Red Sox Rally In Ninth Inning To Beat Indians 6-5
The Boston Red Sox rallied to beat the Cleveland Indians 6-5 on Sunday afternoon. The boys from “Beantown” put together a four-run ninth inning for their best comeback of the early season and they’ve now won three straight games.
The Indians looked to be on their way to managing a four-game series split with the Red Sox after jumping out to an early lead. Red Sox’s starter Felix Doubront gave up two runs in the first inning, but it wasn’t enough for the Indians after they fell apart in the ninth.
The Red Sox cut into the Indians 2-0 lead in the third when Daniel Nava drove in a run with a single to left field. Jason Kipnis homered to right in the fifth to bring the lead back to two for the Indians and Nick Swisher followed in the sixth with his seventh homer of the year.
Cleveland seemed to have it in the bag when Swisher drove in another insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly but the Red Sox continued to fight back. Jose Iglesias started it off by matching Swisher’s sacrifice fly with one of his own in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-2.
Craig Breslow settled down in relief and held the Indians’ hitless with three groundouts in the top of the ninth and the Red Sox exploded for four runs in the bottom half to steal the victory.
Chris Perez came in to close out the Red Sox, but he got off on the wrong foot with a walk to Dustin Pedroia. David Ortiz followed with a double to deep center and Mike Napoli drove in Pedroia with a groundout on the next play.
Ortiz somehow stole third after Napoli’s at-bat, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia brought him in with another groundout.
After a Jonny Gomes walk and a Stephen Drew single, the Indians made another move to the bullpen and brought in Joe Smith. Jacoby Ellsbury then came to the plate and walked off in style with a double to center in front of a roaring crowd at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox are now tied atop the AL East with the New York Yankees after the “Bronx Bombers” lost 8-3 to the Rays.
Will the Boston Red Sox rally on Sunday give them some momentum as they look to take back the AL East?
[Image via Keith Allison]
