ASTROS OVERCOME 6-RUN DEFICIT IN 8^TH, TOP BOSOX

Red Sox Amass 16 Hits in Losing Cause

BOSTON, Aug. 16 (AP) – Just two days after the Miami Marlins erased a six-run sixth inning deficit in a 7-6 win over Arizona, the Houston Astros did them two innings better. The Astros overcame an 8-2 eighth inning margin with five runs in the eighth inning and two more in the ninth to beat the Boston Red Sox 9-8 at Fenway Park. The Red Sox entered the game having scored just 22 runs in 13 previous August contests and finally had a big game with the bats, only to lose their fourth straight, falling to 2-12 this month.

The teams exchanged single runs in the first two innings. Jose Altuve doubled with one out in the opening frame, advanced to third on a grounder to second and scored when Red Sox starter Ruby de la Rosa committed a balk. Boston drew even in the bottom half of the inning when Brock Holt led off with a double and scored two outs later on Yoenis Cespedes’ base hit. Marisnick’s lead-off homer in the top of the second regained the lead for Houston, but the Red Sox tied the game back up in the bottom half when Holt singled home Xander Bogaerts.

In the bottom of the fourth, Boston appeared to seize control of the game, erupting for six runs. All of the damage came with two outs. Jackie Bradley, Jr. drew a one-out walk from Astros starter Brad Peacock and, after Christian Vazquez fanned for the second out, Holt doubled Bradley to third. Dustin Pedroia gave the Red Sox a 4-2 lead with a base hit to center and David Ortiz drew a free pass, putting runners on first and second. Cespedes reached on an infield hit, loading the bases, and that led Houston manager Bo Porter to call on Jake Buchanan to avoid further damage. It didn’t work. Mike Napoli greeted Buchanan with a base hit to left, advancing everyone 90 feet and Daniel Nave then roped a double to right-center, clearing the bases. Boston held an 8-2 advantage after four innings.

No one scored again until the top of the eighth when the game turned around completely. In an attempt to save the bullpen, de la Rosa was still on the mound, but he walked Altuve and Chris Carter to open the inning. Dexter Fowler followed with a base hit to right, scoring Altuve to make the score 8-3 and advancing Carter to third. Tom Layne replaced de la Rosa and fanned Jason Castro for the first out but then walked Jon Singleton to fill the bases. Koji Uehara replaced Layne and promptly yielded a double to Marisnick, scoring Carter and Fowler, with Singleton advancing to third. Marwin Gonzalez followed with a double to right-center, scoring both baserunners and narrowing Boston’s lead to 8-7. Uehara retired Gregorio Petit and Robbie Grossman to end the inning.

Mike Foltynewicz inherited a first and third, one out situation in the bottom of the eighth from Kevin Chapman but miraculously pitched out of it, retiring Cespedes on an infield pop fly and striking out Napoli, to keep Houston within a run.

Uehara remained on the mound for the top of the ninth and yielded a lead-off single to Altuve. Carter filed to left, but Uehara walked Fowler on four pitches to put the potential go-ahead run on base and move the tying run into scoring position. Red Sox manager John Farrell had seen enough and called on left-hander Craig Breslow to face Castro, but Porter countered with righty swinging Matt Dominguez who came through with a base hit to right on the first pitch he saw, scoring Altuve to tie the game, with Fowler advancing to third. Singleton then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Fowler to give the Astros a 9-8 lead.

Chad Qualls took over for Houston in the bottom of the ninth, worked ahead of all three batters he faced, and set them down in order, the last two on strikes, to close out the game.

8/16/2014, Hou14-Bos14, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP

2014 Astros 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 9 13 1 8 2

2014 Red Sox 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 8 16 0 9 0

Astros AB R H BI AVG Red Sox AB R H BI AVG

Grossman lf 5 0 0 0 .264 Holt,B 3b 5 2 4 1 .272

Altuve 2b 4 3 2 0 .367 Pedroia 2b 4 1 2 2 .272

Carter dh 4 1 0 0 .247 Ortiz dh 4 1 2 0 .233

Fowler cf 4 2 2 1 .272 Brown,C pr 0 0 0 0 .000

Castro,J c 4 0 1 0 .203 Cespedes lf 5 1 2 1 .245

Dominguez,M ph 1 0 1 1 .221 Napoli 1b 5 1 2 1 .260

Corporan c 0 0 0 0 .238 Nava rf 4 0 1 3 .234

Singleton 1b 3 1 1 1 .160 Bogaerts ss 5 1 1 0 .258

Marisnick rf 5 2 3 3 .295 Bradley cf 4 1 1 0 .206

Gonzalez,Ma ss 5 0 2 2 .273 Vazquez c 4 0 1 0 .292

Petit,G 3b 4 0 1 0 .350 40 8 16 8

39 9 13 8

Astros INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

Peacock 3.2 9 7 7 3 5 83 48 5.36

Buchanan,J 2.1 4 1 1 0 1 30 20 3.77

Chapman,K 1.1 3 0 0 0 0 29 17 4.82

Foltynewicz W 1-0 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 6 4 6.10

Qualls S 17 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 13 10 4.04

9.0 16 8 8 3 9 161 99

Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

De La Rosa,R 7.0 8 5 5 2 6 113 70 5.40

Layne 0.1 0 1 1 1 1 10 4 2.45

Uehara H 1, L 0-2 1.0 3 3 3 1 1 25 15 1.79

Breslow BS 3 0.2 2 0 0 0 0 10 8 5.59

9.0 13 9 9 4 8 158 97

Hou: Dominguez,M batted for Castro,J in the 9th

Corporan inserted at c in the 9th

Bos: Brown,C ran for Ortiz in the 8th

E-Marisnick. 2B-Altuve(33), Marisnick(7), Gonzalez,Ma 2(12), Petit,G(6),

Holt,B 3(17), Ortiz(21), Nava(10). HR-Marisnick(2). RBI-Fowler(52),

Singleton(26), Marisnick 3(10), Gonzalez,Ma 2(22), Dominguez,M(51),

Holt,B(22), Pedroia 2(47), Cespedes(55), Napoli(54), Nava 3(19). CS-Nava.

K-Grossman, Carter, Fowler, Castro,J, Marisnick 2, Petit,G 2, Cespedes,

Napoli 2, Nava, Bogaerts 2, Bradley 2, Vazquez. BB-Altuve, Carter, Fowler,

Singleton, Pedroia, Ortiz, Bradley. SF-Singleton. HBP-Nava. HB-Peacock.

BALK-De La Rosa,R.

GWRBI: Singleton

Temperature: 68, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 2 MPH.

Attendance: 36,877

Game Time: 3:26