Heading into the bottom half of the eighth inning the Braves held a 3-1 lead with Atlanta SP Mike Minor in position for his third win of the season. Brock Holt led off the inning with a bloop single into left field where Braves LF Justin Upton was waiting to field the ball, only to look away and misplay the ball allowing it to get behind him and allowing Holt to move to second. Xander Bogaerts followed up with an RBI single to pull the Red Sox to within a run and Dustin Pedroia safely reached on a slow roller up the middle.
A third consecutive single by Sox DH A.J. Pierzynski (Ortiz was scratched before the game with Calf Soreness) got by CF B.J. Upton and the score was knotted up at 3-3 entering the ninth.
Who else but Koji Uehara came in for the Sox ninth inning and shut down the Braves offense allowing one hit and striking out one in collecting his first win of the season.
In the bottom of the ninth it was another Atlanta error that proved to be the game winner for the Red Sox. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Holt recorded back to back walks off of Braves closer Craig Kimbrel to start off the Sox half of the ninth. Bogaerts hit a hard grounder to Braves 3B Chris Johnson who made the throw to 2B Tommy La Stella who couldn't make the catch and the ball rolled away from him. Bradley smartly took off for home and scored the game winning run in walk off fashion as the Sox completed a four game sweep of the Braves, after coming off a 10 game losing streak before.
 |
| Xander Bogaerts (2) congratulated by teammates in the dugout (ESPN) |
The win puts the Red Sox record at 24-29 for the season as they look toward their upcoming series with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Sox go right back to work Friday, May 30 at 7:10PM as they send RHP Brandon Workman (0-0) to the mound for his second start against Tampa ace David Price (4-4).
Workman went five innings allowing three ER on five hits in his last outing in Tampa Bay picking up the no decision as the Sox fell late to the Rays 8-5.
