BOSTON — The Red Sox continued to struggle against one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball, lost Xander Bogaerts to an injury and blew another late lead.
They won anyway.
On a day when several things could have spelled failure for the Red Sox, they survived. It took almost four-and-a-half hours, but after 11 innings, a lucky break and two clutch innings from Jake Diekman, the Red Sox left Wrigley Field on a positive note with a 4-2 victory over the Cubs as they avoided a series sweep.
The Red Sox, despite losing two out of three in back-to-back series to the Blue Jays and then the rebuilding Cubs, finished their road trip with a winning 5-4 record as they return to Fenway Park to start a stretch against the Rays and Yankees.
It was somewhat fitting how the Red Sox won Sunday, a day when the Red Sox benefited from so much soft contact, when seven of their 11 hits were infield singles. With two outs and two on in the 11th, Trevor Story – who was forced to replace Bogaerts, who left in the seventh inning with an injury – hit a weak toe-tapper in front of the mound. Cubs pitcher Rowan Wick threw the ball away, and Bobby Dalbec and Christian Arroyo both scored to give the Sox a two-run cushion that was ultimately the difference.
Diekman, who escaped trouble in the 10th after he hit the first batter he faced with a pitch, worked around a walk in the 11th as he struck out the side to preserve the victory.
The Red Sox, who scuffled offensively for most of the series, continued to struggle producing runs on Sunday. They made some good contact, but the hard-hit balls were finding gloves. Ironically, they were reaching base with weak contact as their first six hits didn’t leave the infield.
They broke through in the fourth thanks to the sun. With runners on first and third following infield singles from Alex Verdugo and Christian Vazquez, Franchy Cordero hit a pop-up to first, where Alfonso Rivas lost it in the sky. The ball dropped and rolled away from him, allowing Verdugo to score the tying run.
A batter later, Bobby Dalbec singled to load the bases with one out. But the Red Sox only scratched one run out of it when Jarren Duran worked an impressive walk to take a 2-1 lead. Rafael Devers followed by striking out, and the third baseman slammed his helmet to the ground in frustration.
Those two runs almost proved enough. Connor Seabold allowed one run over four innings, and Hirokazu Sawamura provided middle relief with two shutout innings in the fifth and sixth. The seventh was a little more shaky and included a scare for the Red Sox.
With one out, the reliable John Schreiber hit Rafael Ortega with a pitch and then issued a walk to Wilson Contreras. He got out of the jam, but the Red Sox sacrificed Bogaerts in the process as the Cubs attempted a double steal. Vazquez threw out Contreras at second with a perfect throw, but Contreras spiked Bogaerts’ knee, which forced the shortstop to leave the game.
Bogaerts was later diagnosed with a left thigh laceration.
With a runner on third, Schreiber struck out Ian Happ to end the inning, but the Red Sox couldn’t hold on to the lead much longer. Cora seemingly had the end of the game lined up, with Matt Strahm and Tanner Houck available to close the game, but Patrick Wisdom led off the eighth by teeing off on Strahm with a game-tying 450-foot homer to left.
