McAdam: Red Sox asking for trouble with bullpen

After the offense has not once but twice cleaned up a mess made by the bullpen, the Red Sox got to celebrate both a walk-off win and the end of their second three-game losing streak in the last week and a half.

But as the players jumped up and down near home plate, mobbing J.D. Martinez, who had scored all the way from second thanks to a throwing error, the lingering sentiment seemed to be ...

How?

As in ...

How did the Red Sox manage to win a game that they had seemingly been intent on gift-wrapping to their opponents?

"It was pretty amazing that we were able to pull out a win tonight," said outfielder Jackie Bradley, whose two-run single in the eighth bought the Sox additional time before the team secured an 8-7 win an inning later.

The answer, frankly, had more to do with the Miami Marlins than the Red Sox themselves. Immediately after the Boston bullpen had regurgitated a three-run lead in the top of the eighth, the Marlins held the door open for the Sox to waltz through with three runs of their own in the bottom of the same inning, capped by a comically errant wild pitch.

Then, after the Marlins managed a run in the top of the ninth off closer Craig Kimbrel (fifth blown save), the Marlins' bullpen appeared intent to complete in some one-upmanship, enabling the Sox to re-take the lead for good with the aid and assistance of a game-ending throwing error by J.T. Riddle.

The Sox shouldn't have had to work that hard to earn a win against a team that began Tuesday night with a .402 winning percentage.

Here's the bad news for the Red Sox: the Marlins leave town Wednesday night and don't appear on the schedule again. Worse, there will be no Marlins-like teams on the docket in October when the playoffs begin.

And that brings us back to the Red Sox' bullpen.

Where to begin? Because as currently constituted, the bullpen doesn't seem to know how to finish.

Things were going swimmingly through the first seven innings, with Brandon Workman and Joe Kelly handling the middle frames after Brian Johnson was done after 4.1 innings.

But Matt Barnes was torched for four runs in a third of an inning, and Heath Hembree wasn't much better, tagged for two hits and a run before he could the final two outs. Then in the ninth, Kimbrel imploded, done in by two consecutive one-out walks as the bullpen blew its second save in as many innings.

Since the lowly Marlins were on the menu, the Sox were able to overcome their own ineptitude simply by waiting out the visitors. But that strategy only works against outclassed opponents.

Barnes is of particular concern, since, until further notice, he's the primary eighth-inning man — the bridge to get the Sox to Kimbrel. This month, he has a 9.65 ERA and has allowed more homers this month (four) then he had in the previous four months combined (two).

"I've got to sit down and kind of re-evaluate,'' said Barnes. "Historically, August has always been tough for me.''

Indeed, his career ERA in the month of August is a bloated 8.26. And last year, he was unable to right himself in September and was shaky enough that he was left off the postseason roster altogether, a move that would have been unthinkable two months earlier.

The other eighth-inning option of late has been Ryan Brasier, who's pitched spectacularly well -- Brasier was unavailable Tuesday night due to a sore left foot, an issue that the Sox maintain is minor -- but has little track record to inspire confidence in big spots.

No other reliever has stepped forward to grab some of the high-leverage opportunities. Tyler Thornburg remains inconsistent as he pitches his way back from shoulder surgery last year. Kelly's command is predictably up-and-down. Hembree has demonstrated an ability to bail others out of traffic jam, but has yet to show he's trustworthy in the eighth.

On and on it goes.

"We need to get better,'' concluded Alex Cora, "and we know that.''

The question, like the lingering sentiment following a bizarre walk-off win that they surely didn't deserve, is ... How?