It was shaping up to be another dramatic, come-from-behind kind of night for the Red Sox.
Shut down through the first seven innings by Washington Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore, the Red Sox rallied to tie the game in the top of the eighth on a two-run home run by Pablo Reyes. With Garrett Whitlock coming on in the eighth and the bullpen pitching as well as any in baseball, it felt like only a matter of time before the Red Sox could complete the comeback.
Then, as quickly as the Red Sox got back into the game, the Nationals flipped the script again.
Whitlock imploded in the bottom of the eighth, allowing four runs on back-to-back homers before he’d even recorded an out. Keibert Ruiz delivered the haymaker with the go-ahead three-run home run, and Stone Garrett tacked on the exclamation mark with a solo shot to cap off Washington’s 6-2 win.
More worrisome than the results, Whitlock’s velocity was also notably down, a troubling sign given that the righty only just came off the injured list over the weekend.
Before the late-inning theatrics the game was shaping up to be Boston’s quietest of the season offensively.
Gore, who came into the night with a 4.62 ERA and who allowed six runs on three homers in his last start, absolutely tied the Red Sox in a knot. The 24-year-old tossed 6.1 shutout innings and allowed one hit with two walks and seven strikeouts. It could have been even worse, but Boston caught a break when Gore left in the seventh with an apparent injury after 85 pitches.
Still, the Nationals starter retired the first 10 Red Sox batters he faced and was never seriously challenged by the Red Sox lineup. The Red Sox managed only four baserunners against Gore, and two of those were immediately erased on double plays. The others would have been as well if Rafael Devers hadn’t managed to beat out a close play at first, which was initially ruled an out before the call was overturned on replay.
Meanwhile James Paxton enjoyed a strong outing, but he wasn’t perfect. The left-hander allowed two runs over six innings on a pair of solo home runs, first to former Red Sox infielder Michael Chavis in the third and later to Stone Garrett in the fourth. For a while it looked like that would be the difference.
Fortunately, Reyes had other ideas.
After Alex Verdugo singled to give Boston just its second hit of the night, Reyes took Nationals reliever Jordan Weems deep for a two-run shot to make it 2-2. It was Reyes’ second big home run in a little over a week, following his dramatic walk-off grand slam last Monday to beat Kansas City.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said afterwards that Reyes has been putting together good at bats and kept up with high velo, and he acknowledged the shortstop has vastly exceeded expectations since his arrival earlier this spring.
“Front office did a good job recognizing him as a good defender, a guy that can put good at bats against lefties, but I think overall what he’s done, whoever says they saw it coming, they’re lying to you,” Cora said.
It seemed in the moment like Reyes had set the table again, but unfortunately this time things quickly unraveled.
Whitlock allowed a leadoff single and then hit a batter before Ruiz struck for the decisive home run. His fastball was averaging only 93.8 mph after averaging 96 on Sunday, but afterwards Cora brushed off the notion that anything was wrong with Whitlock, chalking up the effort as a bad outing and nothing more.
“It’s going to happen, he’s not perfect so we’ve got to turn the page,” Cora said.
The Red Sox hope Whitlock’s outing was just a bump in the road, but in the meantime the club will look to bounce back and take the series finale on Thursday. Chris Sale (5-2, 4.52 ERA) is set to take the mound for Boston against Washington’s Patrick Corbin (7-11, 4.85), first pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.
Tanner Houck was spectacular in what was expected to be his final rehab outing before returning to the big leagues. The Red Sox right-hander threw four scoreless innings for the WooSox on Wednesday, allowing one hit and no walks while striking out four. He threw 59 pitches, including 36 for strikes, and retired the last 10 batters he faced.
Barring any unexpected setbacks, Houck is expected to make his next start on Monday with the big league club in Houston.