BOSTON -- DeMarlo Hale told reporters Saturday morning that he was giving struggling Franmil Reyes a day off Saturday. But he added, “I will not hesitate to bring him off the bench in a situation where he can change the game.”
Hale did just that and so did Reyes, but it wasn’t a big enough change to prevent the Indians from losing to the Red Sox, 4-3, Saturday at Fenway Park.
Reyes, in a 1-for-17 skid on this trip, hit a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning off Adam Ottavino (5-3) to pull the Indians into a 3-3 tie. But Boston rallied for a 4-3 walk-off win on Alex Verdugo’s bases-loaded single in the ninth with two out off Alex Young.
It was the third pinch-hit homer in Reyes’ career. He has 25 homers for the season.
The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the seventh when Rafael Devers, the most dangerous hitter in the big leagues with runners in scoring position, did what he gets paid to do. Blake Parker and the Indians picked up the check.
Devers hit a three-run homer over The Green Monster in left center to give Boston a 3-0 lead. Parker relieved Nick Wittgren with Christian Vazquez on third and two out. Parker, with first base open, pitched around Kyle Schwarber to put runners on the corners. He went to work against Devers, getting ahead in the count at 1-2, but his next two pitches just missed to run the count full.
Devers hit the next pitch, a 92 mph fastball, 419 feet over The Monster for his 32nd homer of the season. One could argue that Parker had another base open and could have walked Devers, but J.D. Martinez with 24 homers was on deck.
“Parker has had some success against lefties,” said Hale. “I really thought he was in a good spot to throw a fastball in a different location or his split. If you talk to him, maybe the location wasn’t where he wanted it to be.”
This season Devers leads the big leagues in hits (47), extra-base hits (23), homers (14) and RBI (76) with runners in scoring position.
Devers has worn out Indians pitching in his short career. He has three homers and five RBI in five games against them this year. For his career, he’s hitting .333 (31-for-93) with eight homers and 17 RBI against the team that will be known as the Guardians next year.
The Indians made it a game in the ninth as Jose Ramirez singled and Bobby Bradley doubled him home to make it 3-1 with no one out. But Ottavino retired the next two batters before Reyes came off the bench.
“I think there was a little bit better timing,” said Hale of Reyes’ at-bat. “He was a little more focused, or engaged, (when) he got the slider and put a good swing on it. I just thought his body language said something a little different. That was good to see.”
Pinch-hitter Travis Shaw started the ninth with an infield single to third against Bryan Shaw (6-7). Jonathan Arauz moved pinch-runner Taylor Motter to second with a sacrifice bunt. Lefty Alex Young relieved and retired Schwarber on a fly ball to center. He pitched around Devers and intentionally walked Martinez to load the bases for a lefty vs. lefty matchup with Verdugo.
Young got ahead of Verdugo at 1-2, but he lined a 87 mph cut fastball into right field to win it. The ball just eluded Daniel Johnson.
“We wanted to see if Martinez would chase, but he’s a veteran hitter,” said Hale. “Young was in there to get the lefties. Three of their first four hitters are lefties and they aren’t pinch hitting for them. I thought Young made some good pitches to Verdugo to get to two strikes, but Vedugo had a good swung on a fastball up.”
The Indians fell to 3-2 on this trip. They are 1-4 against Boston with every game being decided by three or fewer runs.
Lost in the emotion of the ninth inning was a good pitching duel between rookies Eli Morgan and Tanner Houck. It was a rematch of their game on Aug. 29 at Progressive Field. In that game Houck took a no-hitter into into the sixth inning. He lost it to a Jose Ramirez home run.
On Saturday, Houck lost it to Johnson’s leadoff single in the first, but other than that he was just as good until he left after five scoreless innings.
The Indians threatened in the sixth against reliever Austin Davis. Andres Gimenez hit a leadoff double, but Johnson popped up to third. Gimenez stole third, his second steal in as many games, But Amed Rosario grounded out to first.
Jose Ramirez was intentionally walked and stole second. Bobby Bradley was unintentionally walked to load the bases. Hansel Robles relieved and retired Harold Ramirez on a worm-burner back to the mound that deflected off his ankle and went straight to first base to end the inning.
Ramirez’s steal was his 20th of the season. It made him just the third player this season to hit 30 or more homers with 20 or more steals. Shohei Ohtani and Fernando Tatis are the other two. In 2018 Ramirez became just the third 30-30 player (30+ homers and 30+ steals) in franchise history.
Morgan, like Houck, endured a 3-hour, 10-minute rain delay on Aug. 29. It limited him to three innings, but there were no limits on Saturday.
The rookie right-hander pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, dodging three problems along the way.
Schwarber, who started Friday’s game with a leadoff homer against Cal Quantrill, opened Saturday’s game with a ringing double to right. Morgan retired three of the next four batters to strand Schwarber.
“The first inning described to us how we need to attack to rest of the game,” said Morgan. “The first changeup I threw to Schwarber was hit really hard and all the fastballs that inning were swung through. We kind of stuck to that game plan the rest of the game.”
Boston put its first two batters on base in the fifth as Christian Vazquez rolled a single to third and Jack Lopez walked. Arauz advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, but Morgan escaped by retiring Schwarber on a foul pop to first and Devers on a grounder to first.
Verdugo gave Boston another chance with a one-out double off The Monster in the sixth. But third baseman Yu Chang made a nice catch and throw on Hunter Renfroe’s bouncer for the second out. Nick Wittgren relieved and struck out Bobby Dalbec to keep the game scoreless.
Morgan, in his 14th start of the season, struck out seven and walked four in 5 2/3 innings. It was his ninth start in which he’s pitched five or more innings.
Houck struck out seven, while allowing three hits.
Next: RHP Zach Plesac (9-4, 4.94) vs. RHP Nick Pivetta (9-7, 4.67) Sunday at 1:10 p.m. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM, WMMS and the Indians radio network will carry the game.
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