By Zachary McMahon –
The Boston Red Sox played the series finale against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon as the Sox tried to sweep the series after winning the first two games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Garrett Cooper was back in the lineup after missing Wednesday’s game with a hand injury that hye suffered on Tuesday. He played as the designated hitter in the place of Masataka Yoshida, and enabled Tyler O’Neil to play back in the outfield, in which he was in right field, and giving Wilyer Abreu the day off from the starting lineup.
Abreu would pinch hit for Rob Refsnyder, who played out in left field for the second straight game. Bobby Dalbec started back at first base after he got the day off barring the acquisition of Dominic Smith, who started at the same position on Wednesday.
Zach Short started at second base after being activated after the trade from the New York Mets on Wednesday, and Enmanuel Valdez got sent down to Triple-A Worcester for the first time this season.
Josh Winckowski started on the mound for the Red Sox and went 4 ⅓ innings, where he allowed two hits including a home run by Mike Yaztremski into the Red Sox bullpen in the third inning, which is what his grandfather Carl used to do back in the 1960s and 1970s. Winckowski did not strike anybody out, but had two walks until he got replaced by Brennan Bernardino in the fifth inning.
The Red Sox had an opportunity to score first when they loaded the bases in the first inning on two walks, and Giants starter Kyle Harrison hitting Rafael Devers. However, Cooper flied out to end the first inning.
In the bottom of the third, O’Neil had an RBI double that scored Devers to tie the game at one.
In the bottom of the fourth, Giants center fielder Jung Ho Lee lost Ceddanne Rafaela’s fly ball in the sun, allowing Rafaela to reach second on a double. But, Lee redeemed himself when he made a spectacular diving catch on a fly ball by Jarren Duran, after Short struck out looking.
In the seventh, the Giants scored two runs off of Zack Kelly, who made his fourth appearance of the season since being recalled from Worcester on April 24. With the second run coming from Springfield, Mass native and former Bourne Brave Nick Ahmed via a sacrifice fly to left that scored former Athletic and Blue Jay third baseman Matt Chapman.
Naouyki Uwasawa made his MLB debut after being called up from Triple-A Worcester on Sunday. Uwasawa was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash on March 27 after spring training. Uwasawa pitched the final two innings for the BoSox, where he allowed no baserunners, and struck out left fielder Michael Conforto, for his first K of his major league career.
However, the Sox would not muster up any scoring off Giants pitchers Erik Miller, Tyler Rogers, and Camilo Doval, as the Giants avoided the sweep against the Red Sox with the win in the series finale 3-1.
The Sox will be traveling to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Twins in the weekend series as they will be starting on Friday at 8:10 pm first pitch on NESN/NESN360.