With two away in the ninth inning, the Boston Red Sox looked as if they would take another tough loss. The loss would have been their eighth of their past ten games, and the offense would head to Safeco Field not scoring a run in 17 innings. The Red Sox offense lacked a huge hit all series long, and the offense appeared as if they were out of energy.
Down 3-0, the Red Sox had just enough energy in them and led them to victory.
Boston won 5-3 and split a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. Dustin Pedroia came through with a huge three-run shot in the ninth, putting the Red Sox on top 4-3 at the time.
Clay Buchholz earned a victory out of relief, while Huston Street blew his third save of the year and got handed his second loss of the season.
With the victory, the Red Sox improve to 57-46 and remain in third place in the AL East. However, they are just 1.5 games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles and control the second Wild Card spot. The Angels fall to 47-58 and remain in the seller of their division.
Late game drama
Huston Street came on in the ninth to protect a three-run lead but immediately ran into trouble. He walked Jackie Bradley Jr. to open up the inning, and fell behind 3-0 to Aaron Hill, before Hill connected with a single on 3-1. All of the sudden, the Red Sox had their tying run at the plate with nobody out.
However, Street got right back into his groove. He faced two struggling hitters in Ryan Hanigan and Brock Holt next and struck out both of them. This brought up Mookie Betts, who has come through for the Red Sox all season long. In a drama-filled at-bat, Betts laced a single to right field, scoring Bradley Jr. from second base. However, there was still work to do, as the Red Sox still needed two more runs.
Dustin Pedroia followed, who was dealing with a rough day at the plate. The 2008 AL MVP struck out three times in four at-bats and had left a combined five men on base. Pedroia's night almost ended early in the fifth inning when the California native was arguing a called third strike call. Instead, protecting his player, John Farrell stepped in and was ejected.
But in a matter of second, Pedroia's day turned from one to forget to one to cherish. On a 1-0 pitch, the 32-year-old turned on a slider, depositing it over the wall for a three-run homer. It was his 12th home run of the season and by far his most clutch of 2016.
However, the Red Sox would not be finished in the ninth. Xander Bogaerts followed, and also connected with a home run. The ninth inning outburst was long awaited from this Red Sox team all series long, as the stellar offense has failed to convert in big moments against the Angels' pitching staff.
Angels blow many opportunities
While the Red Sox have struggled in big moments all series long, the Angels could have definitely scored much more than three runs against Steven Wright and the Red Sox on Sunday. The knuckleballer has struggled in July, and his struggles continued in the first inning. Yunel Escobar doubled to open up the game, and Kole Calhoun followed with a walk. 2014 AL MVP Mike Trout connected for a single, attempting to score Escobar from second, but he missed the plate and was later tagged out for the first out. Albert Pujols also singled, loading up the bases with one away. This brought up the red-hot Andrelton Simmons, but he struck out on a pitch that got away from the catcher Hanigan and bounced up to throw out Calhoun at the plate. Therefore, the Angels had four baserunners in the first, but ran into two outs and could not score.
The Halos also opened up the second inning with two straight singles from Jefry Marte and Ji-Man Choi, but could not convert with runners in scoring position.
Los Angeles finally got their runs in the fifth. With one away, Escobar and Calhoun had back-to-back singles, and would both score on a RBI single from Trout and a RBI groundout from Pujols. Following Pujols' groundout and a Simmons walk, Jefry Marte came through with a RBI single to score Trout from second, good for the Angels' third run.
Former starter Clay Buchholz took over in the sixth and was dominant. The two-time all-star went three innings, giving up no hits and just one walk. Buchholz continues to be a reliable option for the Red Sox out of the bullpen, despite being horrendous as a starter.
After the big offensive ninth inning, Brad Ziegler came on to close for the Red Sox and got the job done. It was a huge come-from-behind victory for the Red Sox, and will look to build off it as they head into August.