BOSTON -- At times, a loss can bleed some negative momentum into the next day. But sometimes a win can, too.
Such was the case for the Red Sox on Sunday, who were three outs away from sweeping the Marlins, only to have the short-handed bullpen squander it away in the top of the ninth of an eventual 5-3 loss at Fenway Park.
Aroldis Chapman, who has been stellar all season as Boston’s closer, was unavailable to pitch in the series finale due to pitching on Friday and Saturday.
The rub is that he shouldn’t have had to pitch on Saturday. But when low-leverage reliever Isaiah Campbell came on with a 7-2 lead in the ninth inning and gave up three runs while recording just two outs, Chapman was called on to preserve the 7-5 win, which he did on just three pitches.
The 37-year-old Chapman pitched on three straight days just once earlier this season, from June 7-9.
Given that the 68-57 Red Sox have aspirations of playing into October, Red Sox manager Alex Cora is trying to preserve the lefty as best he can for the even more important games to come.
Garrett Crochet had staked the Sox to a 3-1 lead after a nice rebound outing from his rough outing in Houston six days earlier. Even with Chapman and Justin Wilson both unavailable, Cora thought he had enough.
“It’s tough,” said Cora. “It was a weird game. Offensively we didn’t do much, rushing through at-bats, we made a lot of quick outs and we didn’t put pressure on them.”
One strong characteristic for the 59-65 Marlins has been their ability to bounce back in the late innings. This was Miami’s fourth win this season when trailing after eight, tied for third-most in MLB this season.
“As long as we keep stacking series wins and moving in the right direction, it's hard to harp on a loss,” said Crochet. “Everyone always says, ‘They drive nice cars too.’ They're a good club. They took some aggressive swings today and hit the ball pretty hard. Just kind of got to tip your cap and move on to the next series.”
Before moving on to that two-game set at home against the Orioles, the Red Sox let this one slip away.
Garrett Whitlock, who hadn’t allowed an earned run in his 16 previous appearances dating back to July 6, had that streak end at an unfortunate time. The righty gave up a two-out, RBI single in the eighth to Liam Hicks, allowing the Marlins to inch within a run heading into the final frame.
Usually when that bullpen gate swings open for the ninth, Chapman comes out and the crowd buzzes with anticipation.
This time, it was Greg Weissert, whose second pitch of the inning was belted to right-center for an equalizing solo shot by Dane Myers. It was sweet redemption for Myers, who deflected a flyball by Wilyer Abreu into the bullpen for a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.
A feel-good moment for the Marlins was a bitter one for Weissert and his Red Sox.
“It sucks,” said Weissert. “Hang a slider like that, you can't really expect good results. But that’s what we’ve been doing all season, picking each other up. And I just didn’t get it done, unfortunately. The pitch just has to be down and away.”
After Eric Wagaman hit a one-out single off the glove of Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman, Cora came out to get Weissert and brought on lefty Steven Matz to face left-handed hitting rookie Jakob Marsee.
On a 2-2 pitch that was high and inside and not a strike, Marsee unloaded for a two-run homer that put the Marlins on top for good. Matz came into the game having given up just one hit on no runs in his first five outings since the Red Sox acquired him from the Cardinals
“Yeah, it's really disappointing, especially with how good Garrett pitched today,” Matz said. “A wasted outing. So really disappointing. It would have been nice to sweep there and get a lockdown.”
It was a rare feeling of home deflation for the Red Sox, who are 16-3 at Fenway since July 7
“It’s obviously difficult, but that’s a good team that’s used to coming from behind,” said Abreu. “At the same time, it's difficult to lose a game like that, and even more with where we are in the standings right now.”