Buehler’s best work wasted as Red Sox drop Phillies opener in bizarre loss

It s not how you start it s how you finish it And in the scenario of the Red Sox Monday night the evening began on the high note of Jarren Duran s leadoff home run and was all downhill from there Boston had chances all night long at least one baserunner in nine of innings but their clutch factor was M I A and in the bottom of the th it was the Phillies who triumphed albeit in one of the majority bizarre endings baseball has seen in a long time A walk-off on bases-loaded catcher s interference determined on a replay review Phillies win - According to Jayson Stark it s the first catcher s interference walk-off in all of Major League Baseball since at least That s the rule manager Alex Cora reported reporters What a waste of one of Walker Buehler s best starts of the season Trouble typically finds Buehler in the first or fourth inning this year opponents entered Monday hitting with a OPS and with a OPS respectively in the first and fourth and it was the episode Monday too The Phillies tied and took a - lead on three consecutive one-out hits off Buehler in the fourth Able to rebound from the damage Buehler exited on a high note He retired all but one of his last batters including the final seven in a row In total two runs one earned on six hits one walk and four strikeouts For the third time this year and first time since June Buehler completed seven innings By earned runs it was his stingiest showing since May and his fourth time yielding no more than one The stuff was really good lauded Cora That was a great outing against a good offensive club That was tremendous Buehler outlasted one of the National League s preponderance consistent starters of the last half-decade since the start of the season only Logan Webb has more outings of at least innings than Zack Wheeler In such starts Wheeler s strikeouts outpaced all NL arms by a margin of at minimum Initially it seemed as though the Red Sox would chase Wheeler from the match early when Duran took the Phillies ace deep to lead off the championship and Boston collected several hits But after that leadoff bang the Red Sox whimpered through the next four innings They tallied at least one hit in each of the first four frames but bailed Wheeler out of every jam they created and he was able to settle in The Red Sox extended the same courtesy to relievers Tanner Banks Orion Kerkering and old friend Matt Strahm Red Sox We had our chances we didn t cash in But shoot that guy he s one of the best if not the best in the big leagues Cora reported of Wheeler According to MLB s Sarah Langs it was his fifth start with at least strikeouts and no walks the highest single-season total by a Phillies pitcher in at least the last seasons In a high-stakes eighth inning Aroldis Chapman worked around Edmundo Sosa s pinch-hit leadoff single from the No spot The lineup turnover couldn t rattle the -year-old All-Star who got Trea Turner to line out and Kyle Schwarber to fly out both to Duran in left Sosa advanced to second on a wild pitch only to watch as Chapman blew Bryce Harper away with a mph sinker Garrett Whitlock dominated the ninth inning needed pitches for strikes to punch out the side In the th the Red Sox already - in extra-inning contests on the road this season failed to bring home the automatic runner Each wasted opportunity taunted Boston as Jordan Hicks loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning But as a large number of times as the Red Sox have lost this season this ending was unlike any other With the diamond full Sosa swung Upon review the crew chief publicized catcher s interference on Carlos Narv ez The rookie s mitt had made contact with Sosa s swing Sosa was awarded first base but it was a mere formality Match over No surgery for Houck Tanner Houck has been shut down indefinitely but doesn t need surgery at the present Alex Cora publicized Monday Houck s rehab assignment was due to expire last week but rather than activate or option the right-hander the Red Sox returned him to the injured list