The Red Sox suffered a 6-5 walkoff defeat against the Angels Tuesday night as Alfredo Aceves was inexplicably allowed to blow yet another save.
Clay Buchholz got off to another concerning start against the Angels. On just his second pitch of the game, he had to turn and watch Mike Trout's long fly ball wind up over the wall in left-center. The next two batters would also reach, and while Buchholz was able to keep the Angels from adding anymore hits in the inning, he still left facing a 2-0 deficit.
On a night where their lineup resembled nothing so much as a Triple-A batting order, that could have been enough to seal their fate. Tuesday, however, the Red Sox were shockingly capable against the likes of Jered Weaver. While Weaver had the advantage early, retiring the first five Sox he faced, a slightly hanging curveball to Jarrod Saltalamacchia ended up being golfed into the right field stands to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The real damage, however, came in a conga-line fourth. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury would lead off the frame with base hits, with a Ryan Lavarnway walk loading the bases with zero outs. A pair of singles from James Loney and Jarrod Saltalamacchia served to keep the bases loaded while bringing two more runs across, and while Ryan Kalish would ground into a double play behind him, it was enough to earn a 4-2 lead.
The Sox would add another run in the sixth when Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a single, moved to third on a stolen base and the errant throw it earned, and then scored on a sacrifice fly. The Angels would respond louder, however, pushing two across against Buchholz in the bottom of the inning as the righty suffered another mini-meltdown. He would manage to maintain the lead, however, and pitch through the seventh with the lead.
The problem, however, would enter in the eighth, even if it wouldn't be felt until the ninth. As much as it seemed like the whole suspension incident had been the end to the unfortunate Alfredo Aceves era, the pitcher with a 4.60 ERA was called upon to make a two-inning save. The result: a clean eighth, and awful ninth. A hit batsman, a walk to the number nine man, and a Mike Trout single were enough to score the equalizing run and put the winning runner on third with one out. All it took was one long fly ball, and the game was over.
Bobby Valentine did not have access to Andrew Bailey after pitching four-of-five games, but he did hav access to Craig Breslow, Junichi Tazawa, and Clayton Mortensen, all in the middle of very impressive years compared to Alfredo Aceves' long season of failure. Why he not only went with the worst option, but also reopened an old wound in doing so nobody will ever know.
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