Last season it felt like no lead was safe for the Red Sox, whose leaky bullpen could never be trusted to close out tight games.
What a difference a year makes.
Boasting arguably its best bullpen since the 2018 playoffs, the Red Sox slammed the door on the Washington Nationals in emphatic fashion Tuesday, retiring 16 of the game’s last 17 batters to pull out a 5-4 win. Pablo Reyes scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth, and from there the Nationals only got one baserunner the rest of the way.
Early on the game felt like a throwback to the pre-pitch clock era, as starting pitchers Josiah Gray and Nick Pivetta labored through some long, drawn out innings. By the end of the third the Red Sox had ground Gray down with 30-plus pitches in the first and third innings, putting him at 77, and Pivetta had difficulty with his command, helping push his pitch count up to 69.
The Red Sox wasted no time getting to Gray, with Alex Verdugo leading off the game with a solo home run. Boston struck for two more in the third after Reese McGuire led off the inning with a single, stole second and then advanced to third after back-to-back walks by Rafael Devers and Trevor Story.
That set the stage for Triston Casas, who worked a full count before coming through with a two-run single to make it 3-0.
The Nationals answered back forcefully with a big third inning of their own, capitalizing after Nick Pivetta allowed a leadoff single to Blake Rutherford and back-to-back walks to Lane Thomas and Joey Meneses to load the bases with one out. Keibert Ruiz cut into the deficit with a two-run double, and though Pivetta then got Dominic Smith to strike out, he couldn’t escape the jam. Stone Garrett came through with an RBI double of his own to complete the rally and give the Nationals a 4-3 lead.
Credit the Red Sox, they immediately seized back the initiative.
Boston immediately loaded the bases with no outs on a Jarren Duran single, a Reyes double and after McGuire reached on catcher’s interference. Verdugo then tied the game with a sacrifice fly, and while McGuire was doubled up trying to take second on the play, the Red Sox retook the lead soon after anyway after Reyes raced home to score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
Pivetta’s final line wasn’t anything special, but on Tuesday it was good enough. The right-hander gave up four runs over 4.1 innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out seven, and after he handed the ball off the bullpen was utterly dominant the rest of the way.
Brennan Bernardino, John Schreiber, Chris Martin, Josh Winckowski and Kenley Jansen collectively threw 4.2 scoreless innings of relief, with the Red Sox staff retiring 12 straight Nationals batters between the fourth and eighth innings. The only blemish during the later innings came when Smith hit a two-out double off Winckowski in the eighth, but the right-hander quickly ended the threat with a big assist from Devers, who made a spectacular play at third to end the inning.
That set the stage for Jansen, who sent down the Nationals in quick succession for his 28th save of the season.
With the win the Red Sox start their longest road trip of the season off on a high note. Boston is now 63-56 on the season, including an MLB-best 50-3 while leading after six innings, to stay three games behind Toronto in the Wild Card standings.
The Red Sox will go for the series win in Washington on Wednesday. James Paxton (7-3, 3.36 ERA) is expected to take the mound against Washington’s MacKenzie Gore (6-9, 4.62). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.