FINAL: San Diego Padres 9, Red Sox 2 - Red Sox Allow Nine in Fifth En Route to Blowout Loss

The Red Sox (43-38) lose their second in a row, this time at the hands of the San Diego Padres (45-41) by a score of 9-2.

Things were looking good for the Sox for the first four innings, as they opened the scoring with a two out single from Connor Wong in the bottom of the fourth. In the next half inning, the Padres would score nine runs in nine batters before recording an out. San Diego had four singles, a double, and two home runs in that half inning, which was all they needed to defeat Boston tonight. They would only get one hit after the fifth inning. Rafael Devers cut the lead down to seven runs with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, but that was all she wrote for the Red Sox offense.

Nick Pivetta was looking strong before the fifth, pitching four innings and giving up three hits and striking out four. But those totals would get up to five runs on seven hits and a walk. He was pulled for Greg Weissert who would give up four more runs on four hits, along with a strikeout and a walk. Chase Anderson pitched the rest of the game starting in the top of the sixth, where he allowed only one hit, and struck out and walked two batters.

My Player of the Game: Ceddanne Rafaela - While he didn't light up the stat sheet, Rafaela went 3-4 on the day, with a double off the monster in the bottom of the ninth. Another great game for my AL Rookie of the Year pick.

Tomorrow's game is slated for a 4:10 start back on NESN. Probable pitchers are Michael King (5-5, 3.75 ERA) and Tanner Houck (7-5, 2.18 ERA).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 _________________________________

WHO: San Diego Padres (44-41) at Red Sox (43-37)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: 0-0, 2-1 in 2023
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Randy Vasquez (2-4, 5.10 ERA) vs. RHP Nick Pivetta (4-4, 4.06 ERA)
TV/RADIO: Apple TV+, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran CF
David Hamilton 2B
Wilyer Abreu RF
Rafael Devers 3B
Tyler O'Neill LF
Masataka Yoshida DH
Connor Wong C
Dominic Smith 1B
Ceddanne Rafaela SS

SP Nick Pivetta

OPPONENT

Luis Arraez 1B
Jurickson Profar LF
Jake Cronenworth 2B
Manny Machado 3B
Donovan Solano DH
Jackson Merrill CF
Ha-Seong Kim SS
Kyle Higashioka C
Bryce Johnson RF

SP Randy Vasquez

WHAT'S UP

Tonight's game marks the halfway point of Boston's season. The Red Sox have won 3 of their last 4 games and 8 of their last 10...They're 10-3 in their last 13. BOS is 9-6 in its last 15 home games, after going 3-7 in the previous 10. At 43-37 (.538), Boston owns MLB's 11th-best record. Since May 19, the Sox are 21-13 (.618)...They own MLB's 2nd-best record during that span (1st: CLE, 22-11, .667).

Prior to yesterday's off day, the Sox' game against the Blue Jays on Wednesday was suspended due to an extended period of severe weather in the Fenway area. The game will resume on 8/26 at 2:05 p.m. at the point when it was suspended with one out in the top of the 2nd inning and a 0-0 score.

Boston ranks in MLB's top 5 in triples (3rd, 21), doubles (4th, 145), and XBH (4th, 256). BOS ranks in the AL's top 5 in AVG (3rd, .253), OBP (2nd, .322), SLG (5th, .420), and OPS (5th, .742).

Rafael Devers is 8 hits shy of 1,000 in his career...He's also 2 XBH shy of tying Manny Ramirez (437) for 5th-most by a Dominican-Born player prior to age 28. He ranks 5th in the AL and 8th in MLB in SLG (.559) and OPS (.927), and also ranks 8th in the AL in OBP (.368). Devers leads MLB third basemen in SLG, OPS, and wRC+ (148), while ranking 2nd in HR (16)...He also leads AL 3rd basemen in walks (34) and ranks 2nd in OBP.

Jarren Duran ranks 4th in MLB and 2nd among outfielders in bWAR (4.3). Duran leads MLB in triples (10)...He leads the AL in doubles (tied, 23) and ranks 3rd in hits (96), 4th in XBH (40), 6th in total bases (160), and T-6th in runs (55). He also leads the AL in baserunning run value (tied, 3) and ranks 2nd among MLB outfielders in DRS (11). He's the 2nd Red Sox player to ever record 40+ XBH and 20+ SB in the team's first 80 games, joining Hall-of-Famer Tris Speaker (1912, 1913). In 22 June games, he's batting .375 with a 1.045 OPS, 23 runs scored, and 9 SB (36-for-96, 7 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 10 BB).

The Red Sox lead MLB in pinch hits (21) and RBI by pinch hitters (17)...They're tied for the Major League lead with 3 pinch-hit HR (also CLE, COL, CWS, and SEA). Boston's pinch-hitters have batted .280 with a .368 OBP and .835 OPS (21-for-75, 5 2B, 3 HR).