By Zachary McMahon –
The Boston Red Sox hosted the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night in the second game of the series at Fenway Park. The Phillies won the first game on Tuesday off a two-homer performance by Kyle Schwarber in his first game at Fenway since the 2021 ALCS when he was a member of the Red Sox.
Tyler O’Neill came back into the lineup after missing the last three games after he injured his right knee in the 7-2 loss against the Chicago White Sox on Friday, he batted as the DH, in which Masataka Yoshida did not play in this game, the day after he played in his first game after being out since April with a thumb injury.
Meanwhile Rob Refsnyder played out in right field for the third straight game. Bobby Dalbec played over at first base, as him and Dominic Smith will be splitting time until Triston Casas comes back after Garett Cooper was DFA’d due to Yoshida coming back before Tuesday’s game.
Jaime Westbrook started at second base for the Sox. Nick Pivetta was on the bump for the Sox where he pitched only four innings where he allowed six hits, four earned runs, a season-high four walks, and four strikeouts.
The Phillies jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning, which ended with a RBI double by David Dahl, which scored Schwarber, as he scored a run for the third game in a row.
In the fourth, Rafael Devers tripled for the third time this season, which is one away from tying his career high of four that he achieved in 2019. He was brought in on a sacrifice fly by Westbrook for the Sox’s first run of the game. That would be the Sox’s 20th triple of the season which already eclipsed the mark of 19 triples last season.
The Sox would provide the fireworks in the fifth as two runs would score on a throwing error on Phillies second baseman Whit Merrifield on a single by Jarren Duran, which brought the deficit to one run. O’Neill tied it up with a sacrifice fly to Dahl, which would bring home Duran.
Enmanuel Valdez would have the Sox take the lead with a two-run double as he pinch hit for Westbrook. The Sox would add to the lead with a two-run homer by David Hamliton to make it 8-4. That would be his second homer in three games.
The Phillies would add two more runs in the seventh and ninth innings, but that would not be enough because of the good bullpen performance after a shaky start by Pivetta. The Sox sent five relievers to the mound for the final five innings, as Cam Booser picked up his first win in the major leagues followed by Kenley Jansens’s first save since May 26 against the Milwaukee Brewers, and his 10th total of the season.
The Sox would hold on to win 8-6 over the Phillies, as they won their second in three games, and they got back to .500 (34-34).
The Sox will try to get the series victory against the Phillies on Thursday at 7:10 pm as it will be Tanner Houck going up against Aaron Nola on NESN/NESN360.
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