In Nick Pivetta’s second career start for the Red Sox on June 24, 2021, he took a no-hitter into the seventh, striking out eight Rays batters over 6.2 innings. Boston lost 1-0 and he received a no-decision.
On Tuesday night, history seemed destined to repeat itself before the Red Sox pulled off a 5-4 coup in the 12th inning, their first extra-inning victory at Fenway this season.
In the 200th game of his career, Pivetta went 5.2 innings, struck out eight and didn’t issue a walk. Again, he received a no-decision, but the collective outcome was a happier one.
“At one point there, it was a very athletic group, and we were just pushing the envelope. Then we started hitting homers out of nowhere, and now we’re not hitting homers,” Alex Cora said before the game. “So, we have to make sure to, whenever we get our shots, just to cash in, that’s the most important thing.”
Instead, the Red Sox collected just seven hits, two walks, struck out 14 times, and were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position, with seven left on base.
In the 12th, the Red Sox went to a strategy that served them well in Oakland during their second series of the season. They sacrificed the designated hitter and put Ceddanne Rafaela at third, replacing Rafael Devers.
Thus, Connor Wong was able to begin the bottom of the frame as the runner on second instead of Brennan Bernardino, who’d pitched around a leadoff walk and men on the corners in the top of the inning.
Manuel Rodríguez intentionally walked Tyler O’Neill, setting the stage for another unexpected hero to come up clutch for Boston. On the sixth pitch of his at-bat, Romy Gonzalez shot a single down the first-base line, and Wong sped around, giving his teammate his first career walk-off RBI.
“There were a lot of good things, and a lot of bad things tonight,” Cora said. “The great thing was the W.”
It didn’t help that the Rays took an immediate 1-0 lead on Josh Lowe’s first home run of the year, a two-out blast off a Pivetta cutter in the first. The Red Sox entered the game 4-13 when their opponent scores first.
The home team went 1-2-3 against Northeastern University alum Aaron Civale in the first, in order after Devers’ leadoff single in the second, and 1-2-3 again in the third. If Cora thought his lineup swung a little too freely on Monday night, they did precious little of it early in the second game of this quartet; the first five of Civale’s six punchouts were strikeouts looking. Only six of Boston’s 14 strikeouts on the night were swinging.
Dom Smith became the unlikely hero in the fourth, snapping an 0-for-14 stretch with a double that scored two and gave Boston the lead.
Rafaela’s solo home run in the fifth gave the Sox a slightly larger cushion, though it would soon disappear. The Rays, with that eternal chip on their shoulder, are never truly down until a game’s final out. With two outs in the sixth, Randy Arozarena – who came into the game hitting .117 and slugging a meager .150 on the road – sent the first pitch he saw up and over the Green Monster, 400 feet into the warm spring night.
Pivetta was only at 81 pitches when Cora walked out to the mound to get him and brought in Justin Slaten, who gave up a double and single, which drove in the tying run. The rookie has been less sharp of late, as the league begins to figure him out. After allowing just one earned run on eight hits and striking out 14 batters in his first 17.1 innings this year, he’s now allowed four earned runs on eight hits, with just two strikeouts in his last four innings.
Then, the game was Battleship, and deep into extra innings, both sides refused to sink.
The Sox struck out swinging 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth. The Rays went 1-2-3 against Slaten, Chris Martin, Kenley Jansen, and Zack Kelly in innings 7-10. Martin’s inning was particularly eventful; after getting a strikeout looking and another swinging, Lowe lined the ball right back to him. Martin made the catch to end the inning, but fell flat on his back in the process and stayed down for a moment before walking off the field. When Amed Rosario singled and tried to steal second in the ninth, Reese McGuire gunned to Rafaela, who made the inning-inning tag and got Jansen out of a jam.
But Boston fared no better in their turns at bat. In the bottom of the seventh, Smith got on base with a leadoff hit-by-pitch, only to be erased when Vaughn Grissom ground into a double play. McGuire struck out looking to complete Boston’s fourth 1-2-3 frame. Pinch-hitting for Wilyer Abreu, Rob Refsnyder contributed a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth before Wong struck out to strand him. The Sox went 1-2-3 in the ninth to give Boston free baseball.
The tenth was a quiet 1-2-3 affair for the Rays, but it was an even painfully shorter 1-2 gut-punch for the home team. Grissom lined into a double play, erasing himself and zombie Romy Gonzalez, and McGuire ground out to complete a two-batter inning.
In the top of the 11th, the Rays found a way to score a go-ahead unearned run without getting a hit. A groundout advanced the zombie runner to third, and a chaotic fielder’s choice – Devers to McGuire to Devers to Kelly to Rafaela – got the runner out at home but allowed Arozarena to reach. Kelly intentionally walked Lowe, and Isaac Paredes reached on a throwing error by Rafaela. The run was unearned, but the damage was done.
But the Red Sox were able to undo it in similar fashion, scoring without hitting to keep the game going. Rafaela advanced David Hamilton, the pinch-zombie runner on second, to third with a sacrifice bunt, and Duran drew a walk to join him on the corners. Refsnyder hit into what should’ve been a game-ending double play, but with the infield in and no one covering second, the Rays could only get him out and the tying run scored.
Hit by a pitch, Wong joined Duran on the bases, but the two runners could only watch as Devers ground out to send the game into its 12th inning and third hour.
