C4 Sports The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019
Wednesday nightgame
At FenwayPark
PHILADELPHIA AB RHBI BB SOAvg.
Hoskins1b 321021 .239
Harperrf 411211 .254
Realmutoc4 0001 0.275
Dickerson lf 50220 1.297
Segurass 501002 .283
Morrisondh 300000 .273
a-Rodríguzph-dh0 00010 .215
Kingery3b 300012 .268
CHernández2b 311010 .284
Haseleycf 310013 .241
Totals 33 564810
BOSTON AB RHBI BB SOAvg.
Betts rf 511001 .283
Devers3b 401110 .329
Bogaertsss4 00002 .306
Martinezdh 301010 .308
Benintendilf 401003 .284
Travis1b 40100 0.262
Vázquezc2 02010 .283
MHernández2b 200010 .316
b-Owingsph-2b 100001 .128
Bradley Jr. cf 41110 3.224
Totals 33 282410
Philadelphia......................000 030 101 — 5 6 1
Boston...............................110 000 000 — 2 8 2
a-walked for Morrison in 8th, b-struck out for
M.Hernández in 8th.(1), Devers(19).LOB—Phil. 9, BostoE—CHernández (9), Brasiern 9.2B—Hosk-
ins (25), CHernández (24), Betts(36), Devers (47),
Benintendi(38), Vázquez (21).3B—Dickerson (2).
HR—Harper (27), off Porcello,Bradley (16), off
Smyly.nersleft in scoriCS—MHernánng positiondez (2).—Phi.S—V4 (Dickerson,ázquez.Run-
Segura,Haseley 2), Boston5 (Betts2, Travis, Ow-
ings2).RISP—P hil. 2 for 11, Boston 2 for 8.Run-
nersmovedup—CHernández.GIDP—Bogaerts.
DP—Phil. 1.
Philadelphia IP HRER BB SO NP ERA
Smyly 3„ 5223 4844.73
Hughes W 4-5 1‚ 00010 15 3.98
Suárez 1‚ 10002 21 3.73
Morin „1000111 3.07
Álvarez 11000 2163.00
Neris S 23 10000 1133.19
Boston IP HRER BB SO NP ERA
PorcelloL 11-10 53334 3100 5.49
Brasier 11001 2154.15
Cashner 111111 20 4.75
Hernandez1 00012 22 3.63
Workman 11111 2232.05
Morin pitched to 1 batterin the 8th.Inherited
runners-scored—Hughes3-0, Álvarez 1-0.Balk—
Workman.WP—Smyly, Porcello,Cashner.PB—
Vázquez.Umpires—Home, Hunter Wendelstedt;
First, JordanDan Iassogna.Baker; Second,T—3:39.A—37,077Vic Carapazza; Third,(37,755).Phillies5, Red Sox 2Completion of Aug. 7
suspendedgame
At FenwayPark
KANSAS CITYABRHBIBBSOAvg.
Merrifieldlf 50210 0.302
Arteagass 50100 1.190
Dozier rf 51200 1.282
Solerdh 41101 2.253
Cuthbert3b 31102 0.290
Lopez 2b 50210 0.224
Viloria c4 02202 .263
a-Dini ph-c 10000 0.000
O’Hearn 1b 50000 3.171
Hamilton cf 412001 .213
b-Starling ph-cf 100000 .234
Totals 42 4134310
BOSTON AB RHBI BB SOAvg.
Betts rf 41201 1.282
Devers3b 41001 3.318
Bogaerts ss5 13200 .310
Martinez dh 512201 .302
Benintendilf 50100 3.284
Vázquezc5 01000 .283
c-Owingspr 01000 0.133
Moreland1b 40100 1.222
d-Travisph0 00010 .250
Holt 2b 302120 .318
BradleyJr. cf 40000 3.219
Totals 39 5125512
Kansas City... ................002 001 100 0 — 4 13 0
Boston...........................000 220 000 1 — 5 12 0
a-lined out for Viloriain 10th,b-grounded out
for Hamilton in 10th,wasintentionally walkedc-ran for Vázqufor Morelandez in 10th, d-in 10th.
LOB—K.C. 11, Boston11.2B—Lopez(13),Hamil-
ton (11), Bogaerts (38), Vázquez(18).HR—Marti-
nez (25), off Sparkman.(18).Runners left in scoringSB—Dopositizier (2), Hamiltonon—K.C.5 (Lo-
pez 3, Viloria, O’Hearn), Boston 1 (Vázquez).
RISP—K.C. 4 for 11, Boston3 for 5.Runners
moved up—Cuthbert.DP—K.C. 1; Boston1.
Kansas City IP HRER BB SO NP ERA
Sparkman 4‚ 74435 91 5.71
Hill1‚1 000 1214.08
McCarthy 1‚ 10003 16 4.50
Barlow 10001 1185.60
Newberry 11000 1143.52
LoveladyL 0-2 ‚211 11 95.79
Boston IP HRER BB SO NP ERA
Rodriguez 57223 1101 4.17
Hernandez 121102 15 2.35
Eovaldi BS 12 31105 36 6.59
Workman 11000 1151.95
Taylor W 1-11 0000 1133.60
Inheritedrunners-scored—Hill 2-0, McCarthy
1-0.IBB—off Lovelady(Travis).WP—Eovaldi.Um-
pires—Home, Ryan Blakney; First, Mark Carlson;
TSecon—3:48d, Tripp(1:49 delayGibso).An; Third—32,453(37,755)., BrianGorman.HOWTHE RUNSSCORED
THIRD INNING
ROYALS — Arteaga fliedout to center.Dozier
groundedwalked, Soler to second.out to first. SolerLopez singled to left,walked.Cuthbert
Soler to third,Cuthbertto second. Viloria singled
to center,Solerand Cuthbertscored,Lopezto
second.O’Hearngrounded out to short.
FOURTHINNING
RED SOX — Bogaerts singledto center.Marti-
nez homered to center, Bogaerts scored. Benin-
tendi struckout. Vázquezflied out to center. Mo-
relandsingled to center. Holtlined out to right.
FIFTH INNING
RED SOX — Bradley struckout. Bettssingledto
left. Devers walked, Bettsto second. Bogaerts
doubled to left,Bettsand Devers scored. Marti-
nez hit an infieldsingle to second, Bogaerts to
third.catcher.Hill pitching.VázquezgroundBenintendied out to short.fouled out to
SIXTH INNING
ROYALS— Viloria struck out.O’Hearn struck
out. Hamilton doubled to left. Merrifield singled
to left, Hamilton scored. Arteagaright. flied out to
SEVENTH INNING
ROYALS — Dozier singled to left. Solerstruck
out.On wildpitch,Dozierto second.Cuthbert
groundoubled to centeded out to secondr, Dozier, Dozier to third. Lopezscored.Viloria struck
out.
10TH INNING
REDSOX — Benintendistruckout.Vázquez
doubled to center. Owings pinch-runVázquez.Travis, pinch-hittingfor Moreland, wasningfor
intentionally walked. Holtsingledto left, Owings
scored.Red Sox 5, Royals 4at Petco Park, San Diego
Friday, 10:10p.m.
NESN,WEEI-FM (93.7)
W-LERA
LHP Eduardo Rodriguez 14-54.10
RHP Chris Paddack 7-6 3.44
Saturday, 8:40p.m.
NESN, WEEI-FM(93.7)
W-LERA
RHP NathanEovaldi 1-0 6.69
RHP DinelsonLamet 2-2 3.95
Sunday, 4:10 p.m.
NESN, WEEI-FM (93.7)
W-LERA
TBA
LHP JoeyLucchesi 8-7 4.20
Head to head:Thisis the only se-
ries this year. The Red Sox went
2-1 vs. San Diego in 2016.The Red
Sox are 12-6overall against the Pa-
dres since 2002.
Miscellany:Rookie SS Fernando Ta-
tis Jr., the team’sleadinghitter at
.317, is on the injured list witha
back problem... Former Red Sox
2B Ian Kinsler(neck) also is out... 3B Manny Machado,who got a
10-year, $300million contract as a
free agentin the offseason, is hit-
ting .266 with 26 homersand leads
the leaguewith 18 GIDPs.
Padres-Red Sox
seriesthumbnailsBy Alex Speier
GLOBE STAFF
BrockHoltcan hit lefties.
The Red Sox utility infielder
has a compact swingand
hand/eye coor-
dination that
allows him to
make solid
contact regardlessof the hand-
ednessof opposingpitchers.
For his career, he has a slightly
higheraverage (.273 to .271)
and on-basepercentage (.354
to .336) against lefthanders
than righthanders.
This season, however, his
opportunitiesto face lefties
have dwindled.Entering
Thursday, he had stepped to
the plate just 24 timesagainst
southpaws, posting a .211/
.333/.263line — albeit with
four walksand just one strike-
out. Withrighthandedhitters
EduardoNunez(before his re-
lease)andMichaelChavis(be-
fore landingon the injuredlist)
offering the prospect of greater
thumpagainst lefties, Holt had
receivedfew opportunities
against them.
But on Thursday — one day
after managerAlex Coraelect-
edtouseChrisOwings(whose
56 percentstrikeout rate
against lefties this year is the
highest in big leaguehistory)
as a pinch hitter forMarco
Hernandezrather than Holt —
Cora let Holt bat against Roy-
als lefthanderRichard Lovela-
dywith runners on first and
secondin the 10th inningof a
4-4 game.Holt rewarded the
decision,drillinga sliderdown
the left field line for a single,
the secondwalkoff hit of his ca-
reer and the first in more than
five years.
“I don’t mind facinglefties.
I feel like I’m comfortable
against them,” said Holt. “Ob-
viously, the more you face
them,the morecomfortable
you are. But I’m readywhenev-
er my nameis called. I play
when my name is in the lineup.
It hasn’t beenin there against
lefties recently, but it’s not an
uncomfortablefeeling for me. I
feel like I’m a good player and
can help the team regardlessof
if there’s a righty or a lefty out
there.So today I’m glad I was
able to showthat.”
Holt has beentakingadvan-
tage of such opportunities
more often than not since his
return from an odd succession
of injuriesat the start of the
year. He openedthe year by go-
ing 1 for 16 with seven strike-
outs while trying to play
througha cornea scratch he
sufferedjust priorto Opening
Day.
He spentnearly two months
on the injured list becauseof
the eye injury followedby ashoulderimpingement. But
since returningto the teamon
May 27, Holt is now hitting
.347/.413/.486in 53 games.
“We missedBrock in the
early part of the season,” said
Cora. “He can play second,he
can pinch hit, he can play dif-
ferent positions.He’s a quality
at-bat.”
Withthe walkoff hit, Holt
wrapped up the suspended
game 2 for 3 with two walks—
the 17th time in his career and
first in 2019 that he’d reached
base four times. Even so, his
playing time of late has been
limited,with Thursday mark-
ing Holt’s fifth plate appear-
ance sinceAug. 13.
“I’m just trying to stay ready
to play,” said Holt. “Whenever
my name is called, I think
that’s kind of what I’ve been
doingmy wholecareer up to
this point, and that’s what I’m
going to continueto do: Be
readytoplayandtrytohelp
the teamwin whenever I can.”Finely Ta ylored
JoshTaylorserved as the
bridge acrosstime and space.
The lefthandedreliever was on
the mound facingMeibrys
Viloriain the top of the 10th
inningon Aug. 7 whenthe
gamewas suspendedbecause
of rain, and he returned there
— with a 2-1 countagainst
pinchhitterNickDini— on
Thursday afternoon.
How did he stay loose and
readyover the interceding 15
days?
“It was tough,” smirked Tay-
lor, “but you have to find a way
to get through that adversity.”
Taylor did just that, retiring
Dini and two subsequentRoy-
als in 10 pitches,then claiming
his first career victory. Yet
whilecreditfor a win repre-
senteda milestone in his young
career, Taylor is now a couple
of months into the makingof a
quiet case as a potentiallydom-
inantbullpenoption.
After he allowed six earned
runs in his first five big leagueinningsearly in the season,
Taylor returned to the majors
in mid-June and has overpow-
ered opponents.In 31 appear-
ances, he has a 1.69 ERA, 11.8
strikeouts per nine innings,
and has held hitters to a .170/
.242/.241 line.
“He’s a guy that we count
on,” said Cora.Price progresses
LefthanderDavidPrice
threw a bullpensessionafter
the completion of the game,his
third since landing on the in-
jured list becauseof a cyst in
his left wrist. Barringa set-
back, he may be a consider-
ation to start on Sunday in San
Diego... The Red Sox club-
housewas upbeat following
the 12-minutecompletion of
the game. Third base coach
CarlosFeblesjumped into a
pack of reporters and volun-
teered to start answeringques-
tions as Holt looked on with
amusement and befuddlement.
“I was like, ‘Why are they inter-
viewingCarlos?Hemusthave
beenfired or something,’ ”
mused Holt... RelieverJosh
Smithenjoyedthe novelty of
celebrating a win in whichhe’d
spent the first nine innings(on
Aug. 7) in Triple A. “I was like,
‘Am I allowed to pitchtoday?
What are the rules?’It was
kind of crazy. I’ve never really
beena part of anything like
that,” said Smith.“It was like a
one-inninggame— like sud-
den-death baseball, almost like
a hockey game.It was cool. It
will be something I tell my son
when he’s older, ‘This one time,
I played a one-inninggamein
the big leagues— and we
won.’ ”Alex Speiercanbe reachedat
[email protected]
himon Twitter at @alexspeier.The Red Sox and Royals met
at 1:05, a rendezvous memora-
ble for the interminablewait
for its arrival and the brevity of
its duration. The clubs had
played to a 4-4 tie on Aug. 7 be-
fore a deluge forced the tarp
onto the field at 10:47p.m., a
storm that would not allow the
teamsto resume play that
night.
The Royals left Fenway after
midnight on Aug. 8 after what
was supposed to be the conclu-
sion of their first and only se-
ries of the season at Fenway.
The deadlock — suspended
with Red Sox lefthander Josh
Taylor on the moundand a 2-1
count to the first hitter of the
inning, catcherMeibrys Viloria
— necessitated a brief return to
Boston by the Royals, who ar-
rived from Baltimore early on
Thursday morning.
The return trip represented
a novelty. The Red Sox hadn’t
taken part in a suspended
gamethat was resumedmore
than one day after the start of
the contest since 1968. Strange
playingconditionson Thurs-
day inspired strange thoughts.
“Onthe way to the ball-
park,” confessed Red Sox man-
ager Alex Cora, “it crossed my
mindat one point, the way
things have beengoing, we
might play 16 innings now.”
Yet therewas also a chance
of a contest that would last
mere minutes. The Red Sox,
uREDSOX
ContinuedfromPageC1
mindful of the awkwardness of
playing baseball in a nearly
empty setting, opted to open
the parkand turn a potentially
funerealatmosphere into a fes-
tive one. Fans ages 18 and un-
der couldsecure free entry;
those over that age could pur-
chaseadmissionfor a meeting
that mightlast as little as four
batters for $5, an amountthat
wouldbe donated to The Jim-
my Fund.
The crowd respondedto
boththe uniqueness of the day
and the atmosphere— music
playingalmost all the way to
the first pitch— withenergy
and enthusiasm. An impressive16,441ticketed customers
(1,301 of them returning with
tickets fromAug. 7, another
9,125 payingattendees,and
6,015beneficiaries of freebies)
generated a buzz.
“The best crowdof the sea-
son,” said Sox thirdbase coach
Carlos Febles.
Still,the Red Sox couldnot
ignorethat they had a task at
hand.The teamshad tweaked
their rosters since the first nine
innings, creating opportunities
for players to participate who
weren’t in the big leagues on
Aug. 7. Withthe game in extra
innings, every play featured a
degree of urgency.“It was kind of a do-or-die, it
felt like,” said Holt. “If we got
three outs, all we needed was a
run,and that’s kindof a cool
feeling knowingyou can end it
in one inning.”
Taylorreturned to the
mound for the Sox. KansasCity
elected to send righthanded
pinch hitter NickDini to the
plate in place of the lefthanded
Viloria, a movethat Taylor ad-
mitted caughthim off guard.
Yet whenDiniswung at a 94-
mile-per-hour fastballover the
plate at 1:05, a rocket found
the glove of first baseman
Mitch Moreland for the first
out of the inning.
Taylor quickly followed that
out withtwo more,a strikeout
of Ryan O’Hearn and a ground
out by pinch hitter Bubba Star-
ling— a player whohadn’t
been with the Royals on Aug. 7,
whowas replacinganother
player who had sincebeen let
go by the organization (out-
fielder Billy Hamilton).
“We had to be preparedfor
everything. There werediffer-
ent guyson the roster, the pos-
sibility of bringing in a righty
[to replace Taylor]right away,”
noted Cora. “In the dugout, it’s
like, ‘It’s the 10th inning’ —
just to make sure feelings don’t
get offended because I hit or
run for you.It’s the 10th in-
ning. It’s weirdthat it felt that
way.”
The Red Sox had visions of
Andrew Benintendi hitting a
walkoff homer in the bottom ofthe 10th, he instead struck out
against Lovelady. Yet the wait
for a winningrally proved
brief, as Christian Vazquez
hammereda doubleto center.
PinchrunnerChris Owings (a
memberof the Royalsearlier
this year who was with Triple A
Pawtucket on Aug. 7) replaced
Vazquez.Pinchhitter Sam Tra-
vis, asked to bat for Moreland
against a lefthander, was inten-
tionally walked.
With two on, the stage was
set for Holt to line a slider
downthe line to the opposite
field.Whenhis hit landed,the
crowd and the Red Sox erupted
in one of the most joyouscele-
brations of this season.
Taylor (1-1) notched the
first win of his big league ca-
reer. And the Red Sox, after the
disappointment of beingswept
over two games by the Phillies
on Tuesday and Wednesday,
boarded a cross-country flight
to San Diego buoyedby having
taken part in something mem-
orable and refreshingin a sea-
son wheresuchadjectives have
rarely applied.
“For those kids [whocame
to the park for free],it’s proba-
bly their first big leagueinning.
That’s what they’re going to re-
member,” Cora said. “We’ve got
to remindthemthat this is not
the pacewe play. Usually we
play four-hour games.”AlexSpeiercan be reached at
[email protected]. Follow
himon Twitter at @alexspeier.JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF
Josh Taylor pitcheda 1-2-3top of the 10th, thenendedup withhis first major leaguewin.JIM DAVIS/GLOBESTAFFThis fan foundsolacemoreto his likingdownthe left-field line,althoughan impressive16,441ticketed customerswereat Fenway Park on Thursday.
Sox need just 12 minutes to beat Royals
Holt facing lefty was right decision
Confidence from
Cora is rewarded
REDSOX
NOTEBOOK
JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF
CatcherChristian Vazquezgets the Red Sox on the path to
victory witha hustlingdoublein the 10th inning.