FINAL: Houston Astros 5, Red Sox 4 - Long Balls Bite Sox Staff in Close Loss

The Red Sox (61-54) lose their third in a row, and their second against the Houston Astros (61-55), losing 5-4.

The Sox would have no hits through the first four innings, but a Danny Jansen solo home run would put them on the board in the fifth. Their second hit would also be a home run, this time off the bat of the red hot Masataka Yoshida, which made it 4-2 in the seventh. Boston would get three more hits in the eighth, as Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela singled, then Wilyer Abreu would single as well to drive the two of them in, bringing the Sox within a run. Rafael Devers would double to lead off the ninth, but the Sox would go down in order after that to end the game. Boston's batters struck out 15 times in this one, with five batters fanning two or more times.

Josh Winckowski would get the start today, pitching only three innings, giving up a run on two hits, and striking out one. The one run he gave up was a solo shot from Yordan Alvarez in the first, and Yainer Diaz would single for the other hit. Brad Keller would come in after him, throwing four innings and receiving the loss, as he allowed three runs on six hits, with two of those being home runs, and he also walked two and struck out six. Alvarez would strike again in the sixth, hitting a two run homer to right, and Alex Bregman would hit the second home run off of Keller, a solo home run to center. Zack Kelly came in to pitch the eighth, and he would also give up a solo home run, this time off the bat of Zack Dezenzo, which was his first Major League home run. Chris Martin would pitch the ninth, allowing one hit and striking out one.

My Player of the Game: Wilyer Abreu - Wilyer made the game close with his two out, two run RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning, but the offense couldn't get it done in the ninth.

Tomorrow, the Sox will attempt to avoid the sweep at home, with a start time of 1:35 p.m.. Probable starters are Hunter Brown (9-7, 3.98 ERA) and James Paxton (9-3, 4.42 ERA).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                _____________________________________

WHO: Houston Astros (60-55) at Red Sox (61-53)
WHEN: 4:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: 0-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Spencer Arrighetti (4-10, 5.33 ERA) vs. RHP Josh Winckowski (2-1, 3.44 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, FS1, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran LF
Wilyer Abreu RF
Masataka Yoshida DH
Rafael Devers 3B
Danny Jansen C
Dominic Smith 1B
Nick Sogard 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela CF
David Hamilton SS

SP Josh Winckowski

OPPONENT

Jose Altuve 2B
Alex Bregman 3B
Yordan Alvarez LF
Yainer Diaz DH
Jeremy Pena SS
Victor Caratini C
Zach Dezenzo 1B
Jake Meyers CF
Chas McCormick RF

SP Spencer Arrighetti

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox have lost back-to-back games after winning each of their previous 3. They're 6-4 in their last 10 games after going 2-7 in their first 9 after the All-Star break. The Sox are 32-24 (.571) since the start of June, the AL's 2nd-best record in that span behind HOU (35-22; .614). At 61-53 (.535), Boston owns the 6th-best record in the AL and 11th best in MLB.

The Sox will wear their Nike City Connect Series uniforms today...They’re 34-11 overall when wearing them, including 19-7 since the start of 2023 (7-4 in 2024). They’ve outscored opponents 246-166 in the jerseys.

Last night, BOS began a stretch of 27 games in 27 days (8/9-9/4) and 37 games in 38 days (8/9-9/15). The Red Sox are finishing the regular season with a stretch of 49 games in 52 days from 8/9-9/29.

Since the start of June, the Red Sox have batted .281 with an .831 OPS while scoring 5.64 runs per game (316 total runs/56 games). During that span, Boston has scored 5+ runs in 33 of its 56 games and recorded 10+ hits in 31 of those 56.

The Red Sox have deployed 135 pinch-hitters, most in MLB...They lead MLB with 24 pinch-hit RBI and rank 2nd in XBH (13) and T-2nd in HR (5). Boston's pinch-hitters rank 4th in OPS (.776) and 5th in AVG (.234), OBP (.341), and SLG (.435).

The Red Sox rank 2nd in the AL and 6th in the Majors in stolen bases (110). David Hamilton and Jarren Duran are tied for 2nd in the AL and 5th in MLB with 28 steals.

Rafael Devers has 626 career RBI, 1 shy of tying Ted Williams for 2nd most in club history at the age of 27 or younger.