The Red Sox fell to the Royals 10-9 in twelve innings Saturday night despite picking up 20 hits in the process.
Aaron Cook found himself in very early trouble against the Royals lineup. Surrendering hits to the first four batters he faced, the Red Sox quickly found themselves in a 3-0 hole in the first before he finally got three outs on two ground balls to end it.
The Sox were not to be held down for long at all. Mauro Gomez got the Sox on the board in the second inning with a one-out homer, and after Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ryan Lavarnway followed him up with singles, Mike Aviles was there to drop a ball into the Monster seats for a three-run shot that earned the Sox the lead.
The lead would just grow for Boston in the next two innings. As Aaron Cook settled down to earn a quality start, the Sox grabbed three in the third with Mauro Gomez accounting for two more of them, and then another pair in the fourth on singles from Cody Ross and none other than Gomez again.
Unfortunately, even a 9-3 lead was not safe from the bullpen tonight. With Cook on short rest, exiting after a short 72 pitches, the Sox turned to Andrew Miller, who completely imploded with two outs. The Royals loaded the bases against the lefty, then pushed two across before Mark Melancon surrendered two more on another pair of hits. Craig Breslow gave up a triple on a bit of bad defense from Cody Ross, and just like that, the game was tied.
The tie game would last long enough to take the Sox into extra innings, and into the bottom of the tenth with a chance to win it. There, Pedro Ciriaco would lead off with a single, move to second on a passed ball, and then to third on a successful sacrifice bunt from Scott Podsednik. The Dodgers elected to pitch to Jacoby Ellsbury instead of Dustin Pedroia with one out and the winning run at third. It proved the right move, as Ellsbury grounded to first, where Eric Hosmer made the throw home to catch Ciriaco. That left Che-Hsuan Lin Boston's last chance in the inning.
It would also end up being Boston's last significant chance in the game. While Junichi Tazawa was able to last through the eleventh and two outs in the twelfth despite having 60 pitches and a trip to and from Pawtucket under his belt since Wednesday night, he could not quite get that third out. A walk, a double, and a single-all with two outs-was enough to get Kansas City that tenth run, and with the Sox not scoring in the bottom of the twelfth-the win.
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