And so it comes to an end, as all good things must. Unfortunately, Joe Kelly’s 8-game winning streak didn’t extend to 9 last night, and the Red Sox lost 6-5 to the Orioles in 13 innings (the 2nd time in 3 games that they’ve played 13 innings). Kelly appeared to be cruising early on, allowing only a walk through two innings and striking out the side in the 2nd. Staked to a 1-0 lead in the 3rd after Boston loaded the bases and walked a run in in the top half of the inning, he gave up a leadoff single and hung a breaking ball up in the zone to Steve Pearce, who crushed it into the left field seats to give Baltimore a 2-1 advantage.

Manny Machado singled after that and advanced all the way home on an uncharacteristically poor throw from Mookie Betts in center field after a one-out Chris Davis single. Following another single from Adam Jones, Kelly left the game due to “shoulder tightness and fatigue.” And that was it for the streak.

Craig Breslow came in to relieve Kelly. He actually did an admirable job, recording an out against 7 of the 8 batters he faced. On the other hand, the first out he recorded was a sacrifice fly that scored Davis from third base. And in tribute to his 1.65 HR/9 rate (the 7th worst in MLB), the only hit he gave up was a solo home run to Manny Machado to break a tie game.

But wait, how was it a tie game? Weren’t the Orioles up 4-1? They were, but the Red Sox stormed back in the top of the 5th in an effort to get Kelly off the hook. Betts singled to lead off the inning and Dustin Pedroia hit a ground rule double to deep right center field to put them both in scoring position. Then Xander Bogaerts singled to bring home Betts and Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly to bring Pedroia home.

With one out, Bogaerts stole second and, after Travis Shaw struck out, Pablo Sandoval poked the first pitch he saw (a pitch off the plate to the outside) over Pearce’s head in left field and off the wall. Bogaerts scored and Sandoval was called safe at second, but the call was overturned on replay because Pablo’s hand came off the bag.

After the 5th, neither team could get anything going. Heath Hembree and Noe Ramirez each pitched immaculately in relief to stretch out the game, and their efforts were rewarded with a game-tying Travis Shaw solo shot to start the 8th inning. 5-5.

Tommy Layne came in to face Davis in the bottom of the 8th and got him to fly out. He gave way to Alexi Ogando, who gave up an infield single in the 9th but was otherwise clean through 1.1 innings, thanks in part to this fantastic throw by Bogaerts.

Devin Marrero ran for Sandoval after he hit a two-out single in the 10th but got picked off first to end the frame. Not ideal for a pinch runner. Jean Machi threw 4 pitches in the bottom half to retire the side, but didn’t go any further. I have to think he was probably still fresh enough to pitch the 11th.

In any case, Jonathan Aro came in for the 11th inning and got three outs, only allowing a two-out walk by Matt Wieters. The Sox had their last real chance in the bottom half of the inning – Bogaerts doubled past Machado’s glove into left field and Buck Showalter elected to intentionally walk Ortiz, bringing up Travis Shaw. But Shaw only grounded out to second to end the frame.

Aro pitched a clean inning in the 12th, and Marrero reached on an infield single off pitcher Chaz Roe’s glove. But Rusney Castillo hit a harmless fly ball to right field and Ryan Hanigan grounded into a double play to bury that chance.

Aro looked wild to start the bottom of the 13th inning, and that was pretty much all she wrote. He walked Gerardo Parra on five pitches and gave up a single to Manny Machado that advanced Parra to third. Robbie Ross, Jr. had been warming up, and he came in to face Chris Davis, but the jam proved to be too much for him to escape.

6-5 Orioles, final.

Notes:

1. Junichi Tazawa was shut down for the season to give him some rest. Torey Lovullo paid him a heap of compliments and implied that Taz was overworked. Taz, on the other hand, only appears to be disappointed in himself. It’s been a bummer of a second half for him – here’s hoping he’s back to his old self in 2016.

2. In the last 7 games, Jackie Bradley, Jr. is 1-24 with 4 walks and 13 strikeouts. It seems to me that he’s been caught looking at a lot of strikes, especially on the outside part of the plate. There have been a lot of close pitches that have gone against him, but he might just need to take the bat off his shoulder and make as much contact as he can (that said, he’s not doing much when he’s swinging either).

The Red Sox, perhaps basking in the afterglow of David Ortiz’s 500th home run on Saturday, rested a few starters on Sunday afternoon: Devin Marrero got the start in place of Pablo Sandoval at 3rd base, Sandy León played catcher (giving both Ryan Hanigan and Blake Swihart a rest), and probably worst of all, Allen Craig DHed in place of Ortiz.

Also getting an extra day of rest were each of the Boston starting pitchers. Rich Hill, who’d been tearing it up earlier in 2015 with the Long Island Ducks, has been pitching for Pawtucket since early August after signing a minor league deal with the Red Sox. Don Orsillo mentioned that he’s shifted to an over-the-top delivery from a sidearm motion since his last major league stint. Whatever Hill changed, it’s working, because he was absolutely excellent today.

Put it this way: Rays’ starter Drew Smyly pitched very well. In fact, he was borderline dominant:

PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Smyly	6.0	4	0	0	2	11	0	3.14

His 11 strikeouts tied a career high. But Hill was better.

PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Hill	7.0	1	0	0	1	10	0	0.00

I should point out that Hill did hit 2 batters, and that’s not reflected in the box score. But still, this was absolute dominance. Mostly, as you can see below, because the Rays had no idea what to make of Hill’s curveball.

Unfortunately for Hill, the Red Sox offense couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities it had in regulation. There were Boston runners in scoring position in each of the first 3 innings, but Smyly escaped each time. Hill, on the other hand, only faced a threat in the bottom of the 3rd, when J.P. Arencibia hit an infield single to Xander Bogaerts and hit Mikie Mahtook to put Arencibia on second base. But he got Evan Longoria to pop out on a 2-0 count, and the inning ended.

The Red Sox got another chance in the 7th, after Smyly exited the game and was replaced by Steven Geltz. Craig, defying the gods, hit an infield single and Marrero moved Craig to second with a single of his own. If there were ever a time to pinch hit, it was now, with Sandy León (.177/.240/.198) coming to the plate with one out and two good offensive catchers on the bench. Instead, he struck out badly on a splitter in the dirt. Alex Colome replaced Geltz and struck out Jackie Bradley, Jr., who had a tough night at the plate (0-5 with 3 strikeouts).

Jean Machi pitched a clean 8th and faced the first batter of the 9th, Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera laid down a bunt that looked absolutely perfect until Devin Marrero made an unbelievable play to throw him out. At this point, Torey Lovullo, who’d had both Robbie Ross, Jr. and Tommy Layne warming up, decided that he’d rather have a righty come in to relieve Machi. So to give Noe Ramirez sufficient time to warm up, he walked out as slowly as possible and had a 90-second chat with his entire infield before home plate umpire Angel Hernandez walked out to the mound. Hernandez was in a good mood, laughing as he signaled to the Red Sox bullpen himself, tapping his right arm.

Both Boston and Tampa botched bunt attempts to move leadoff runners to second base in the 10th inning. In the 11th, Travis Shaw nearly turned enough on an outside pitch to send it out of the park, but it was just short and Steven Souza, Jr. made a great leaping catch. Craig struck out to end the inning with Rusney Castillo standing at second. The Red Sox made consecutive awkward catches to record outs in the bottom half of the inning, the last of which was this catch that Bradley lost in the lights and the first of which was this late attempt at a dive by Mookie Betts after some miscommunication:

Heath Hembree gave up a one-out double in the 12th, but intentionally walked pinch hitter John Jaso and induced a 6-4-3 double play to escape.

Through 12, the Red Sox had 10 hits and the Rays had 2. Something had to give. Either Boston was going to have squandered a good, if unlucky, offensive performance, or they’d keep it up and reap the rewards. Thankfully, it was the latter.

Finally, Pedroia, Bogaerts, and Shaw strung back-to-back-to-back singles together and loaded the bases with 1 out. And Rusney Castillo had the good sense to hit a clean single to left field, scoring both Pedroia, who hesitated in case it could be good, and Bogaerts, who appeared to be running on contact. With men on 1st and 2nd with 1 out, Craig was up and – well, let’s just say the inning ended.

Ross, after a lot of warming up, finally entered the game and got the save, his second of the season. He got a little help from Pedey, too.

Notes:

1. The Red Sox are now 7-3 in their last 10 games, making them the hottest team in the AL.

2. Allen Craig really probably does not belong in the bigs right now. I feel for him, but…I mean, .127/.227/.167 does not contribute.