It looked at first like it was going to be a long day for Jake Bennett.
The rookie left-hander already surpassed his career-high in innings pitched as a professional, and in order to help manage his workload, the Red Sox opted to push Bennett’s next start back so that when he took the mound Sunday he’d be doing so on eight days rest.
The early returns weren’t good, but before long Bennett locked back in and gave his offense a chance to make their move.
Bennett shook off a rough first two innings and finished brilliantly in Sunday’s 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants, allowing three earned runs in seven innings to help complete the three-game home sweep. The offense also rallied from three runs down, scoring five unanswered including three in the fourth to take the lead for good.
“That was really really good to see him make some adjustments after the first couple of innings because there was even some loud outs in the first couple,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “But once he got settled he looked like the Jake Bennett we’ve seen most of the year.”
The Giants initially teed off on Bennett, scoring twice in the top of the first after Rafael Devers walked and his teammates ripped off three consecutive singles. Bryce Eldridge and Victor Bericoto had RBI knocks, and San Francisco extended its lead to 3-0 in the second when Jonah Cox hit a leadoff solo home run to the Green Monster.
It could have been worse if not for a couple of excellent first-inning catches by Eli White and especially Ceddanne Rafaela, who made a diving grab in center field to end the inning despite awkwardly landing on his wrist. Rafaela remained in the game and finished 3 for 4 afterward.
“If they don’t make those plays it could have snowballed away pretty quickly,” Bennett said.
But from there Bennett retired 18 of the last 21 batters he faced, and the only additional damage he incurred was an unearned run in the seventh stemming from a comical sequence where Christian Koss singled, advanced to third on a throwing error by Andruw Monasterio and scored for a Little League home run when Wilyer Abreu’s throw to third sailed into the camera well.
Bennett finished with four runs (three earned) over seven innings on seven hits, one walk and six strikeouts. He needed just 84 pitches to get through seven innings, sending the Giants down on 10 pitches or fewer in each frame from the second through the sixth.
“I felt I was able to get the heater up, the four-seam up, mixed in some sinkers maybe a bit more than the last few outings. I thought the changeup was good, mixed in some sweepers as well and got some chase on that,” Bennett said. “So yeah, definitely felt more like myself.”
Boston Red Sox’s Wilyer Abreu, left, Jarren Duran. middle and Ceddanne Rafaela celebrate the win over the San Francisco Giants at Fenway Park. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
While Bennett was dealing, the bats went to work.
Nick Sogard answered Cox’s second-inning leadoff homer with a leadoff shot of his own, his second of the season, and Boston scored again in the third after Jahmai Jones tripled and came in to score on Rafaela’s RBI single.
The Giants nearly got out of the fourth inning unscathed despite a leadoff double by Sogard when Connor Wong hit a sky high fly ball that Bericoto appeared to catch right up against the Green Monster wall. But the ball made an unmistakable banging noise that seemed to suggest it may have grazed the wall before bouncing into the glove, and upon review the catch was waved off and Wong was awarded the game-tying RBI double.
“You could hear it but you don’t really know, did it hit the tin through the webbing?” Tracy said. “But you heard it enough that the sound tells you, ‘Hey give it a look.’”
Wong said he got nervous as the replay review dragged on, but he grew more confident the more he watched the replay on the big screen.
“I felt like you could see a mark on the wall where the ball hit and before the ball hit it wasn’t there and after it was there,” Wong said. “So I felt good about that and was glad it got overturned.”
From there Mickey Gasper followed with a go-ahead RBI double of his own, and Rafaela tacked on an RBI single to give him three hits before the end of the fourth inning.
Giants left-hander Matt Wilkinson, who made his second career MLB start, was pulled with two outs following the Wong double and charged with four runs over 3 2/3 innings on seven hits and two strikeouts.
While Koss’s trip around the bases made things closer than it needed to be, the Giants never seriously threatened to complete the comeback. Tyron Guerrero threw a scoreless eighth aided by an inning-ending double play, and Aroldis Chapman sent the Giants down 1-2-3 in the ninth for his 29th save.
Beyond completing the three-game sweep, the Red Sox finished their six-game homestand 5-1 and are now 71-59 on the season overall.
Boston will now hit the road for a three-game series against the Miami Marlins that will begin Monday, and after Thursday’s off day they’ll fly up to the Bronx for four games against the Yankees, who also won Sunday to remain three games up on the Red Sox in the AL East and AL Wild Card standings.
Ranger Suarez (5-3, 3.41) will face off against 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara (13-8, 3.46) in Monday’s opener. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m.
Anthony to WooSox
Following the game Tracy said all three of the club’s rehabbing players came out of their Sunday games feeling well and that all will get reassessed Monday over the minor league off day. Yet while Trevor Story and Isiah Kiner-Falefa could potentially be activated as soon as Tuesday, Roman Anthony will definitely play at least one more minor league game in Worcester.
“Roman will continue in Worcester next week, we know that for sure,” Tracy said postgame. “So we’ll see how everybody feels coming in tomorrow after playing a good bit this weekend and we’ll go from there.”