BOSTON – Once again, the Red Sox tried to turn their Fenway Fizzle into sizzle with a late-inning comeback.
And for the third straight game, they fell short in that quest.
The stunning hometown blues continued for the Red Sox with a 7-6 defeat to the Braves on Tuesday night, dropping their Fenway record to 8-17, which includes 0-4 on this six-game homestand. Boston is the only team in the Majors yet to reach double-digit victories at home.
It was a night that started with promise. Not only was the game-time temperature 82 degrees, breaking a string of dreary weather for Sox home games, but Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela got things off to a flying start, belting back-to-back homers against Spencer Strider to open the bottom of the first.
Duran turned on a 96-mph fastball and hammered it a Statcast-projected 412 feet to right field for the 10th leadoff homer of his career, tying Jacoby Ellsbury for second on Boston’s all-time list. Mookie Betts is first with 20.
Rafaela got on a slider from Strider and put it into the Monster seats, giving the Sox back-to-back jacks for just the second time this season.
Ranger Suarez made that 2-0 lead stand until the top of the fifth when he got himself in trouble with a two-out walk to Mauricio Dubón that preceded a game-tying, two-run shot to right by Matt Olson.
The Braves tacked on three more in the sixth, all of them charged to Suarez.
But just like on Saturday and Sunday, the Sox threatened a comeback that could turn their momentum.
In the bottom of the sixth, there was definitely a chance to do so, as the club loaded the bases with nobody out. However, the only run that scored in that promising frame was a double-play grounder off the bat of Mickey Gasper.
There was more hope in the seventh when Isiah Kiner-Falefa launched his first homer with the Red Sox, lifting it over the Green Monster. It was Kiner-Falefa who came just short of what would have been a walk-off homer on Sunday, only to have it sink to a double in the steady rain on a play that Connor Wong was thrown out at the plate in search of the tying run.
That’s just how it has gone for the Sox in their home park: Bursts of hope that ultimately fall short.