“I wish I was faster” (Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images)

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.

Panda can’t make a clean transfer. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

In my game recaps I tend to give the final score right off the bat and then give you the full story on how and why the game went the way that it did. In this one I’ll keep the suspense alive and try and craft the game story in chronological order.

The Red Sox jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Mookie singled, went to second on a Papi slow roller, and came home on a sharp single by Hanley. 

Joe Kelly, staked with a lead, promptly walked Delino DeShields on 5 pitches in the bottom half of the frame. DeShields then stole second on the next pitch. A single and a groundout later, the game was tied at one.

The Red Sox would get that run right back in the top of the second on a couple of hits and an Adrian Beltre error.

In bottom of the second, again staked with a one-run lead, Kelly had a much more favorable response. He got the first two batters, surrendered a single to Carlos Corporan on a ball that just was out of the reach of a lunging Bogaerts, then got Hanser Alberto to ground out to second to end the frame.

In the bottom of the third, Pumpsie would be the victim of some shoddy defense. After retiring the first batter of the inning and walking the second, Kelly would get Prince Fielder to ground to short. Xander’s flip to Pedroia was a little high and Pedey tried to barehand it, but it fell to the ground. It looked like he took his eye off the ball while he was looking for the bag. Pedey had 2 errors all of last season but this was already his 5th in 2015. It would’ve been a tough turn for the double play, but they ended up getting no outs and a run would come around to score as a result.

With two outs Elvis Andrus hit a slow chopper that Sandoval charged, but he couldn’t make a clean transfer and dropped the ball – the second error of the inning behind Kelly. Pumpsie was able to bear down and induce a routine grounder to Napoli to end the third.

Kelly was generally effective for the rest of his outing, but was lifted after the fifth due to his high pitch count, which was thanks in part to the errors committed behind him. His line:

Kelly made a conscious effort to mix in his change-up and curveball more often and it seemed like it worked. As Remy pointed out, the Twins were all over his fastball in his last outing. It wasn’t exactly a “statement” game, but it was good to see Joe turn in a solid performance and make management’s decision a little tougher on what to do with the staff.

Back to the game.

At this point in the season I think we’re all aware that Hanley gets confused out there on the diamond sometimes. He looks like he’s not quite sure what he should be doing or even who he is at times. That must be what happened in the top of the 6th when he reached on a blooper to right, had a straight steal of second, and came around to score on a single to right by Xander, giving the Sox a 3-2 lead. Maybe he grabbed Mookie’s helmet and thought “Now I can kill ’em with my speed!” It’s a long shot, but it’s the only reasonable theory I can come up with.

Tommy Layne got the last out of the bottom of the 6th, then came back out for the bottom of the 7th and retired the side in order, putting the Red Sox in great shape, needing only 6 outs from their dominant duo of Taz and Koji. Taz held up this end of the bargain, getting the Rangers to go quietly in the bottom of the 8th.

In the top of the 9th Rusney singled, then stole second with Pedroia up. It looked like he overslid the bag and was tagged out by Andrus, but the 2nd base umpire ruled that Elvis pushed him off the bag so he was safe. Interesting call. The Rangers were out of challenges, but I’m not sure that they could even challenge that play since it’s a judgment call. Anyway, on the next pitch Pedroia grounded out, so Rusney was on 3rd with one out, but the heart of the order wasn’t able to drive him home.

No matter, it was Koji time! He got the first batter of the inning, Alberto, to ground to 3rd … but Sandoval booted it for his second error of the game. After a sacrifice and a groundout, the Sox had two outs with the tying run on 3rd. They elected to walk Fielder in order to pitch to Adam Rosales, who had replaced Beltre in the order after he left the game in the 5th with a thumb injury he suffered running the bases (did you follow that?). Only problem was Josh Hamilton was available to pinch hit, and pinch hit he did.

It was actually a pretty good pitch by Koji, a splitter just off the plate outside, but Hamilton went with it and shot it into the gap, scoring Alberto easily from 3rd, and Fielder came all the way around from first to score the game-winning run.

You know how in my last recap I said it was heartening to have a loss be “normal” and not soul-crushing? This was the opposite of that. More awful defense, and more wasted opportunities, another small army of men left on base, and more poor hitting with runners in scoring position. So many things they could’ve done differently (like play deeper with two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the 9th so if Hamilton does hit a gapper, the second run doesn’t score, or maybe walk Hamilton as well to get to Moreland who was 0-4). They truly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Notes:

-Xander was 0 for his last 15 coming into the game, but went 3 for 4 with an RBI.

-Pedey looks like he’s using an ax handle bat. I’ve heard a lot of hype about them at the college level, but this is the first time I’ve seen a big leaguer use one.

–Nice play by Rusney in the bottom of the 5th on a jam shot. He’s had an up-and-down year in the outfield so far.

-Layne has stranded 10/11 inherited runners this season, including his last 8 straight.

-The Red Sox collectively could not be happier that the month of May is over.