In a flat, lifeless performance, the Red Sox suffered their seventh shutout loss of the season, blanked by Noah Syndergaard and two relivers in an 8-0 loss to the New York Mets.
The Mets erupted for three runs in the second off emergency starter William Cuevas and reliever Robby Scott, and added another three on two homers off Tyler Thornburg in the eighth.
The loss was a rare one against a National League team for the Sox. Before Friday night, the Sox had been 14-3 in interleague play this season.
All four of Red Sox hits were singles, as they saw their four-game winning streak snapped.
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS
9:41 Tyler Thornburg allows two moon shots in the span of five hitters and has now given up six homers in 23 innings this season.
9:13 Through six innings, the Red Sox can't generate anything against Noah Syndergaard -- two measly singles to date. Their only hope is that, at 93 pitches, Syndergaard may be close to done and then the Sox can do something against a poor Mets bullpen.
8:00 Brutal outing for Robby Scott, who faces six hitters: two walks, two hit batsman, a three-run homer and leaves the bases loaded. Hard to be worse than that.
7:44 Quick hook for William Cuevas, who's gone after 2-plus innings, and just 38 pitches. He hasn't been stretched out of late, so it was natural to expect a short leash for what, in essence, was an emergency start. Cuevas pitched relatively well -- he had four strikeouts and one of the three hits allowed was of the infield variety.
WHO: Red Sox vs. New York Mets
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox come into tonight having won four straight and 11 of their last 15 to get 101 wins and narrow their magic number to six. Boston has a 14-3 record in interleague play and over their last 43 interleague games are an astounding 25-4. All-time, the Sox are 13-11 against the Mets, including 7-5 at Fenway. This is the Mets' first visit to Boston since 2009...At the last minute, the Red Sox scratched scheduled starter Hector Velazquez, tonight's scheduled starter, and replaced him with William Cuevas, who will be making his first major league start. He's thrown just 7.1 innings in the big leagues this season.. Despite the poor showing in the eighth inning by the bullpen Thursday night, Red Sox pitchers have yielded just five runs over the last three games while holding hitters to a .167 batting average..Mookie Betts returns to the lineup tonight after getting Thursday night off. With one more homer, he can become the second player in Red Sox history to hit 30 homers from the leadoff spot. Nomar Garciaparra (1997)...J.D. Martinez is tied for the major league home run lead with 41 and with his next homer, he can tie Dick Stuart for the most number of homers by a Red Sox player in his first season with the club...Andrew Benintendi is struggling, collecting just one hit in 12 at-bats in the series against Toronto. Over the course of the current homestand, he's just 6-for-27...Meanwhile, shortstop Xander Bogaerts has reached safely in his last 15 games and is hitting .291 for the season, going 11-for-23 on the homestand to date...Meanwhile, the Mets are 7-10 in interleague play this season, though, overall, they're 5-1 in their last six and 24-15 in their last 39 games...Mets starter Noah Syndergaard is coming off two straight wins. HE allowed four runs on 12 hits against the Phillies in his last outing.
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP William Cuevas (0-0, 3.68) vs. RHP Noah Syndergaard (11-3, 3.44)
TV/RADIO: NESN/MLB Network; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Betts RF
Benintendi LF
Moreland 1B
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Kinsler 2B
Bradley CF
Swihart C
METS
Rosario SS
McNeil 2B
Conforto LF
Bruce 1B
Frazier 3B
Nimmo RF
Smith DH
Jackson CF
Nido C
NEWS AND NOTES:
- Eduardo Nunez, who left Thursday's game after aggravating his right knee again, is, as was expected, out of the lineup. He will work out Saturday and could be back in the lineup as soon as Sunday.
- Matt Barnes threw a bullpen Friday afternoon and is scheduled to throw another on Sunday. He's been battling him inflammation.
- Rick Porcello, who will be pitching with an extra day's rest Saturday, will likely see his pitch count limited as he finishes the season. He's likely be kept to five or six innings, and then be given another extra day or two of rest before his next start. Porcello has thrown a team-high 179.1 innings.