Red Sox’ depleted bullpen can’t keep Braves’ bats in check

It took just a few hours to appreciate the gaping hole that Garrett Whitlock’s absence left in the Red Sox bullpen.

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Without their setup man, who landed on the injured list with left knee inflammation on Thursday afternoon, the Sox faced a makeshift relay through the middle innings of a tie game against Atlanta. The baton did not merely get fumbled but instead was spiked on the mound at Fenway, resulting in a five-run, sixth-inning implosion that sent the Sox to a 10-2 loss to the Braves in the rubber-match of a three-game series.

Sox lefthander Danny Coulombe, less than a week into his return from the injured list, put three straight batters on base to open the sixth inning, following a bunt single by Michael Harris by issuing a pair of walks to the Nos. 7 and 8 hitters. With a depleted set of options, interim manager Chad Tracy opted for righthander Greg Weissert under nearly impossible circumstances.

Inherited runners have been a seasonlong struggle for Weissert, who has been unable to reprise the effectiveness of his traffic suppression of a year ago. He entered the contest having allowed half (9 of 18) of the runners he’d inherited to score. That number quickly grew worse.

Weissert got ahead of pinch hitter Mike Yastrzemski, 0-2, but after a two-strike foul ball, uncorked four straight balls — none anywhere close to the strike zone — to the grandson of Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, forcing in a run that put Atlanta ahead, 3-2.

When Weissert finally regained the strike zone, disaster followed. On a 1-0 pitch to Ronald Acuña Jr., Weissert’s 93-mile-per-hour sinker split the plate. The 2023 NL MVP obliterated the offering, his 108-m.p.h. rocket screaming over the Monster Seats for a grand slam that put Atlanta ahead, 7-2. By the time the inning was done, boos from the Fenway crowd of 30,901 cascaded upon a team that is now 9-19 at home.

Atlanta added a solo homer in the seventh by Harris against Jovani Morán, and Ozzie Albies blasted a two-run shot in the ninth against Ryan Watson. The 10-run yield was tied for the second most runs allowed by the Sox this year.

The pyrotechnics stood in contrast to a game that hinted early at a pitcher’s duel between past and present Red Sox lefties with electrifying stuff. Chris Sale returned to the Fenway mound for the second time as an Atlanta pitcher, opposing Sox rookie Payton Tolle.

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Both came out with blistering arsenals, leaning hard on 98-m.p.h. heaters through three scoreless innings. Tolle retired the first six hitters he faced in 26 pitches, then worked around a pair of base runners in a 27-pitch third. Sale permitted a pair of base runners in each of the first three innings, but each time stifled the threat with his familiar combination of an exploding four-seamer and wipeout slider.

In the fourth, Tolle’s fastball lost steam, rendering him vulnerable to the chaos of contact in a 28-pitch labor. Matt Olson led off the inning by drilling a single (110-m.p.h. exit velocity) on a 95-m.p.h. four-seamer, then chugged into third when Albies lined a 96-m.p.h. sinker down the left-field line for a double.

With runners on second and third, Tolle nearly conjured an exit from the jam. He fanned Austin Riley (98-m.p.h. fastball) and then benefited from a terrific play by second baseman Nick Sogard, who ranged far to his left to snatch a grounder and rob Michael Harris II of a run-scoring hit (with the infield in, Olson didn’t attempt to score).

But with two outs, Tolle’s escape act faltered. Jorge Mateo’s hard comebacker (108 m.p.h.) caromed off Tolle’s glove for an RBI infield single, and ex-Sox Dominic Smith hit a wedge shot to left for another RBI single and a 2-0 Atlanta lead.

The Sox, however, returned serve immediately against Sale in the bottom of the inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a walk, and scored on a one-out RBI double into the left-field corner by Caleb Durbin — who notched his sixth multi-hit game of the season, and first since May 6. Durbin then scampered home when Jarren Duran punched an RBI single to left against his former teammate, tying the game, 2-2.

Both starters were soon gone. Tolle needed 94 pitches to navigate 4⅔ innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out seven. Sale made it one batter further, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks through five innings while punching out eight — just long enough for the 37-year-old to be in position to claim the win when his teammates posted their five-spot against the Sox bullpen in the sixth inning. Sale improved to 8-3 on the season, his ERA at 2.01.

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