Red Sox Diamondbacks Final Score: Hello darkness my old friend

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Three series in the year, and the Red Sox. This game was not nearly as bad in the desert, though matching that performance would have been impossible. Boston was a leader for about five minutes. David Price was mostly solid in this game, but one horrible inning was bad enough to take a win away from him. Meanwhile, they have been bad for long stretches in this game. The Red Sox have now lost eight of their first ten games. Not great!

The Red Sox are developing a clear pattern in games right now, and it is not fun to watch. At all. This has not happened every time out, of course, but it is happening often enough in recent games that people are starting to recognize what is about to happen before it actually begins to unfold. It starts well enough, as the Red Sox have jumped out to a few early leads over the last week. They're never really leads but it's more something. Then, the starting pitcher of the day comes out looking for a shutdown inning but instead watches the lead evaporate. It's not great!

This is, of course, how things ended up playing on Saturday night in Arizona. After both sides went out, the Red Sox started to show up against Luke Weaver in the second. Xander Bogaerts drew a walk to start things off, then Rafael Devers fought off a pitch in his hands and punched it into center field. That put runners on the corners and things were cooking. Eduardo Núñez did not have a big hit, but a soft ground ball was second to one and was a double play. Afterwards, he was intentionally walked, David Price was forced to run with two outs. National League baseball is a crime, but it was not cost-effective, and Andrew Benintendi would have a double rule. With a 3-0 lead, things were looking good.

MLB: Boston Red Sox at Arizona Diamondbacks

They were particularly interested with Price on the mound. He was not great in his first start, but he was well off in the team's first run through the rotation and he was also feeling good about himself after that RBI base knock. What could go wrong ?! Well, you know. David Peralta led by Diamondbacks and Eduardo Escobar's fly ball in left field fell just in front of a Benintendi diving. With a pair in scoring position, Nick Ahmed hit a blooper at right-center field and Arizona was on the board. It looked like Mookie Betts has been misplayed, but it was not convincing to me that it definitely could have gotten there. Either way, a run on the board and the Diamondbacks still had two on one. They'd both score when Carson Kelly tied the game with a two-run double, and then he'd come back in a two-out RBI single from Adam Jones. Just like that, the three run lead to a one-run deficit in the blink of an eye.

To Price's credit, it was very good in this game outside of that fourth inning. Yes, it's a bit of a "but other than that how was the play Mrs. Lincoln? "Situation, but given what the rest of the staff did in the early days of the year we'll certainly take it. I already mentioned the 1-2-3 first inning for the lefty in the first, and only after the third and fourth in the third.

Price was cruising, but the offense was not living up to their part of the deal. They had that big second inning, but had very few signs of life outside that rally. Over the four months immediately following that second, they feel only three times over. In the other, they were a leadoff single from Núñez.

As we headed into the seventh, Weaver was out of the game and the Red Sox would try to get going against Arizona's bullpen. Yoshihisa Hirano, the first one of the two of them, and Boston got their leadoff on Jackie Bradley Jr. After a strikeout from Vázquez, JD Martinez Andrew Chafin. Benintendi to face left. It would have been a good idea to have a good time at the end of the day. Going up against Archie Bradley, he did not pick up the game. With Mitch Moreland and Mitch Moreland, Steve Pearce is coming to the top of the charts for the Bogaerts. That would be the endless, though, as the shortstop grounded out to leave 'em full.

So, with the game now tied for the Red Sox, starting with Brandon Workman. He's had a great run to start this 2019 season, and he continued it on Saturday with an easy, stress-free 1-2-3 inning.

Bradley stayed in the game for Arizona in the eighth, and Devers started the first half with a walk to Núñez bunt. After Bradley Jr. struck out, Vázquez had a chance with two outs and a runner in scoring position. He put a nice swing on the ball, but it was caught right in front of the wall in the field and we were still tied to the bottom of the eighth.

There, the Red Sox called upon Ryan Brasier and he'd get in the inning allowing just a single. After the offense went down, Colten Brewer came on for the bottom half. After starting the fight with a strikeout, the first time you hit the right field, you got a bad ball from Vázquez. That took away a double play chance, and it looked like it could be costly when it hit the right side. Betts firing up, though, and easily gunned down Escobar at the plate. Still, Ahmed moved up to second on the throw and had another chance with a runner in scoring position, this time with two outs. Kelly came through with a cleaner base, more easily than the Diamondbacks walked it off. 2-8 for the Sox.

The Red Sox can not win a victory series, but they can try to avoid a sweep on Sunday. They'll be sending Hector Velázquez for a spot and he'll be taking Merrill Kelly. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PM ET.

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