Red Sox 5, Giants 9: Series streak snapped in San Fran

This was a really crappy loss in a number of ways.

An absolute game of back and forth undone by sheer frustration on multiple ends. What went wrong in this one?

Play 1: Abraham Toro called out by home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski in the top of the 4th for “being out of the baseline”. Toro came steaming home on a double by Ceddanne Rafaela, established his line to the plate, jumped OVER Patrick Bailey without being tagged, but was called out because of umpire’s discretion. Frustrating, but early on enough to shake it off.

Shake it off they did, as both Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez homered off of Robbie Ray to give the Sox the lead. Giolito gave up two solo shots right back to tie the game up at 5 in the 5th. It wasn’t the worst outing, but just bang average for Giolito.

Ceddanne’s solo shot in the 6th gives the Red Sox the lead again, so it’s up to the bullpen to keep this one alive. Greg Weissert gives up the game-tying run and has a runner on third, but seemingly escapes the frame with a soft line drive by Mike Yastriemski.

Play 2: Romy Gonzalez absolutely flubs catching said line drive and the go-ahead run comes in to score. The inning subsequently gets out of control with a Helios Ramos two-run double. The wheels are going to come off.

Play 3: Jarren Duran looks to stretch a lead-off hit into a double, over slides the bag and is called out. Red Sox challenge, and NESN has the angle clear as day; Duran’s fingers on the edge of the bag, tag not on, this should be overturned, right? Wrong. Duran and Cora both ejected.

Look, five unearned runs absolutely cost this team the game. It still felt like it could have gone the other way for at least seven innings. Onto Anaheim, feeling really salty about this one, as should the Red Sox.

Three Studs

Rob Refsnyder (2-for-5, 1 R, 2 RBI)

See, this is what a lefty killer is supposed to do. Robbie Ray had a less than stellar outing much due to Ref doing his thing.

Ceddanne Rafaela (2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI)

What a majestic solo shot for Nuff Cede to give the Sox the lead. His power is starting to show up in the right places.

Nate Eaton (2-for-3, 1 R)

Look at Eaton getting on twice today!

Three Duds

Romy Gonzalez (1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 E, 1 BB, 2 Ks)

Oh, Romy. Without the error, I don’t think you’d be here. That error was the costliest play of the game. When infield defense is such a premium, even if you’re killing left-handers, it’s something that can’t happen.

Greg Weissert (0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER)

He had a rough enough inning and frankly got out of it…except for the error. Then everything came apart.

Trevor Story (0-for-4, 2 Ks)

I’ve said it before, the way Story goes, the way the Sox go. Hopefully this isn’t a full cooling off and is just a blip.

Play of the Game

We’re gonna give Ceddy some love, especially because this was the fifth homer in 1.3 innings between both clubs.