Red Sox 6, Giants 7: Mike Yastrzemski homers and the Red Sox lose a marathon game

I’m tired so I’m mailing this one in a little bit. I’m sorry, but only a little. Anyway, Nathan Eovaldi was not good in this game and gave up five runs in four innings, including a home run to Mike Yastrzemski. The offense did mount a comeback, highlighted with a three-run sixth that eventually pushed the game to extras. The Giants then scored in the 13th, then the Red Sox did the same to extend the game even more. Eventually, the Giants won in 15.

The big story at Fenway on Tuesday, and will be for the next two days as well, was the return of the Yastrzemski name to Boston. Carl’s grandson is a rookie with the Giants and was leading off in this game, and the buzz around the park was palpable for his first game in his hometown. The crowd was, understandably, not super electric given the Red Sox’ place in the standings, but the electricity did bump up a bit in his first at bat.

In that first at bat, Nathan Eovaldi really didn’t want to have the crowd rooting too hard for the other time. It’s got to be a weird situation for a pitcher to have the crowd pulling so obviously for the other team. The Red Sox starter came out firing against the young Yaz in the top of the first, and blew him away with high-90s heat for a strikeout. The high didn’t last long, though, as Brandon Belt took the first pitch in the next at bat and put it into the first row of the Monster Seats for a solo homer.

Eovaldi would come back out for a scoreless second in which he worked his way around a couple of hits, but that was the best inning of the night for the righty. That’s....clearly not a great sign. In the third, he started things off by issuing a walk to Yasztremski, who then moved up to second on a wild pitch. After putting Evan Longoria with a one-out free pass, he left a ball right over the heart of the plate to Stephen Vogt. The Giants catcher ripped a double out to right field, bringing another run home. San Francisco would then get two more on a ground out on a single.

The moment of the game, though, came in the fourth. That was when Yasztremski came up with two outs in his third at bat of the game. You knew it was coming at some point this week, and on a 3-1 count the rookie outfielder took a fastball up in the zone and blasted it out to straightaway center field for a solo home run. It was an incredible moment, and it also gave the Giants a 5-1 lead.

On the other end, the Mookie Betts-less Red Sox were having some trouble getting things going against Logan Webb. The Giants righty came through with a shutdown inning in the first with an easy 1-2-3 frame, though Boston did answer back in the second. There, Webb los control for a bit and walked three batters in a row to load the bases with one out. It was a chance for the Red Sox to take a lead, but they settled for just a 1-1 tie on a Jackie Bradley Jr. base hit.

They didn’t do much in the next couple of innings after that, but Bradley was the one to get them back on the board yet again. With the score now 5-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Red Sox center fielder led off the frame and took a 3-1 fastball out to right field for a solo homer, his 19th of the year. Just like that, the Sox were within three.

They would complete their comeback an inning later with the Giants now into their bullpen. The rally started with Sam Travis, who was in the game for J.D. Martinez after the latter had to leave with tightness in his ground. Travis would kick things off with a triple, but in a scary moment he was struck in the back of the head with a relay throw and had to leave the game himself. Mitch Moreland and Christian Vázquez would then smack back-to-back doubles, putting the Red Sox within one of tying this game. They did exactly that with two outs when Vázquez came home on a passed ball.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox bullpen was doing well after Eovaldi left the game. Colten Brewer got the call for the fifth and he struck out two in a perfect inning. Bobby Poyner then came on for a perfect inning of his own before Ryan Brasier struck out two in a third straight 1-2-3 inning for Boston relievers.

Boston had a chance to take the lead in the seventh when they started things off with back-to-back doubles. Gorkys Hernández, who replaced Travis in the previous frame, then dropped a bunt to put a pair in scoring position with just one out. Despite the opportunity, the Sox went scoreless and the game remained tied.

The score was still 5-5 as we headed into the bottom of the ninth. After a couple of quick outs to start things off, Gorkys Hernández reached on an infield single then moved to second on a wild pitch. After Brock Holt was intentionally walked on a 3-0 count, Moreland had a chance to walk it off with the winning run in scoring position. He couldn’t come through, and we headed to extras.

Things were pretty actionless for a few innings there, but that trend broke in the 13th. Andrew Cashner was in for his second inning of work, and immediately got into trouble. Kevin Pillar led things off with a single, and then Brandon Crawford broke the tie with a double. That brought Pillar home and put the Giants up by one.

That gave Boston one more chance to tie or win the game in the bottom of the inning. They got on the doorstop of at least extending the game, loading up the bases with just one out. Rafael Devers would strike out, though, leaving it all up to Juan Centeno. He drew a walk, tying the game back up at six and giving Brock Holt a chance to win it. Instead, he’d ground out and we were headed to the 14th.

From here we fast-forward to the 15th, where Donovan Solano got a rally going for the Giants with a ground-rule double, their second straight inning starting with one of those. They wasted it in the 14th, but this time the runner moved up on a wild pitch before giving San Francisco a lead with a sacrifice fly. Boston did get two on in the bottom of the inning, but they couldn’t get the run home and that was that. Now go get some sleep.

The Red Sox will look to tie this series up in the second game on Wednesday. They’ll have Jhoulys Chacín on the mound to take on Jeff Samardzija.

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