The inconsistency that is this Red Sox season was on display again in Tuesday's doubleheader with the Phillies.
Boston all but handed Philadelphia the opener at Citizens Bank Park before putting together a fairly crisp seven innings in the nightcap. The ensuing split seemed a fair result for a Red Sox team going nowhere and a Phillies team playing its way into the National League playoff race.
Chris Mazza turned in five solid innings, Jackie Bradley Jr. scored three runs and Bobby Dalbec went deep yet again in a 5-2 Boston win in the nightcap. The Red Sox were done in by their own mistakes and a two-run walk-off single by Alec Bohm in the opener, suffering a 6-5 defeat.
Mazza became just the fourth Boston pitcher this season to finish five innings in any start, joining Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez and Ryan Weber. Red Sox pitching held Philadelphia scoreless over the final six innings, buying enough time for Dalbec to make a bit of history. His two-run homer to right-center against David Phelps snapped a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth.
Dalbec is the first Boston rookie to homer in four straight games and the youngest player to do so for the franchise since Ted Williams in 1941. Only Dalbec and Sam Horn have homered five times in their first nine games with the club.
Matt Barnes was one pitch from escaping a jam and giving the Red Sox a result they likely wouldn't have deserved in the opener. The Phillies pushed two men into scoring position with two outs for Bohm, who fouled off one two-strike curveball and lined a second through the left side. J.T. Realmuto came in from third and Didi Gregorius raced home from second, sliding in well ahead of the throw from Michael Chavis.
"We came back on them and got the lead and got the people out there who we wanted to finish the game," Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. "It just didn't work."
The Red Sox erased a 4-1 deficit and were just one out from clinching at least a split. Dalbec's solo homer in the sixth _ the fourth of the day for Boston _ tied the game and Rafael Devers skied an RBI double off the top of the wall in right. Tommy Hunter was on the hook for the loss until Philadelphia saved him late.
Back-to-back solo homers started the Red Sox rally in the fifth. Alex Verdugo unloaded a majestic shot to the second deck in right field and Devers sent a laser to the boxes in left-center. Boston was suddenly in a 4-3 game and there was more to come in the sixth.
"It's nice to see with that with Verdugo," Roenicke said. "Nice again to see Dalbec. We did a nice job today."
The Red Sox could have coasted to victory if not for an amateurish bottom of the third. Boston allowed three runs on just one hit, as a pair of mental mistakes and three walks help set the stage for disaster.
Bryce Harper drew a leadoff walk and Realmuto hit a slow roller toward second. Harper slowed in the baseline and Christian Arroyo elected not to tag him, throwing to first base instead. Harper scampered to second, took third on another groundout and scored when Christian Vazquez sailed an errant pickoff throw into left field.
"Like we've said before, when we make mistakes it hurts us almost every time," Roenicke said. "We know we've got to clean that up."
That gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead, and they added another pair when Bohm grounded a two-run single up the middle. Martin Perez issued two more walks and bounced a wild pitch to put two men in scoring position for Bohm, who sent a grass-cutter to center. Perez finished with a career-high six walks but left in position for the victory after a scoreless final 2 1/3 innings.
"The one goal that I have is to go out there and compete," Perez said. "It doesn't matter how many runs they score against me. Just got out there and compete and control what you can control."
The two teams exchanged solo homers to leave it 1-1 into the bottom of the third. Gregorius went deep to right against Perez and Devers crushed a high fastball from Zach Eflin off the facing of the second deck in right. It was the fifth two-homer game for Devers in his career, and the first round-tripper exited his bat at 116.5 mph.
