Lucas Giolito’s 7 shutout innings for naught as Sox can’t complete sweep

Before Lucas Giolito blanked the Baltimore Orioles for seven innings in Tournament of Saturday s doubleheader the only Red Sox starter to even reach five innings in any of the first eight games of this -game homestand was Garrett Crochet twice But to paraphrase Pedro Martinez in the ALCS all Giolito could do was pitch he could do nothing about the fact that the Red Sox once again couldn t overcome a one-run deficit and lost - Hours after they won Championship of the doubleheader by one run to get over they dropped a one-run encounter to fall back down again It wasn t exactly a walk in the ballpark for Giolito but backed by a strong Red Sox defense he completed seven scoreless innings something only done once by the rotation once this season Crochet April The veteran righty held the Baltimore batters to six hits two walks and struck out six and set a season-high in innings and pitches for strikes It was his deepest scoreless start since Sept and exactly what the exhausted Boston bullpen needed I didn t feel like I had my best stuff but we had a good mix going Connor Wong did a wonderful job back there calling the battle Giolito commented postgame adding that the defense was incredible behind him I knew that it was really major to go deep into the meeting considering the bullpen usage and our starting staff we haven t gotten the job done I d say the last week or a couple of weeks so it was largest part pivotal thing for me to get into the sixth inning and beyond The Red Sox relievers got a well-deserved break but there was no such reprieve for the offense The Boston bats collected just five hits and went for with runners in scoring position and left six men on base The Fenway Faithful were on their feet for Marcelo Mayer s first career at-bat but the top prospect and his new teammates did next-to-nothing against Trevor Rogers whose shutout innings were even stingier than Giolito s It was awesome I ve never experienced anything like that in my life Mayer declared of the ovation from the crowd for his first MLB career at-bat It s definitely something I ll remember for the rest of my life The Orioles southpaw needed just pitches strikes to get through his start in which he struck out five and didn t issue a walk Save for Kristian Campbell s second-inning single Rogers kept Boston off the bases entirely until the seventh when he plunked Rob Refsnyder and gave up another single to Campbell The two were left in scoring position when Mayer struck out to end the inning Mayer did however impress at third base making several smooth throws to first in time for an out When Jorge Mateo singled to right with two outs in the seventh Refsnyder gunned to third where Mayer made the inning-ending tag look effortless Played good defense obviously offensively not much happened but he s a big leaguer now nobody can take that away from him noted manager Alex Cora of Mayer Encounter of the doubleheader took to complete including a -minute rain delay before first pitch and a th inning By comparison the AL East rivals blazed through Battle It took less than two hours to reach the top of the eighth when Brennan Bernardino took the mound for his sixth appearance of the home stand and recorded the first two outs with a walk in between Him not only him I think everybody in the bullpen since the Braves series last weekend Cora stated about how crucial Bernardino and his fellow relievers have been The starters have been going short and we have to be aggressive with the bullpen and we re going to feel it for a meager days But at present that meeting was I mean we needed that We did But very proud of the guys they re throwing the ball well Just didn t happen in Encounter Looking to keep the championship scoreless the Red Sox turned to rookie reliever Luis Guerrero whom they d recalled from Triple-A Worcester hours earlier Guerrero who debuted late last season entered with a ERA over career appearances Instead Guerrero this instant walked Adley Rutschman and gave up the go-ahead run on a single by Ryan O Hearn before coming back from a - count to strike out Ramon Urias The run ended Bernardino s streak of scoreless outings and meant that Boston would have to come from behind for the third time in the series The Red Sox got aggressive in the bottom of the eighth Cora sent David Hamilton out to pinch-run for Nick Sogard who led off with a single The speedy infielder promptly stole second a call the Orioles challenged unsuccessfully and was joined on the bases when Connor Wong drew a walk They stood there watching Ceddanne Rafaela Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers go in order to waste another opportunity Despite the Red Sox turning their third double-play of the meeting Guerrero s ERA eventually took on water in the top of the ninth The run he allowed proved to be the difference-maker between the Red Sox potentially forcing extra innings for the second time on Saturday The Red Sox were three outs away from being shut out for the first time this season when Abraham Toro came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the ninth His second home run of the day soared high and deep into the inky sky and sent right-fielder Dylan Carlson and center-fielder Jorge Mateo racing toward the Boston bullpen Mateo toppled in trying to complete the robbery For a moment the ninth inning had all the makings of a storybook ending With a man on Mayer came to the plate representing the winning run I was thinking homer the whole day Cora announced with a chuckle Instead a force-out put Mayer on base for the first time in his career But Hamilton lined out to center leaving Boston s newest big-leaguer standing on the diamond In the opener Rafael Devers th inning RBI single his second walk-off of the homestand completed a - comeback and put Boston back in the win column - It was a laborious much-needed comeback for a Red Sox company which trailed by multiple runs twice within the first five innings whose starting rotation hasn t been going deep into games whose lineup ranges from scorching to frigid and who will be without Alex Bregman for a key amount of time due to what he and Cora both described postgame as a severe quad strain Satisfying doesn t do operation on this one Cora revealed We needed to win that meeting We went all in We put all the chips in The Red Sox were for with runners in scoring position and had left four men on base by the end of regulation But for chosen reason the Orioles decided to pitch to Devers