CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Boston Red Sox arrived at Progressive Field on Friday night on a heater.
Owners of the second-best record in the month of June (16-4) coming into Friday night, Boston has gone 29-12 since May 8th and trailed only the Yankee for baseball’s best record.
The Guardians? Winners of seven-straight series, eight of their last ten and 18 of 24.
These were two teams on similar trajectories who were poised to treat the 29,106 in attendance at Progressive Field to some pyrotechnics before a post-game fireworks show.
“For whatever reason, they didn’t find their footing right away,” said manager Terry Francona. “The top of their lineup they’re doing so much damage. They’re getting some pretty good starting pitching. They’re a handful.”
Despite another late-inning rally that has become a staple of the youngest team in baseball, the Red Sox held on for a 6-3 win over the Guardians on Friday night.
The Guardians had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning, but Jose Ramirez grounded out to second baseman Trevor Story to end any further comeback.
“We've proven that those aren't just losses. If you do that enough, you're going to win some of them,” Francona said. “I’ll take my chance with Josey up there.”
The loss marked the first back-to-back setbacks for the Guardians since May 24-26, but starter Cal Quantrill's unbeaten streak at home continued.
The right-hander tossed five innings of two-run ball.
“I felt like in second inning, (I was) flirting with the edges a little bit,” Quantrill said. “I fell behind in a couple of counts (and I was) playing the game of not willing to give in. Its a good enough lineup that anything over the heart of the play it's dangerous.”
Quantrill didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled a potent Red Sox lineup all night and was bailed out by some timely defensive plays.
Boston looked poised to take the lead in the top of the fifth with the score knotted 2-2. The Red Sox had runners at second and third when J.D. Martinez looped one to shallow right. Oscar Gonzalez charged in to make a running catch at full stride and then fired a laser to retire Christian Arroyo at the plate.
“It's an incredible play. There are not very many right fielders in baseball who can do all the things he does,” Quantrill said.
He did himself a favor an inning earlier when he picked off Christian Vazquez at second base with one out.
“He doesn't break, there's some bend every once in a while,” Francona said. It’s just a little shorter outing than we're used to with. But if that’s the worst, he’ll be a pretty good pitcher.”
Arroyo broke stalemate in the seventh inning with a two-run homer off Bryan Shaw. Boston added another run in the frame before tacking on an insurance run in the ninth.
Franmil Reyes and Andres Gimenez, who homered in the fourth inning, gave the Guardians life to start the bottom half of the ninth.
Myles Straw was hit by a pitch and Steven Kwan singled in Reyes to send the game-winning run to the plate, but Amed Rosario struck out and Ramirez sent a bouncer to Story to end the game.
“We’re not quitters. We're fighting games all the way to the end. We're playing really good baseball,” Quantrill said. “I thought today was another really, really impressive day by our position players, especially defensively. Quality at bats all day long. I think if we continue to do this, we're going to continue to win.”