many starts.
WHO: Red Sox vs. Miami Marlins
WHEN: 6:10 p.m.
WHERE: Marlins Park
TV/RADIO: NESN/ WEEI 93. 7 FM
STARTING PITCHERS: Chris Sale (0-0, 0.00) vs Jose Urena (0-1, 11.25 ERA)
WHAT'S UP: Red Sox have won four in a row as they finish up their first road trip of the season. They own the best record in the American League, tied with Houston at 4-1. The Marlins are 2-3, having split a four-game series with the Cubs last weekend before dropping the opener of their series with the Red Sox.
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
9:53: Walking two hitters with two outs usually doesn't end well, and so it was for Matt Barnes, who was a strike away from saving this one. Instead, he walked Brian Anderson and then Justin Bour before yielding a game-tying double over the head of Benintendi. Anderson scored the tying run, but on a relay from Benintendi to Bogaerts, Bour was tagged out at the plate. We go to the 12th.
9:35: Single to right from Andrew Benintendi scores Eduardo Nunez (double), and the Sox take the lead.
9:33: Mookie Betts, pinch-hitting for Kimbrel, is robbed of a homer by rookie CF Lewis Brinson. Brinson went up and brought the ball back, then bent at the waist for about five seconds before showing he had the ball.
9:05: The Red Sox played 18 extra-inning games last season. Here's the first of the new season.
8:35: More basepath madness. With the infield in, Bradley brakes for the plate on a grounder to Starlin Castro, and thanks to a terrific tag by Miami catcher Chad Wallach, Bradley is tagged out at the plate. Call stands up upon replay challenge. Six outs on the bases in six games.
8:33: Pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland can't deliver Bradley from second base, but with a fly ball to deep center field, does move him over to third base.
8:24: Curious to why Cora didn't double switch when Smith came into the game. He's due up second in the top of the 8th and now you have to hit for him. Cora could have double-switched at the catcher's spot (7th, last out in previous inning) and had Leon hit 9th.
8:16: Poyner lifted for Carson Smith two out and one on in the seventh. Poyner pitched well, retiring five-of-six with three strikeouts.
7:54: Sale lifted after five innings (5 IP; 5 H; 1 ER; 0 BB; 6K; 93/62). Poyner on
7:47: That's the first base hit out of the infield this season for Benintendi, who didn't collect his first hit until Monday night -- a chopper to the right side of the infield which he managed to beat out.
7:43: Sale is at 93 pitches after five. Will be interesting to see if he comes out from the sixth. Bobby Poyner is warming.
7:31: More bad baserunning by the Red Sox. After a leadoff double, Rafael Devers is thrown out trying to advance from second to third on a comebacker to the mound. Play was right in front of him, yet he broke for third anyway. Fifth unforced out on the bases this season in six games for team.
7:20: Martinez tries to make a diving catch on a sinking liner, but seemed to take a bad route to the ball and couldn't hold on. Ruled a double for Bour as a run scores. Safe to say that Betts makes that play.
7:17 UPDATE: StatCast has determined that Bradley's catch in the second has a catch probability of 32 percent.
7:13 Marlins starter Jose Urena has settled into a pretty nice groove. After allowing a run four batters into the game in the first, he's since retired 10 straight Red Sox hitters, including four of the last six by strikeout.
7:11: Home plate umpire Ben May rings up J.D. Martinez on a called third strike, a slider that looked both low and outside. Martinez had started to trot to first for what he believed was ball four.
6:48: Really bit of bad baserunning on the part of Cameron Maybin, who was off with the pitch and remained anchored to second base as Miguel Rojas hit a flyball to right, resulting in an inning-ending double play.
6:44: Spectacular diving catch by Bradley in center takes a base hit away from Justin Bour. Will be interested to see what StatCast has for catch probability on that one.
6:38: As he did for much of spring training, Sale is changing speeds on his four-seam fastball, designed to give hitters different looks and save something in the tank. In the first, threw it anywhere from 90-96 mph.
6:28: Nice attack plan by Chris Sale on Derek Dietrich. Buried the first four pitches inside to the lefty hitter, then overpowered him with a 95 mph fastball on the outer half of the plate for a called third strike.
6:18: J.D. Martinez jumps on a 3-and-0 pitch and singles to right-center scoring Benintendi for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.
6:13: Andrew Benintendi steals second base. Red Sox are 5-of-7 in stole base attempts this season.
LINEUPS:
RED SOX
Nunez 2B
Benintendi LF
Ramirez 1B
Martinez RF
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Vazquez C
Bradley CF
Sale
MARLINS
Brinson CF
Dietrich LF
Castro 2B
Anderson 3B
Bour 1B
Maybin RF
Rojas SS
Wallach C
Urena P
NEWS AND NOTES:
- LHP Eduardo Rodriguez pitched six innings at a camp game in Fort Myers and is set to rejoin the team here tonight. As long as he recovers well tomorrow, he's possibility to start Sunday, the final game of the first home series with Tampa Bay. "We'll talk about it,'' said Alex Cora. "Six innings are six innings, regardless of where you're at. (Single) A Ball, extended spring, wherever. He used all of his pitches and felt great, so we'll talk about it tomorrow and make a decision on the next step. Depending on how he feels (Wednesday), yes, (he's an option for Sunday). '' Ordinarily, it would be Chris Sale's day to pitch, but by pitching Rodriguez, they can give Sale some extra rest and have him ready to open the series with the Yankees that begins the following Tuesday. "If we took care of him from the beginning of spring training,'' Cora said, "whenever we have a window, we're going to take advantage of it. We're going to revisit that and it seems like it might be (a matter of giving him extra days) - push him back, he'll get his rest and start on Tuesday.''
- The Sox have not made an error in their first games, the longest streak to begin a season for them since 2013 when they played errorless ball for the first seven games. The Sox are one of four teams who hadn't made an error going into Tuesday. Cleveland, Cincinnati and Minnesota were the other clubs.
- Boston is 17-4 in their last 21 interleague games since the start of 2017. Since interleague play was introduced in 1997, the Sox own a .594 winning percentage ((228-156). And since 2003, the Sox have a .651 winning percentage. Next closest are the Yankees at .596.
- Dustin Pedroia is waiting for clearance to begin running the bases, which he hopes will comes on the upcoming homestand. After that milestone, he'll return to extended spring training in Fort Myers and then begin a rehab assignment with an affiliate.