CHICAGO -- Five days after blowing a six-run lead in a brutal Labor Day loss to the Rays, the Red Sox almost let an early five-run advantage go to waste Saturday night in Chicago -- only to come back and win in dramatic fashion.
Boston plated seven runs in the third inning but the White Sox responded with six of their own in the fourth and fifth to take an 8-7 lead. The Red Sox then tied the game in the eighth and went on to win it, 9-8, in 10 innings, as Travis Shaw hit a game-winning RBI single and Josh Taylor captured his first career save by working out of trouble to pitch a scoreless frame.
Shaw, who was a late addition into the Sox’ lineup after J.D. Martinez was scratched with back tightness, led the charge offensively for Boston. He had four RBIs, hitting a three-run shot in the third inning and later driving in automatic runner Alex Verdugo to plate the winning run in the 10th.
Making his major-league debut, righty Connor Seabold, who was called up earlier Saturday, made just one major mistake in his debut, as Leury García tagged him for a two-run homer with one out in the second. Seabold allowed three hits while walking two in three innings.
Down 2-0, Boston’s bats came alive against ChiSox starter Dylan Cease in the third. Kiké Hernández hit a one-out single before Cease issued three straight walks as Boston cut the deficit to 2-1. With two outs, Verdugo (two-run single) gave the Sox the lead and Bobby Dalbec (RBI single) added an insurance run to make it 4-2. Shaw broke things open -- at least momentarily -- with a three-run blast that ended Cease’s night.
Once Seabold was removed after three innings, the wheels fell off for the Red Sox, as a sloppy defensive inning from Rafael Devers led to Garrett Richards giving up five unearned runs in the fourth. With one out and a runner on first, Devers committed an error on a Leury García grounder then failed to corral a Romy Gonzalez chopper, loading the bases. Richards walked Brian Goodwin with the bases loaded to make it 7-3, then Luis Robert -- with two outs -- cleared the bases with a double down the left-field line that brought the White Sox within a run.
Richards was relieved by Ryan Brasier, who promptly allowed a game-tying double to former Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada. An inning later, Grandal blasted a Brasier curveball into the right-field seats to put Chicago up, 8-7.
For the second straight night, former Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel came in with a one-run lead in the eighth -- only this time, he relinquished it. Christian Vázquez doubled and was lifted for pinch-runner Jack López; Hernández then tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
After both teams wasted scoring chances in the ninth, Dalbec moved Verdugo to third on a groundout to first and Shaw capitalized with a line drive single to right, putting the Red Sox up, 9-8. Taylor, who relieved Garrett Whitlock, gave up a leadoff single to García to put runners on the corners and two outs but battled back, striking out the next two batters and getting Brian Goodwin to ground out to Hernández on a tough defensive play in the hole.
With the win, the Red Sox improved to 81-63.
Pivetta has finale
Righty Nick Pivetta (9-7, 4.67 ERA) will come off the COVID-19 injured list to start Sunday’s rubber game opposite White Sox righty Lance Lynn (10-4, 2.59 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET.
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