Final: Red Sox 2, Cardinals 7 - Boston's bullpen gives up 5 runs in the 8th inning to put the game out of reach

Trevor's Game Notes:

The Red Sox lose their 2nd straight game of the series. This was a game the Red Sox could've won. Despite the end score, the Red Sox were tied with the Cardinals until the bottom of 8th where the game started to get out of hand. 

Bullpen Blunders: Justin Slaten and Zach Kelly gave up 6 hits and 5 runs (4 were earned by Slaten) in the 8th inning giving the Cardinals a comfortable lead with the Red Sox going into their final at-bats. After pitching the final out of the 7th inning. Slaten allowed 4 base hits in a row, breaking the tie. Slaten had a difficult time getting through the inning, eventually being taken out for Kelly who gave up a hit before ending the inning.

Longball streak: Rafael Devers has now hit 4 home runs in 4 straight games. Devers' 8th home run of the year tied the game 1-1 in the 4th inning,

Bounce Back Start: Kutter Crawford has a good start in this game, pitching 5 and 2/3 innings, striking out 5 batters and only giving up 1 run. Great performance after giving up the most runs this season to the Rays in the previous series. 

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WHO: Red Sox (22-23) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (19-25)
WHEN: 7:15 p.m.
WHERE: Busch Stadium, St. Louis
SERIES TO DATE: 0-1 (0-0/0-1)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Kutter Crawford (2-2, 2.24) vs. RHP Miles Mikolas (3-5, 6.19)
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran (L) LF
Wilyer Abreu (L) RF
Connor Wong (R) C
Rafael Devers (L) 3B
Tyler O'Neill (R) DH
Dominic Smith (L) 1B
Vaughn Grissom (R) 2B
David Hamilton (L) SS
Ceddanne Rafaela (R) CF

SP Kutter Crawford

Cardinals

Brendan Donovan (L) LF
Lars Nootbaar (L) RF
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Alec Burleson (L) DH
Iván Herrera (R) C
Nolan Gorman (L) 2B
Masyn Winn (R) SS
Michael Siani (L) CF

SP Miles Mikolas

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox have lost 4 of their last 5 games, including each of the last 3. The team is 1 loss shy of tying its longest losing streak of the season (4 games, 4/9-12). This is the first time the Red Sox are below .500 since they were 1-2 following play on 3/30 at Seattle.

The Red Sox lost last night’s series opener against the Cardinals, 10-6. Connor Wong (4-for-5, 2B, RBI) recorded his 4th career 4-hit game, his 2nd this season (also 4/14 at CLE). Rafael Devers hit a solo HR in the 3rd inning and grounded into an RBI force out in the 9th.

 Rafael Devers has homered in a season-high 3 consecutive games. This marks the 7th time in his career he’s hit a HR in as many as 3 straight games (previous: 4/12-15/23). He’s homered in 4 straight games twice (previous: 6/11-15/22).

Jarren Duran has reached base safely in 9 of his 14 plate appearances in the last 3 games, going 6-for-11 (2 BB, HBP) with 3 runs and 5 XBH (4 doubles, HR). Duran has started all 45 of the Sox’ games, leading the club in runs (26), H (50), doubles (13), triples (6), XBH (21), and SB (10).

David Hamilton is back at shortstop for the Red Sox for the second straight game after going 2-for-4 with a double and a two-run triple in a 10-6 loss. Hamilton is starting on back-to-back days for the first time since April 17 and 18 as Boston faces the Cardinals in the middle game of a three-game set at Busch Stadium on Saturday.