Red Sox reactions: Back-to-back homers in 1st, rally in 9th matter little as record hits new low point
· Yahoo Sports
BOSTON — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (22-31) hit back-to-back homers in the first inning — and nearly rally all the way back in the ninth — but still lose, 7-6, to the Braves as their Fenway woes continue:
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1) Boston hit three homers for just the third time all season and still lost. Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela led off Spencer Strider’s start with back-to-back solo blasts and Isiah Kiner-Falefa added a late solo homer. None of that was enough on a night Boston’s pitchers were hit hard (and the Red Sox had just two other hits before the ninth inning).
The Red Sox are now a horrific 8-18 at Fenway Park this season. At 22-31, they are nine games under .500 for the first time this year — a new low point for a club that had previously been eight games below .500 a handful of times but had never fallen farther.
Boston has lost four in a row overall — and seven of their last eight at home.
2) The Red Sox extended a recent habit of making the ninth inning interesting. Facing Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, who had not allowed a run all season, the Red Sox got a rally out of the bottom of their lineup that ultimately fell short.
The Red Sox turned a three-run deficit into a one-run game when Mickey Gasper singled, Nick Sogard doubled and Kiner-Falefa hit a first-pitch single up the middle. With one out, Duran laced a single that put the tying run in scoring position.
Things then ended fast as Rafaela grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out and Iglesias corralled a Wilyer Abreu grounder to end the game. It was more of the same for the Red Sox, who had similar ninth-inning rallies fall short Saturday and Sunday against the Twins.
3) The night started out with some fireworks from Boston’s offense, which teed off on Strider to start the game. Duran smacked Strider’s second pitch of the game deep into the right-field bleachers for a 412-foot leadoff homer. Three pitches later, the No. 2 hitter, Rafaela, got a hanging slider and hit a towering shot to left. It was the second pair of back-to-back homers for Boston this season.
Ultimately, the story of the night was similar to Friday, when the Red Sox started their series against the Twins with an early offensive outburst (a four-run first) but still lost.
4) An unlikely source of offense kept Boston in the game numerous times, with big hits from Kiner-Falefa twice drawing the Sox back within a run.
In the seventh, Kiner-Falefa hit his first homer of the season to make it 5-4, sending a hanging Dylan Lee breaking ball into the Monster seats. After Michael Harris II blasted a two-run homer off Tyron Guerrero in the eighth to make it a three-run game, Kiner-Falefa once again came up big in the ninth with his two-run single up the middle.
5) Before Tuesday, the Red Sox had not had back-to-back homers in nearly 10 years — since May 31, 2016, when Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia took Kevin Gausman deep to start a game in Baltimore. The franchise had not had back-to-back homers to start a game at Fenway Park since July 27, 2011, when Jacoby Ellsbury and Pedroia did it.
Duran’s homer was the 10th leadoff blast of his career, tying him for the second-most in Red Sox history with Ellsbury. Betts holds that record with 20.
6) Ranger Suarez was efficient early and got plenty of quick outs before his start got away from him late. Pitching with an early 2-0 lead, Suarez navigated Atlanta’s lineup — and thwarted some scoring threats — before the traffic caught up to him in the middle innings.
After issuing a two-out walk to Mauricio Dubon in the fifth, Suarez served up a first pitch homer to Matt Olson that tied the game. He returned for the sixth and allowed a double to Austin Riley before walking Eli White. Michael Harris II then put the Braves up, 3-2, and chased Suarez from the game with a ground-rule RBI double.
White and Harris came into score against Greg Weissert and make it 5-2, so Suarez was tagged for five earned runs on six hits (and three walks) in 5+ innings. He took the loss.
7) Strider settled down after the bad start to his outing and allowed just one more hit before leaving at 87 pitches (and 5+ innings). The Red Sox climbed back into the game with runs in the sixth and seventh (the latter on Kiner-Falefa’s homer) but the gap widened when Harris hit a two-run homer to dead center off Tyron Guerrero and put the Braves up three runs in the eighth.
Boston’s offense had a big chance in the sixth against reliever Didier Fuentes but only pushed one run across to make it a two-run game. With the bases loaded and no outs, Gasper grounded into a run-scoring double play. Dylan Lee then entered for the Braves and got Sogard to ground out to keep the score at 5-3.
8) It was just the third time all season the Red Sox had three homers. The other two games in which the Red Sox had three or more homers were memorable ones. First was Alex Cora’s final game (the 17-1 rout over the Orioles). Then, the emotional win against Valdez and the Tigers on May 5 in Detroit.
Boston’s home run total is still among the lowest in baseball but the club does have 28 homers in its last 29 games (since April 23).
9) An early lowlight of Suarez’s night? A rare ABS (automatic ball-strike) challenge from a pitcher, and a bad one at that.
On a 2-2 pitch to Riley in the second inning, Suarez missed the zone on a pitch clearly outside, but tapped his hat to challenge. The call was confirmed.
There’s a reason teams, including the Red Sox, have told their pitchers not to challenge calls.
10) It was notable that the Red Sox let Guerrero, who has been hit around a bit in three big league outings, pitch two innings once the gap widened. The righty struck out three batters after the Harris homer but could still be a roster casualty in the coming days, especially if the Red Sox want to get Tommy Kahnle on their roster before his June 1 opt-out date.
11) Twelve days after holding the Braves at bay for five innings in Atlanta, rookie Connelly Early (4-2, 3.33 ERA) will face Atlanta again on Wednesday night. The Braves will send breakout star Bryce Elder (4-2, 1.97 ERA) to the mound. First pitch is once again at 6:45 p.m. ET.
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