Sox Waste Huge Opportunities in Xander Bogaerts’ Major League Debut.
The Red Sox wasted chances left and right against Ryan Vogelsong of the Giants en route to the bullpen self destructing and walking in the winning run.
August 20, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino (18, right) is congratulated by third base coach Brian Butterfield (13) for hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the third inning at AT
It all began in the first inning, as Vogelsong loaded the bases with no one out and the Red Sox were unable to produce any more than one run thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of Mike Carp. Will Middlebrooks singled to reload the bases but neither Daniel Nava nor Xander Bogaerts were able to capitalize and handed the Giants the escape from the first that they sorely needed.
Shane Victorino would pad the Red Sox lead with a solo shot off of Vogelsong, but that would be all that the Sox would get for the rest of the night. Their next best chance came thanks to a Nava double which left Dustin Pedroia at third but Bogaerts once again ended the inning.
Jake Peavy, meanwhile, was pretty darn good even though he only made it though 5.2 innings, allowing only one run courtesy of a Joaquin Arias triple to score Roger Kieschnick in the bottom of the fifth. Craig Breslow would tack on an addition 1.1 scoreless innings and by the end of the seventh it looked like Boston might be able to squeeze out the win.
August 20, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Jake Peavy (44) delivers a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at AT
However, the combination of the Red Sox bullpen and Marco Scutaro did all that they could to ensure that the Giants came away with win number 56. Junichi Tazawa came in the eighth and promptly allowed a Scutaro single, followed by a Brandon Belt single to leave Scutaro a mere 90 feet away. Buster Posey would get the job done, notching a sacrifice fly to deliver the tying run.
Franklin Morales was then called upon to start the ninth and loaded the bases, prompting John Farrell to summon Brayan Villarreal instead of his closer to get the last out of the inning. Villarreal, whose struggles with control have been well documented, gave up the walk off walk to Scutaro to end the game in a 3-2 Giants win.