First a flirtation with a no-hit, no-run game, then a close play at the plate, and finally an extra innings that swung back and forth like a tide with ties and tiebreakers. The game to conclude the series between the Marlins and Red Sox was worthy of a Fourth of July, but unfortunately this date will not be well remembered in Miami.
The Minnows fought tooth and nail and survived a spectacular performance by Nick Pivetta to then tie a tough game twice, but fell in the end 6-5 in 12 innings, in front of 20,539 fans at loanDepot Park.
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Pivetta, who had allowed 11 runs in his three previous starts, turned his pitching sequences into locks and, backed by a tremendous defense behind him, posted seven scoreless innings that Boston celebrated as if they were gold rings.
For six innings, Pivetta remained tight-lipped and the ghost of a no-hit, no-run record wandered through the stadium’s hallways, while the crowd watched each of his pitches, which were not guessed until in the seventh inning, Jesus Sanchez hit a triple off the center field fence.
But once Pivetta left the mound with the score 2-0 in favor of his team, the Fish waited for their opportunity to tie a game that seemed to be getting out of hand, as had happened in the first two games of this series.
Brennan Bernardino is one of the Red Sox’s best relievers and arrived with a 1.19 ERA, but he couldn’t contain a home rebellion and gave up two runs on RBI singles by Jazz Chisholm and Bryan de la Cruz that denied Pivetta the win.
In a moment of pure drama, the Marlins had a great chance to walk off Boston when Jesus Sanchez doubled off Kenley Jansen and then tried to score on Xavier Edwards’ single, but was thrown out at the plate on a very close play that required video review and sent the game to extra innings.
The Red Sox tipped the balance in their favor in the top of the 11th by scoring twice, but in the bottom half Sanchez hit a home run – he had already hit a double and triple – with a man on base to tie the game at four and continue the drama.
Once again Boston took control in the top of the 12th inning with another pair of runs, but this time the effort was not enough – despite scoring one more – in Little Havana, which saw New England sweep the field and continue its good run in the contest.
With this victory, the Red Sox now have a record of 47-39 and, with four consecutive victories, have jumped to third place in the American League East Division, behind the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees.
The Marlins, on the other hand, have a 30-57 record and, with four consecutive losses, continue their downward path in the NL East, mainly due to an offense that is undoubtedly the worst in the Old Circuit and a starting pitching that has only won 13 games, the fewest in the Majors along with Colorado.
In fact, a Miami starter has not won a game since June 11 when Jesus Luzardo beat the New York Mets, although Kyle Tyler pitched good ball in 5.1 innings with only two runs allowed and three hits, numbers that in other circumstances would have been enough for success.
