ON THIS DATE (May 22, 2022) ...
Nathan Eovaldi made his way through the first five innings
of this game, completely unscathed, and really dominating over
the first few. In those first three innings, he
allowed just one batter to reach on a single, and
he struck out three in each of the second and third
frames. After working around a leadoff double in
the fourth, he once again came back and was perfect
again for the fifth to keep Seattle off the board.
Meanwhile, Christian Arroyo connected for his first homer of the year. Jumping on a
first-pitch fastball that stayed middle-in, Arroyo demolished one 431 feet out
to left field above the Monster Seats for a
no-doubt, solo shot, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.
They’d add on in the third as Kevin Plawecki hit a ground ball that ricocheted off
the pitcher and
into right field for a one-out single, and then an Enrique Hernández double off
the Monster to put a pair in scoring position. Seattle wasn’t taking their
chances against Rafael Devers, who was intentionally walked to load the bases,
but Xander Bogaerts got the job done with a sacrifice fly to double up the Sox
lead.
It was a 2-0 lead as they entered into the sixth, and Eovaldi hit his first
real speed bump of his afternoon. The righty walked Taylor Trammel to start the
inning, and then Adam
Frazier got an inside curveball that stayed a bit too high. Frazier curled
it right around Pesky’s Pole for a homer, and with that swing the
game was all tied up at two runs apiece.
Trevor Story had another big swing
in the bottom of the sixth. Leading off the inning, he went out and got a
fastball that stayed right over the plate, putting it into the first row of
Monster Seats in left-center field to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead.
It was still a one-run game for the ninth, with Hansel Robles looked to
close this one out. He got the first two outs in order, but things took a turn
in the next at bat. Eugenio Súarez crushed a pitch into the Monster
Seats, tying the game at three and giving Robles a blown save.
With the "ghost runner" runner on second to start the 10th, Jake Diekman got the
ball for Boston. He did get a quick first out, but then back-to-back singles put
the Mariners in front 4-3.
In the bottom of the 10th, with Bobby Dalbec on second,
Christian Vázquez came on as pinch hitter and got the job done to start off the
inning, shooting a base hit into right field to put runners on the corners for
the top of the order. Kike Hernández then followed that up with a base hit of his
own, bringing home Dalbec with the tying run and putting the winning run in scoring position
with nobody out. Devers then followed with a single, which should have
loaded the bases. Instead, Vázquez was sent home and was cut down at the plate.
Story couldn’t get the run home, hitting a fly ball too shallow for Hernández to
score, leaving it up to Franchy Cordero. He hit a couple of line drives in this
game that found gloves, so he decided he should just hit it over everybody. For
his first home run of the season, Franchy launched a walk-off grand slam to complete a
four-game sweep with an 8-4 win.
