With Mookie Madness and Holt-a-mania running wild in Boston, the Red Sox relied on some of last year’s heroes to pull out an important victory over the Chicago White Sox, 4-3, in extra innings on Thursday afternoon.
Mike Carp, back from the disabled list after fracturing his foot earlier in the season, lined an RBI single in the bottom of the tenth to plate Daniel Nava for Boston’s second consecutive walk-off victory.
The Sox sent Jon Lester to the notch in an attempt to salvage the final game of a disastrous (2-7 entering the contest) ten-game homestand, split a four-game set with Chicago and send the team off to Houston with a two-game winning streak. Lester upheld his end of the bargain and then some, striking out 12 White Sox batters over seven innings and allowing just one run on seven hits.
His southpaw counterpart, Jose Quintana, was up the challenge. He had limited Red Sox batters to a .160 average over two previous career starts and held Boston to just two hits on the day. Fortunately for the Sox, one was a Jackie Bradley RBI single in the sixth, scoring Stephen Drew. The second was a double crushed by David Ortiz to score David Ross and Bradley.
With a 3-1 lead, Lester handed the ball to Junichi Tazawa, who struck out two batters in a clean eighth. However, closer Koji Uehara coughed up the lead when pinch hitter Conor Gillaspie jacked one with Alexei Ramirez on base in the ninth to tie it up.
In the bottom of the tenth, Nava got on with a walk in a pinch-hitting appearance for Jonny Gomes. Mookie Betts moved Nava over with a bunt, and following an intentional walk to Drew, Carp put a charge into the game-winning hit. Dayan Viciedo‘s throw from left was on time but a bit high as Nava scored on a feet-first slide.
Andrew Miller (3-5) pocketed the win for Boston, while Ronald Belisario (3-6) implicated the Chicago bullpen in yet another loss.
The red-hot Sox (two straight wins) head to Houston for a three-game set before the All-Star break. John Lackey (9-6, 3.84) goes for the good guys on Friday against Scott Feldman (4-6, 3.86).