The Red Sox snapped their four-game losing streak with a hard-fought 6-5 win over the New York Mets, rallying for three runs in the eighth inning.
Closer Brandon Workman nearly squandered a two-run lead in the ninth, walking the first two hitters he faced. With the bases loaded, an infield single brought the Mets to within a run. But Workman fanned Yoenis Cespedes then got Robinson Cano on a soft liner onto the outfield grass beyond second base to preserve the win.
Christian Vazquez launched a solo homer in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3, then drove an opposite-field single to right to score two runs.
Mitch Moreland doubled home the first run, then drove home another with a squibber to third with the bases loaded.
The Sox managed to do scratch out a couple of runs off reigning Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and got five innings of two-run ball from starter Nathan Eovaldi, their lone trustworthy start in the first week of the season.
WHO: Red Sox (1-4) vs. New York Mets (3-2)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Citi Field
SEASON TO DATE: Mets 2-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-0, 1.50) vs. RHP Jacob deGrom (1-0, 0.00)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Benintendi LF
Martinez DH
Devers 3B
Moreland 1B
Vazquez C
Verdugo RF
Peraza 2B
Bradley CF
Lin SS
METS
Nimmo CF
McNeil 3B
Alonso 1B
Conforto RF
Smith LF
Cespedes DH
Cano 2B
Gimenez SS
Rivera C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
9:58 Vazquez, who tied the game with a homer in his previous at-bat, comes through with a big, opposite-field single, scoring two.
9:56 Big break for Red Sox, who get a sqibber from Moreland that Jeff McNeil can't clean field cleanly, allowing the go-ahead run to score.
9:45 Big moment for Heath Hembree, who fans J.D. David on three pitches to strand two runners in scoring position and preserve the tie. This is the first time Roenicke has had to manage his bullpen with the game on line -- in the opener, he was up by double-digits, and in the last four, was hopelessly behind.
9:25 Vazquez with a huge homer on a hanging curveball from Seth Lugo, driven into the left field seats to erase the Mets' one-run lead and tie the game again.
9:13 Gimenez hits a booming triple to straightaway center to score Robinson Cano. You don't see it happen very often, but it looked like Jackie Bradley Jr. broke the wrong way on that ball and couldn't track it at the last minute.
8:55 Eovaldi laboring hear in the fifth, with his pitch count in the mid 80s and the heat perhaps taking its toll.
8:47 Behind in the count 3-and-1, Eovaldi leaves a cutter over the middle of the plate and Brandon Nimmo deposits it into the bullpen in right to tie the game.
8:33 Athletic play by Tzu-Wei Lin, who grabbed a ball to the right of the second base bag, reversed course to step on the bag for the first out, then had his low throw dug out nicely by Moreland.
8:27 Eovaldi got lucky there, hanging a curveball over the middle of the plate to Dominic Smith, who lined it to RF for a leadoff single. Could have been far worse.
8:22 Do you believe in miracles? The Red Sox have their first lead since Opening Day as Moreland moves to third on a wild pitch from deGrom and scores on another.
8:16 Nice piece of hitting by Mitch Moreland, who stayed back on a changeup and drove it to the warning track in CF, scoring Devers. deGrom's scoreless streak of 31.1 innings comes to an end. Meanwhile, that's Moreland's 200th career double.
8:12 Despite his struggles in the field, Devers now looks locked in at the plate. That's his fourth doubles in the last four games -- all of them, hit the opposite way.
7:56 Benintendi is high percentage base stealer, with an 83 percent success rate over his career. But even with a good lead there and a decent jump, gunned down by Rene Rivera at second.
7:52 deGrom is just toying with the Red Sox, with a combination of power stuff and off-speed, dotting the strike zone. The only good thing is the Sox are driving up his pitch count with some extended at-bats. He's at 43 through just three innings.
7:45 Nice pickoff by Eovaldi, who turns quickly and picks off Andres Gimenez.
7:40 For a team looking to break out of an offensive funk, it looks like the Red Sox have drawn the wrong guy. Jacob deGrom looks to be himself, which is to say, absolutely filthy.
7:31 Eovaldi wiggles out of a bases-loaded jam with just one run allowed. Given recent first innings, this has to feel like a victory.
7:12 J.D. Martinez one-hands a double off the RF wall, snapping a three-game hitless streak.
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- The Red Sox today designated catcher Jonathan Lucroy for assignment and called up RHP Chris Mazza. There were rumors last week that Lucroy was in danger of making the team's Opening Day roster. Ultimately, he survived, but not for long. In the first five games, he watched from the bench as No. 1 catcher Christian Vazquez started three games and backup Kevin Plawecki starter two others. Lucroy got into one game late as a defensive replacement but had the ignominious distinction of being the only one of the team's 15 position player to not have an at-bat. After undergoing surgery to correct a herniated disc in his neck, Lucroy, who played for Ron Roenicke for parts of five seasons in Milwaukee, believed he was ready for a bounce-back season. But after looking good at the end of spring training in March, Lucroy struggled at the plate in summer camp. Still, Roenicke made this seem like a numbers crunch more than anything else, pointing out that the Sox, having exhausted their staff on the homestand, needed a fresh arm for tonight in case Nate Eovaldi doesn't go deep. "(We liked knowing) that if something did go wrong, we had a third catcher,'' said Roenicke, "or if we pinch ran, we had a third catcher. But it hadn't come up in the first few games so we thought the more important move on that last roster spot was to have a pitcher to have some length to him. I just wish we would have had opportunities for him to get out there and see what he could do. It's just where we are, trying to get the guys in there, he didn't have the opportunity.''
- Mazza, 30, had been part of the team's alternate training site in Pawtucket. The expectation is he'll be used for multiple innings out of the bullpen. He has nine games of big league experience, all, ironically enough, with the Mets in 2019.
- SS Xander Bogaerts was held out of the lineup, having been banged up on a play Monday night when he chased down as baserunner. "(Tuesday) he played,'' said Roenicke. "We know he wasn't 100 percent. But thinking about five more games before our off-day, we thought today was a good day to (give him a day) and hopefully, he'll play the next four.'' Tzu-Wei Lin got the start at short.
- Roenicke said he had an idea about the team's pitching plans Saturday and Sunday against the Yankees, but they would depend on what happens tonight. "We haven't finalized it yet, but we know what we're planning to do.'' he said. "It's hard to make a call on something when you know your pitching's been beat up a little bit and you want to make sure that you've got it all covered well. And that's why we're waiting.'' He hinted that Zack Godley would be used for one as a traditional starter, with an opener likely for another.
- The Red Sox are open to taking a look at Darwinzon Hernandez as a starter before the end of the season, but with his summer camp slowed by a positive COVID-19 test, they're currently focused on getting him strong enough to help out in the bullpen -- perhaps for two-inning stints.
- Roenicke said the team's first travel foray on the road went well Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon. He said the Mets provided more space in the clubhouse at Citi Field.
- In the wake of Joe Kelly's decision to throw at Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros Tuesday night against the Dodgers and his subsequent eight-game suspension, Roenicke was asked if he still felt there was room for retaliation. "No, I don't,'' he said. "Probably when I came up (as a player) I wouldn't have said that. There was a time when I understood that. I don't really understand it anymore. I think most pitchers are beyond that. I know some of them still may throw at some people on purpose. But we've talked about it -- I just don't think there's any place in the game for it. If one guy hits a homer off you and you're mad at him and now you're throwing at him the next time, and your pitcher retaliates and throws at a guy that has nothing to do with it...I don't think there's a place for it. The guys that get hit with nothing to do with it, that's the issue with me. If there's a guy deserving, back when I was playing, I'd say, 'Go ahead. This guy deserves it.' I just don't see that anymore. Hopefully, we'll continue to get away from it.''