Red Sox 4, White Sox 5: Late hook, Hanley's misplay cost Sox

The Red Sox fell to the White Sox 4-5 after Torey Lovullo's late hook and Hanley Ramirez' atrocious glove cost Wade Miley cost and the Red Sox the game.

It all started relatively well for the Red Sox. Wade Miley did surrender an early run in the second, but the lineup was up to the task of getting it back and then some with a little help from the White Sox defense. In the top of the third, Mookie Betts hit a line drive to the base of the wall in left for a double, moved to third on the throw home as Josh Rutledge scored, then came in himself for a little league home run as the ball got away from Geovany Soto, putting the Sox ahead 2-1.

It didn't take too long for the White Sox to tie things up, stringing together three straight singles to start the fourth to score their second run and threaten a whole bunch more. But Alexei Ramirez gave Miley a break by attempting a bunt which ended with Avisail Garcia out at third, Soto struck out swinging at a changeup, and a Carlos Sanchez ground ball ended the inning with the tie intact.

The Red Sox, too, would start an inning with three straight hits, theirs coming in the sixth. Mookie Betts started it off with a single, then came in to score as Pablo Sandoval shot a double past Jose Abreu at first. Sandoval would himself score as the white Sox attempted and failed to turn an inning-ending double play on Travis Shaw's ground ball to put Boston up 4-2.

Through six, Wade Miley had survived, if not excelled. The White Sox had already managed 10 hits off of him, but with a combination of baserunning errors, double plays, and just generally untimely hitting, had failed to score more than those two runs. Still, with the White Sox taking an aggressive approach at the plate and producing a number of very quick at bats, Miley was able to enter the seventh with his pitch count more or less under control.

That's where things went wrong. It started innocuously enough, with a couple base hits around a ground ball out from Adam Eaton pulling the White Sox within a run and prompting a visit to the mound. But Wade Miley stayed in the game, and followed up with a strikeout of Jose Abreu.

Strikeout or no, though, when Avisail Garcia walked on just five pitches, it was probably time for Miley to exit. Instead, he stayed in for one more batter, and that one at bat proved all the difference. Trayce Thompson drilled a 1-0 fastball into left field, where Hanley Ramirez proved incapable of cutting down what should have been a routine base hit, allowing the ball to get all the way to the wall, and making it an easy trip home for not only Melky Cabrera, but Garcia as well. If the tie was on the heads of Lovullo and Miley, the go-ahead run was Hanley's burden to bear.

For once, the bullpen proved up to the task of not making things any worse. But the White Sox bullpen did quite a bit better, striking out five of the last six batters they faced, ensuring the Red Sox did not so much as threaten their late lead.