Red Sox keep finding a way, rally late to beat Marlins for fourth straight comeback win

For most of Monday night, the Red Sox and Marlins seemed determined to see which team could squander more scoring opportunities.

Miami put runners on base all night, while Boston repeatedly failed to cash in on its own opportunities. Somehow, though, the Red Sox hung around long enough to do what they’ve been doing a lot lately: come from behind and win.

Anthony Seigler broke a 2-2 tie with his first career triple in the ninth inning, helping lift the Red Sox to a 4-2 victory at LoanDepot Park. Boston improved to 72-59, matched its season high at 13 games over .500 and secured its fourth consecutive comeback win.

The Red Sox went just 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10, but the Marlins were even more wasteful, going 2-for-18 and leaving 14 aboard.

With the game tied entering the ninth, Mickey Gasper worked a leadoff walk against Pete Fairbanks, who then exited with an injury. Eli White entered as a pinch-runner, and Seigler greeted Tyler Zuber by ripping a triple down the right-field line to bring White all the way around from first.

Seigler hadn’t started in eight days, but the Sox' “spark plug” delivered in when his team needed him the most.

“I don’t know if you would call that speeding around the bags, I’m just glad this field is huge,” Seigler joked to NESN’s Jahmai Webster. “Great at-bat by Mickey to get it going and then I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and keep the line rolling.”

Nick Sogard followed with an RBI single to provide some insurance before Aroldis Chapman closed it out for his 30th save. Chapman has now reached 30 saves in a season 10 times and sits at 397 for his career, three shy of becoming the ninth pitcher in MLB history to reach 400.

The late breakthrough came after Boston spent much of the night failing to take advantage of its chances against Sandy Alcantara.

Jarren Duran and Gasper opened the third with consecutive singles, and Seigler’s groundout put two runners in scoring position with one out. Alcantara escaped by striking out Sogard and getting Ceddanne Rafaela looking.

Rafaela unsuccessfully challenged the called third strike, dropping him to 6-for-24 on ABS challenges this season.

Gasper finally broke through against Alcantara with an RBI double that tied the game 1-1. It continued a torrid stretch since his Aug. 16 recall from Triple-A Worcester. Gasper is 8-for-19 with three homers, three doubles, 10 RBI, and four walks while striking out only once.

Boston threatened again in the seventh when Duran hustled a routine single into a double before Alcantara walked Gasper and Seigler to load the bases with one out. Once again, the Sox came away empty after Sogard struck out and Rafaela flew out.

Miami immediately made the Red Sox pay, taking the lead in the bottom half of the inning.

Brayan Bello, who worked a clean sixth after replacing Ranger Suarez, ran into trouble in the seventh. Otto Lopez led off with a double and two walks loaded the bases before Xavier Edwards punched a single through the right side to put Miami ahead, 2-1.

Willson Contreras kept the inning from unraveling. With the bases still loaded, he knocked down Jakob Marsee’s liner at first, recovered the ball in foul territory and fired home for the force, keeping Boston within a run.

Boston answered in the eighth inning when Wilyer Abreu doubled to open the inning, advanced to third and scored on Josh Ekness’ wild pitch to tie the game at 2-2.

Then it was Miami’s turn to squander another opportunity after Duran bobbled Leo Jiménez’s one-out single in the eighth, allowing Jiménez to reach second after a replay overturned the initial out call. Lopez followed with a bunt single to put runners at the corners.

Erik Miller escaped the jam and continued to look like one of Craig Breslow’s better trade deadline additions.

Heriberto Hernández hit a grounder back to Miller, who fired home to Adley Rutschman and caught Jiménez in a rundown. Miller then struck out Kyle Stowers to strand the go-ahead run and preserve the tie, setting the stage for Boston’s ninth-inning rally.

Ranger Suarez had spent the first five innings performing a similar escape act.

The left-hander allowed four hits and four walks and hit two batters, but somehow limited Miami to one run. His biggest test came in the second, when two hit batters and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out. The Marlins managed only a sacrifice fly.

Miami put the first two hitters aboard again in the fifth, but Suarez escaped without allowing a run. The Marlins finished 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position against him and stranded eight during his five innings.

“Being able to not be sharp and give up one run is important,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “There wasn’t much damage, but it was self-inflicted with the walks and the free passes. But he was able to wiggle his way out of some of those spots and give us five innings and keep them to one run.”

Neither team executed particularly well with runners on base, but the Red Sox made enough defensive plays and escaped enough jams to stay within striking distance until Seigler finally supplied the hit they needed.

“It was a team win tonight,” Tracy said. “There was defensive plays, Willson knocking the ball down with the bases loaded and getting the force-out at home, Miller catching the ball above his head, if that gets over his head we’re not turning a double play and we’re not getting the runner at the plate. There was a lot of execution late in the game that helped us win that game.”

The Red Sox have now won four straight, all in comeback fashion, after rallying in each game of their weekend sweep of the Giants. They’re 38-27 on the road and again sit 13 games above .500.

Boston will go for its fifth consecutive victory Tuesday night with Payton Tolle (8-6, 3.08 ERA) on the mound. The Marlins have not yet announced a starter for the game.