This one had so much promise. The bats came alive. They jumped out to a lead. They hit with men in scoring position. They hit with two out. Wright was pitching well. They outhit the Twins 12-11. But they committed 3 errors. They ran into 4 outs on the bases. Koji got tagged and didn’t record an out.

I really don’t want to write what happened. I drew some pictures after the game and calmed down, and now I’m gonna get myself all riled up again. But I’ll do it for you, the fans. Here’s how it went down:

Mookie doubled to lead off the 2nd, Pedey walked with two outs, Hanley had an infield single, Papi reached on an error, and Napoli reached on an infield single. 2-0, Red Sox.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Blake Swihart hit his first major league homer!

In the bottom of the 4th, Pedroia went la luna! It was his eighth of the year, already surpassing last year’s total of seven. Not to toot my own horn, but I sort of called this back in our roster breakdown post. 4-0, Sox.

I’d say that this was the point where the wheels came off, but a wheel-less wagon probably would’ve been more stable and in control than the Red Sox were in the late innings.

In the top of the 5th, Steven Wright had one of those innings that knuckleballers tend to have once every outing, or every other outing if they’re pitching well. A couple of singles followed by a 3-run homer by Torii Hunter. That’s gonna happen. Sox were still up 4-3.

In the top of the 6th, Wright got the first two men without throwing a ball. The third batter, Eduardo Escobar, grounded to third on an 0-1 pitch, but Sandoval threw it away. Escobar went to second. The next batter, Kurt Suzuki, singled him home to tie the game at 4.

In the bottom of the 7th, Hanley singled, Papi fisted a little infield popup, and Escobar’s only play was at first, so Hanley was at 2nd with one out. The next batter was Napoli, who hit a grounder to third. Hanley inexplicably tried to advance and Trevor Plouffe tagged him out. And wouldn’t you know, the next batter, Xander Bogaerts, hit a liner in the gap. With two outs, Hanley would’ve scored easily had he stayed put at second. That was frustrating. Even worse, Napoli was off with the pitch and tried to score from first but was thrown out by 15 feet, ending the inning.

So the game was tied at 4 heading into the top of the 9th. Koji gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning, which brought Joe Mauer to the plate with two men on and no one out. Joe Handsome squared around to sacrifice. Swihart pounced on it immediately and threw to third (which was the right play, the bunt went almost nowhere). The throw was a little low and it went through Sandoval’s wickets. Panda absolutely should’ve caught it; he now has 7 errors on the season. He should’ve stretched for it like a first baseman instead of trying to field it like it was a grounder. The go-ahead run came around to score and the floodgates would open. Uehara would be lifted without recording an out, and before the third out was recorded, the score was 8-4 Minnesota.

The Red Sox went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th and that was that. Given how well this one started, this game left an especially bad taste in my mouth. Like drinking some OJ right after I brushed my teeth.

TWELVE HITS! 3-9 with RISP! If they didn’t play defense and run the bases like a bunch of drunk Little Leaguers this would’ve been an easy win. It seems like they can’t get everything going at once. First the pitching was the problem, then it was the hitting. Today it was defense, baserunning, and the bullpen (kind of the baseball equivalent of special teams). Let’s hope they put it all together soon.

Notes:

-A tough game for the big guys. Sandoval had the aforementioned errors, and he and Ortiz combined to go 0 for 9 with six men left on base.

-Another incredible play by Brian Dozier. On Tuesday night he made a superman stop on a grounder. Yesterday afternoon it was a superman dive on a tailing Mookie Betts liner. He’s real fun to watch.

-Don and Jerry had a nice little bit where they made fun of Dice-K and his elusive (i.e. non-existent) gyroball.

-Hey look! Sunset made another great play in the field.