Another night, and yet another gut-punching loss for the Red Sox.
With a chance to finally win a series, the Red Sox lost in crushing fashion yet again. Orlando Arcia hit a tie-breaking, two-run walk-off homer in the ninth off Ryan Brasier to send the Red Sox to a brutal 5-3 loss at Truist Park in Atlanta on Wednesday night as they split the two-game series with the Braves.
The Red Sox (11-20) now have not won a series in a month, a stretch of eight consecutive series without a victory as they fell 11 1/2 games back of the first-place Yankees. It was their fifth walk-off loss of the season on a growing list of excruciating defeats that’s almost become too many to count.
Wednesday night’s loss was painful on a number of levels. The Sox had chances – including a big one in the sixth inning that resulted in a sequence in which manager Alex Cora and catcher Kevin Plawecki were ejected – and the momentum from a big win on Tuesday night was effectively sapped.
The takeaways:
1. Cora ejected in game-changing sequence
The biggest moment of the game Wednesday night came in the sixth inning.
The game was tied at 3 when the Red Sox started a rally against Braves starter Ian Anderson. J.D. Martinez led off with a single and Alex Verdugo drew a one-out walk to chase Anderson out of the game. The Braves went to Collin McHugh, who induced Trevor Story into a groundout but walked Franchy Cordero – the first baseman’s fourth in two nights – to load the bases.
That’s when controversy ensued. Kevin Plawecki worked a great at-bat against McHugh and the count was full when he appeared to draw the bases-loaded walk and the go-ahead run on a pitch that was well below the strike zone. But home plate Adam Beck didn’t think so, and rang up Plawecki for strike three. Plawecki had choice words for Beck and was immediately tossed before Cora raced out of the dugout to argue with Beck in even more emotional fashion.
It was Cora’s second ejection in the last week, but his argument was more than valid as the call cost his team at least one run and possibly more.
2. Story gets on the board
Story has had a rough start to his Red Sox career, with his struggles mounting to seemingly endless booing by the Boston crowd during the second baseman’s brutal homestand last week.
But on Wednesday, he finally got the monkey off his back.
Story, who was known to hit home runs during his six-year career in Colorado, had somehow gone through the first month of this season without one, the longest drought of his career. He came close a few times, but in the second inning in Atlanta, he finally got a hold of one. After Alex Verdugo got on base with a one-out double, Story was all over Anderson’s changeup down in the zone and roped it to dead center for a two-run homer.
The ball was crushed – traveling 422 feet with a 105.8 mph exit velocity off the bat – to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
It had to have felt good for Story to finally get the first one out of the way. And when he returned to the dugout, his teammates were just as happy for him. After he got his first customary laundry cart ride, Kiké Hernandez was prepared and showered him with confetti.
For Story, the two-game trip could be a big confidence booster going forward. After having just three hits during last week’s six-game homestand, he produced three hits and four RBI against the Braves.
3. Eovaldi bounces back
Nathan Eovaldi has had a solid start to the season, but unlike his All-Star season in 2021, he’s getting hit hard.
After getting through the first two innings perfectly in 20 pitches, Eovaldi ran into trouble in the third and gave up his ninth home run of the season – a two-run shot from Braves No. 9 hitter Travis Demeritte – before he gave up a game-tying RBI double to Matt Olson. Eovaldi ultimately needed 29 pitches to get out of the third.
Eovaldi gave up just 15 home runs last season and didn’t allow his ninth until August 11 – exactly three months after Wednesday night’s shot from Demeritte.
Eovaldi responded to finish his night with 3 1/3 shutout innings before handing it over to the bullpen. Matt Strahm and John Schreiber kept it a 3-3 game before Brasier gave up the walk-off homer to Arcia.
