Red Sox flash to life in the ninth, come back to beat Mets and finish first 9-0 road trip in nearly 50 years
NEW YORK — Turns out, only the schedule can stop the Red Sox.
They scored two runs in the ninth inning and another in the 10th to steal a 3-2 win from the Mets on Sunday afternoon, extending their win streak to nine games — their longest since they took 10 in a row at this time last year.
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On a three-city, three-time-zone journey that took them to the All-Star break, the Red Sox went undefeated. It was their first 9-0 road trip since 1977. They swept the Angels, White Sox, and Mets.
Now, they can — or have to — rest for a few days. The Sox will resume their season Friday at Fenway Park with a doubleheader against the Rays, the start of a 10-game homestand.
This one was unexpected. Near the end of what had been a quiet afternoon, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor muffed Romy Gonzalez’s ground ball, which could have yielded a game-ending double play.
Instead, beleaguered closer Devin Williams melted down, walking back-to-back batters, the latter forcing in a run, and giving up a tying bloop single to Jarren Duran.
In the top of the 10th, Connor Wong sacrifice bunted Masataka Yoshida, the automatic runner on second base, to third. Anthony Seigler’s sacrifice fly sent Yoshida across the plate with the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the 10th, Garrett Whitlock retired the Mets in order.
The Red Sox created an unorthodox pitching plan inspired by their desire to stay conscientious of Payton Tolle’s season-long workload. Tolle handled the first chunk of the game, and Brayan Bello — in his return from Triple-A Worcester — most of the rest.
In a shorter-by-design start, Tolle went only 3⅔ innings (66 pitches). He gave up one run, three hits, and a walk, and he struck out seven — including for each of his first five outs.
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The Mets opened the scoring in an eventful bottom of the first which featured two doubles, two wild pitches, and three strikeouts. Rookie leadoff hitter A.J. Ewing lined a double down the right-field line to open the sequence. With one out, Lindor smacked a double off the left-field wall to bring in Ewing.
That represented the first time the Sox trailed in a game in a week.
Bello entered in the fourth inning, stranded an inherited runner at second, and wound up tossing 4⅓ frames. The only scoring against him was Lindor’s solo home run in the sixth.
Mets lefthander Zach Thornton owned the Sox for seven scoreless innings, holding them to two hits and two walks. He struck out five and threw only 82 pitches in what was by far the best of his three outings in the big leagues.
The Red Sox did not record a hit until Andruw Monasterio lined a double to left field with one out in the fifth inning.
Their only other knock against Thornton came off the bat of Wong, who looped a single into left to lead off the sixth. He did not advance past first base.
One other kind of, sort of scoring opportunity: Gonzalez drew a walk to open the second inning. But Caleb Durbin, among the Sox’ hottest hitters, sacrifice bunted him to second to set up Monasterio (flyout) and Duran (groundout).
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