troyrecord
DENVER For all their faults the Boston Red Sox have usually been great at holding late leads, but that has not been the case this week in Colorado.
First the Red Sox blew a two-run ninth-inning lead in shocking fashion on Monday night, and Wednesday afternoon they let another winnable game slip away against one of the worst teams in MLB.
Leading by three runs in the seventh inning, the Red Sox allowed five unanswered runs to lose 8-6 to the last-place Rockies.
Marcelo Mayers error with two outs in the bottom of the seventh opened the door, and the Rockies capitalized by rallying for three runs to tie the game before taking the lead for good in the eighth on a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Freeman and an RBI double by Cole Carrigg.
As a result the Red Sox (32-46) dropped two of three from a Rockies club that came into Wednesday with the worst record in MLB and fell back to a season-low 14 games below .500.
For much of the day it was shaping up to be a nice day at the ballpark for the Red Sox.
Rafaela got things started in the top of the first by hitting a blooper into shallow right field that bounced off the second basemans glove.
What was originally ruled an error was later changed to a triple, and Rafaela scored two batters later on Willson Contreras RBI double.
The Red Sox extended the lead in the second when Connor Wong hit a two-run home run, his first of the season and his first in general since Sept.
8, 2024.
Colorado answered with two runs in the third off Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez, stringing together a series of hits and fielders choices before scoring on an RBI double by TJ Rumfield and a bizarre play in right field where Wilyer Abreu dropped a line drive from Carrigg but managed to record an out anyway by forcing out the runner at second base.
Because a run scored and an out was recorded, the play was eventually scored a sacrifice fly.
Boston came back again with two runs in the top of the fourth, getting a solo homer from Andruw Monasterio and an RBI single by Rafaela, who by that point was already 3 for 3 needing just a home run to hit for the cycle.
The Rockies scored once more off Suarez in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Tyler Freeman, but that was the last damage inflicted against the Red Sox left-hander.
Suarez allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk over six innings, but also struck out nine for his sixth quality start of the season.
For better or worse, the next few innings proved eventful for Mayer.
The shortstop, who entered the game in the third after Caleb Durbin was removed with a finger injury, first hit a double off Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland with one out in the fifth.
He scored shortly after on an RBI double by Anthony Seigler, putting the Red Sox back in front 6-3.
But Mayer also made a costly error in the seventh when he fumbled a routine grounder for what would have been the third out of the inning.
With renewed life and runners on first and second, the Rockies capitalized with three straight RBI singles to tie the game at 6-6.
Carrigg and Jake McCarthy had the first two against right-hander Tyron Guerrero, and pinch hitter Troy Johnson had the third off lefty Danny Coulombe to tie the game.
Colorado kept pushing in the eighth when Mickey Moniak led off with a single off Red Sox righty Justin Slaten.
He moved to third on Willi Castros single and scored on Freemans go-ahead RBI sacrifice bunt, and the Rockies extended their lead a few batters later when Carrigg drove in Castro with an RBI double.
Down to their last three outs, the Red Sox went 1-2-3 against Rockies right-hander Jimmy Herget.
Rafaela struck out for the final out of the game, falling short in his bid for the cycle and sending the Red Sox home on a sour note ahead of this weekends big showdown with the New York Yankees at Fenway Park.
Durbin injured Third baseman Caleb Durbin was removed from Wednesdays game in the third inning after suffering a finger injury on a headfirst slide.
The injury occurred when Durbin dove headfirst into the first base bag attempting to beat out a close play, and upon hitting the bag he jammed his left hand and was subsequently pulled from the game.
The Red Sox announced later hed suffered a left fifth finger subluxation, or a partially dislocated pinky finger.
After at one point ranking among the worst offensive performers in MLB, Durbin has turned his season around since the calendar turned to June.
Enter Wednesday the third baseman was batting .317 with four home runs, eight RBI and a .931 OPS in 18 games this month, raising his batting average for the season from .183 to .220 over that stretch.