Padres rally against Aroldis Chapman in ninth as Red Sox lose

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Apr 4, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — Heading into the top of the ninth, Fernando Tatis Jr. was having a nightmarish day at the plate. The San Diego Padres superstar had struck out in each of his first four trips to the plate, and with two outs and the game tied he found himself down 1-2 in the count to Aroldis Chapman, one of the most overpowering pitchers in the sport.

But instead of a fifth strikeout and a chance for the Red Sox to walk it off or at least force extra innings, the Padres outfielder flipped the script.

Tatis lined a double to deep center over the head of Ceddanne Rafaela, who misread the ball and couldn’t recover quickly enough to make the play. That opened the door for Ramon Laureano to deliver the knockout blow in the form of an RBI single to left, ultimately handing the Red Sox a dispiriting 3-2 loss.

The Red Sox went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth against All-Star closer Mason Miller, who struck out Marcelo Mayer to end the game.

Since making his MLB debut last September, Connelly Early has been sensational. The left-hander came into the weekend with a 2.19 ERA through his first five regular-season starts, but the rookie ran into some real adversity on Saturday.

With 43 degree temperatures announced at first pitch and gusty winds throughout the game, Early had difficulty locating his pitches and was forced to grind through four laborious innings. He walked four batters, including three of the first six he faced, and ran up huge pitch counts in his first three innings.

Though he worked around his first two walks for a scoreless first, his third to lead off the second inning was costly. Freddy Fermin advanced to third on a Ty France single off the Green Monster, and he came in to score on a Bryce Johnson groundout that put the Padres up 1-0.

The Red Sox tied the game at 1-1 on Mayer’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second, but San Diego answered again in the third when Miguel Andujar hit a double and Fermin drove him in with an RBI double of his own. By the time he forced France to ground out to end the third, Early’s pitch count had ballooned to 80.

Early was able to finish strong, sending the Padres down 1-2-3 on eight pitches in the fourth, but that was as far as he went. Early finished with two runs allowed over four innings on three hits, four walks and four strikeouts, which according to the Red Sox tied Daisuke Matsuzaka for most strikeouts through six career games in franchise history (39).

Offensively the Red Sox continued to struggle with runners in scoring position. The club did not score in the fourth despite having three singles, and in the fifth the club squandered Roman Anthony’s two-out triple after Trevor Story grounded out to end the inning.

That was the first of seven consecutive batters the Padres retired from the fifth inning into the eighth.

Early was followed by fellow rookie Ryan Watson, who threw 1 1/3 shutout innings, Danny Coulombe retired both batters he faced, and Justin Slaten and Zack Kelly each tossed scoreless innings. Padres starter Randy Vasquez was excellent as well, allowing one run on six hits over six innings, and Jeremiah Estrada was perfect in the seventh as well.

The Red Sox finally broke through in the eighth against high-powered Padres lefty Adrian Morejon, one of the game’s best set-up men. After Rafaela broke up the club’s hitless streak with a leadoff single, Anthony moved him to third with a single of his own, giving the Red Sox runners at the corners with nobody out.

The club nearly squandered the opportunity again when Story struck out and Andruw Monasterio, who pinch hit for Jarren Duran to set up a righty-on-lefty matchup, grounded one back to the mound for what should have been an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play. But Jake Cronenworth couldn’t turn the play cleanly, allowing Rafaela to score from third and tying the game at 2-2.

The Red Sox appeared to have the momentum at that point until the Padres rallied against Chapman in the ninth. Now the club will look to salvage the series in Sunday’s finale.