Buehler’s best work wasted as Red Sox drop Phillies opener in bizarre loss

It s not how you start it s how you finish it And in the occurrence of the Red Sox on Monday night the evening began on the high note of Jarren Duran s leadoff home run and was all downhill from there At the bottom a loss the likes of which had only happened once previously in Major League Baseball Major in the last seasons Boston had chances all night long at least one baserunner in nine of innings but its clutch factor was M I A and in the bottom of the th it was the Phillies who triumphed albeit in one of the most of bizarre endings baseball has seen in a long time A walk-off on bases-loaded catcher s interference by rookie Carlos Narv ez determined on a replay review Phillies win - According to the Red Sox and Elias Sports the only other instance of a catcher s interference walk-off in all of Major League Baseball since was Aug between the Dodgers and Reds Hall of Famer Johnny Bench was the catcher in question That s the rule manager Alex Cora described reporters What a waste of one of Walker Buehler s best starts of the season Trouble typically finds the right-hander in the first or fourth inning this year opponents entered Monday hitting with a OPS and with a OPS respectively in the first and fourth and it was the scenario Monday too The Phillies tied and took a - lead on three consecutive one-out hits off Buehler in the fourth Able to rebound from the damage Buehler exited on a high note He retired all but one of his last batters including the final seven in a row In total two runs one earned on six hits one walk and four strikeouts For the third time this year and first time since June he completed seven innings By earned runs it was his stingiest showing since May and his fourth time yielding no more than one The stuff was really good disclosed Cora That was a great outing against a good offensive club that was tremendous Buehler outlasted one of the National League s greater part consistent starters of the last half-decade since the start of the season only Logan Webb has more outings of at least innings than Zack Wheeler In such starts Wheeler s strikeouts outpaced all NL arms by a margin of at minimum Initially it seemed as though the Red Sox would chase Wheeler from the competition early when Duran took the Phillies ace deep to lead off the match and Boston collected several hits But after that leadoff bang the Red Sox whimpered through the next four innings They tied the meeting on Trevor Story s RBI single in the sixth but did no further damage Wheeler exited after six innings charged with two earned runs on seven hits with zero walks and strikeouts According to MLB s Sarah Langs it was his fifth start with double-digit strikeouts and no walks the highest single-season total by a Phillies pitcher in at least the last seasons We had our chances we didn t cash in But shoot that guy he s one of the best if not the best in the big leagues Cora mentioned of Wheeler Having bailed Wheeler out of nearly every jam they created the Red Sox extended the same courtesy to relievers Tanner Banks Orion Kerkering old friend Matt Strahm Red Sox and Max Lazar All narrated Boston struck out a season-high times and went for with runners in scoring position and eight men left on base In a high-stakes eighth inning Aroldis Chapman worked around Edmundo Sosa s pinch-hit leadoff single from the No spot The lineup turnover couldn t rattle the -year-old All-Star who got Trea Turner to line out and Kyle Schwarber to fly out both to Duran in left Sosa advanced to second on a wild pitch only to watch as Chapman blew Bryce Harper away with a mph sinker Garrett Whitlock dominated the ninth inning needed pitches for strikes to punch out the side In the th the Red Sox already - in extra-inning contests on the road this season failed to bring home the automatic runner Each wasted opportunity taunted Boston as Jordan Hicks loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning on a walk wild pitch and intentional walk A loss seemed inevitable but no one could have predicted exactly how it was about to play out With the diamond full Sosa swung Upon review the crew chief informed catcher s interference on Narv ez ruling that the rookie s mitt made contact with Sosa s swing Sosa was awarded first base but it was a mere formality Encounter over The Red Sox are - since the All-Star break This season they re - in extras on the road and their seven catcher s interference leads the majors They took issue with Monday s unhappy ending though So late Narv ez notified reporters of Sosa s swing I had the ball then I felt the contact Really weird The ball is already in his glove echoed Hicks so I don t understand the call No surgery for Houck Tanner Houck has been shut down indefinitely but doesn t need surgery at the present Cora broadcasted Monday Houck s rehab assignment was due to expire last week but rather than activate or option the right-hander the Red Sox returned him to the injured list