The Red Sox have owned the Astros at the friendly confines of Fenway, but that would come to a halt last night when the Astros finally won a game, even if it did take them 10 innings. The Red Sox didn’t have much of a chance against the curse that is Ben Affleck’s birthday. The Sox have not won a game on Affleck’s birthday since Good Will Hunting came out back in the day. The Sox tried with a pretty good pitching performance from Clay Buchholz, but it would end up coming down to the bullpen in extra innings. The Astros went ahead in the 10th and were able to pull out the win.
Clay Buchholz has lost a lot of favor with the fans in the last year with his lackluster performances. Buchholz is the only remaining member of the original rotation and he really needs to step up and lead the current group of pitchers. Buchholz pitched pretty well last night even if he ended up with a no decision. The Sox were the first ones to crack the scoreboard when Yoenis Cespedes hit a 2 run homerun off of Astros starter Dallas Keuchel. Sox 2-0. Buchholz gave one of those runs back in the top of the 5th when he gave up an RBI single to Grossman. Sox 2-1. Clay took the mound in the 7th inning and that is when he might have faced one too many batters. Buchholz allowed the game to be tied when he gave up a solo homerun to Grossman. Sox 2-2.
The Sox didn’t take long getting that run back for Buchholz though. In the bottom of the 7th the Sox went up 3-2 when Brock Holt hit an RBI single to score Vazquez. Holt would end up being tagged out trying to get to 2nd, but the run scored. Buchholz was done after 7 innings and his pitching line was 110 pitches, 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB and 9 Ks. I’ll take an outing like that from Buchholz anyday. Mujica took the mound in the 8th and didn’t have his best performance. Mujica gave up 2 hits and recorded no outs before being replaced by Tommy Layne. Layne did his job and then some by getting two strikeouts before he was replaced by Burke Badenhop who was charged with getting the 3rd out. The Astros ended up tying the game when Badenhop got a ground ball, Bogaerts threw it to Pedroia at 2nd for the forceout, but it got there too late. Pedroia threw home, but neither Vazquez or Badenhop were able to tag Petit out before he crossed the plate. The Sox challenged the play, but Petit was safe and the game was tied once again. Sox 3-3.
Koji pitched a scoreless 9th and then Farrell went with the fateful decision of having Craig Breslow on the mound in the 10th. Breslow ended up loading the bases with no outs by way of a single, a bunt single and a hit by pitch. Breslow got one out when he got Singleton to fly out to center and the Astros didn’t dare test Bradley Jr’s arm. Breslow was done for the inning and Tazawa came in looking for two more outs. Tazawa got Dominguez to pop out to first and it looked hopeful that the Sox might get out of this mess. However, the Astros went end up getting two runs when Marisnick hit a ground rule double. Sox 3-5. All the excitement and air went out of Fenway at that point. Sipp took the mound again for the Astros and was able to put down the Sox in order to give the Astros their first win at Fenway. Thanks Ben Affleck, thanks a lot.
Red Sox 3 Astros 5 F/10 BOXSCORE
WP: Sipp (3-2) LP: Breslow (2-4)
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