BSJ Game Report, ALDS Gm. 3: Red Sox 6, Rays 4 - Vazquez’s walk-off homer, Pivetta’s heroics lift Sox

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox’ Game 3 win over the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Vazquez ends marathon night 

The 125th running of the Boston Marathon will commence in Hopkinton on Monday morning, but the Red Sox and Rays orchestrated their own grueling gauntlet just a mile from the finish line on Sunday evening.

It took 13 innings and over five hours of play, but Christian Vazquez sent 37,224 home happy — blasting a first-pitch fastball from Luis Patino into the Monster Seats to give the Red Sox a dramatic 6-4 win over the Rays at Fenway Park in Game 3 of the ALDS.

With the victory, the Red Sox hold a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-five series — pushing the reigning American League champions to the brink of elimination. 

Vazquez’s walk-off dinger — the first walk-off win in the postseason for Boston since Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS — ended a roller-coaster night at Fenway, in which the Sox squandered a 4-2 lead in the eighth and struggled to land a knockout punch in extra frames. 

With both Garrett Whitlock and especially Nick Pivetta keeping Tampa Bay in check, the Sox finally broke through — with Hunter Renfroe working a walk before Vazquez stepped to the plate and delivered. 

Add in a controversial call in the outfield that gave the Sox new life in the top of the 13th, a couple big flies from Kyle Schwarber and Kiké Hernandez, a VERY fired up Pivetta — and you have an instant classic that will be replayed on Sox highlight reels for a long, long time. 

Nick Pivetta saves the day in relief

The Sox’ bullpen bubble finally burst in the eighth inning when Hansel Robles surrendered a solo shot to Wander Franco and a game-tying double to Randy Arozarena — spoiling a strong start from Nathan Eovaldi (5IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K) and giving Tampa new life. 

But after Garrett Whitlock relieved Robles and fanned three over 1.1 innings of work, Nick Pivetta kept the Sox alive in extras — once again stepping into a long-relief role and giving his club a fighting chance.

Pivetta was superb on the mound Sunday — tossing four scoreless innings, surrendering three hits and striking out seven en route to a well-earned win. 

Pivetta, who already logged 4.2 innings of relief that helped save Boston’s bullpen in Thursday’s Game 1 loss, became just the fifth Sox pitcher to record 4+ innings of scoreless relief in a postseason game — with the two previous performances put forward by Pedro Martinez (1999 ALDS Game 5) and David Price (2017 ALDS Game 3).

Sox benefit off of ground-rule double call 

Before Vazquez performed his heroics in the bottom of the 13th, the Sox managed to catch a lucky break in the top of the frame. 

With Yandy Diaz on first, Kevin Kiermaier laced a slider from Pivetta into right field — with the ball clanging against the outfield wall, hitting Hunter Renfroe and then bouncing over the wall. 

While it appeared as though Diaz scored from first — handing the Rays a 5-4 lead at the time — the subsequent call reversed the Rays’ fortunes, with  Kiermaier’s hit being changed to a ground-rule double, keeping Diaz at third. 

Pivetta followed that up by striking out Mike Zunino, ending the scoring threat for the Rays.

Of course, the Rays weren’t too thrilled postgame, but some of that controversy is minimized by the fact that Vazquez’s two-run blast would have won the game for the Sox anyway. 

TURNING POINT

Alex Cora’s decision to roll with Robles (who, despite some shaky outings, had not allowed a run in his last 17 outings) without any action in the bullpen ended up blowing up in Boston’s face — but handing the ball to Pivetta in extras is the reason why Boston currently has Tampa on the ropes in this series. 

FIVE UP

Nick Pivetta: Vazquez might have provided the fireworks, but the Sox aren’t even in a position to win this one in the 13th if it wasn’t for Pivetta’s performance.

Nathan Eovaldi: He might be lost in the shuffle a bit considering it feels like he started this game about 15 hours ago, but Eovaldi bounced back from a two-run first inning and turned in another strong postseason start. In eight career postseason appearances, Eovaldi is 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP — all with Boston. 

Kiké Hernandez: After going 0-for-4 in Boston’s Game 1 loss to Tampa, Hernandez went on a tear at the plate — recording a hit in seven consecutive plate appearances from the fifth inning of Game 2 through the fifth inning of Game 3. So far this series, Hernandez is 8-for-16 with four runs scored, three doubles, two home runs and five RBI.

Kyle Schwarber: After Tampa Bay opened the game with Austin Meadows’ two-run shot in the first, Schwarber countered right away with his leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning — becoming the first Boston batter to lead off a postseason game with a home run since Dustin Pedroia took Jeff Francis deep in Game 1 of the 2007 World Series. He also gets brownie points for this sequence: 

Christian Vazquez: I mean, of course he gets a spot on this list. Vazquez’s two-run blast was the Sox’ first walk-off home run since Manny Ramirez’s moonshot against the Angels in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS.

TWO DOWN

Kevin Plawecki: The Sox catcher had a night to forget at the plate, grounding into double plays in each of his two-at bats. He was replaced by Vazquez once Eovaldi’s night on the mound was done — a wise decision, to say the least. 

Hansel Robles: Robles picked a rough time to relinquish his first runs since August, with the reliever coughing up the Sox’ 4-2 lead in the eighth inning. He owes both Whitlock and Pivetta a beer or two. 

QUOTE OF NOTE

“He goes somewhere else mentally and physically. He was locked in.” - Alex Cora on Nick Pivetta.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Eovaldi has now gone at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer in each of his first four postseason starts with Boston. The only other Red Sox pitcher to post such a line through his first four playoff starts was Josh Beckett. 

The Red Sox started the season 10-11 at home, but have gone 41-21 in the following 62 games at Fenway — including the postseason. 

The Red Sox are now 11-2 in their last 13 postseason games.  

Kiké Hernandez tied the Red Sox postseason record for extra-base hits in a single series with five — joining Carl Yastrzemski (1967 World Series), John Valentin (1999 ALDS) and Kevin Youkilis (2007 ALCS, 2008 ALCS). 

UP NEXT

The Red Sox will look to close out their series against the Rays and punch their ticket to the ALCS on Monday night at Fenway Park. First pitch for Game 4 is set for 7:07 p.m. Pitchers are currently TBA, although Cora added that the ball will "most likely" go to Eduardo Rodriguez.