Red Sox fall to Braves after bullpen allows five runs in sixth-inning meltdown

BOSTON — Thursday was shaping up to be a competitive afternoon of baseball at Fenway Park, with the Red Sox and Atlanta Braves tied at 2-2 heading into the sixth inning.

Then Boston went to the bullpen, and things immediately went down the tubes.

Danny Coulombe and Greg Weissert combined to allow five runs in a colossal sixth-inning meltdown, turning what had been a tight game into a blowout that the Braves went on to win 10-2.

The Red Sox walked three straight batters in the inning, including Mike Yastrzemski to score the go-ahead run, before Ronald Acuña Jr. delivered the dagger with a grand slam to the Green Monster seats.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 23-32 on the season and 9-19 at Fenway Park, and Boston is now 5-12-1 in season series overall.

Back at Fenway Park for the second time since he was traded to Atlanta, Chris Sale entered Thursday’s game with a pristine 1.89 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 62 innings through his first 10 starts. The former Red Sox ace has emerged as an early contender for his second National League Cy Young Award in three years, but the big left-hander didn’t have his best stuff as Boston ran his pitch count up early.

The Red Sox didn’t cash in right away, even though they got men into scoring position against Sale in each of the first four innings. Sale got out of the first three jams, however, and in the top of the fourth the Braves scored twice off Red Sox rookie Payton Tolle.

Atlanta had four hits in that inning, including a liner off the bat of Jorge Mateo that hit Tolle and scored the game’s first run and then an RBI single by Dominic Smith. Tolle was unharmed by the comebacker, immediately giving a thumbs up to the dugout, and he escaped the jam by striking out Sandy Leon to leave runners on second and third.

The Red Sox responded by once again putting traffic on base against Sale and this time they capitalized. Isiah Kiner-Falefa drew a leadoff walk and scored when Caleb Durbin lined a double down the left-field line. Durbin reached third on the throw home and came in to tie the game at 2-2 on Jarren Duran’s subsequent RBI single.

Tolle recorded two more outs in the fifth before coming out with his pitch count at 94. The left-hander finished with two runs allowed over 4 2/3 innings on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts, and while he threw plenty of strikes, Tolle was victimized by several long innings in which the Braves fouled off a lot of pitches to work long at-bats.

Tolle threw 27 pitches in the third, 28 in the fourth and 21 in the fifth, and over those three innings there were four at-bats where a Braves hitter fouled off three or more pitches.

“Just some really long at-bats,” Tolle said. “Couldn’t seem to have put away guys within four pitches really.”

Sale didn’t go much deeper, finishing his outing with a scoreless fifth to give him two runs allowed over five innings with six hits, three walks, a hit batsman and eight strikeouts.

“You don’t go into a game against Sale thinking we’re going to score nine,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “I think if you said before the game we’d get Sale out of there after five and it’s 2-2 you’d be feeling pretty good about that, and obviously it got away from us in the sixth on.”

Facing a pocket of left-handed hitters toward the bottom of the lineup, Coulombe couldn’t find the plate and allowed a single and two walks to load the bases with nobody out. That prompted Tracy to summon Weissert, who has been shaky coming on with men on base this season.

But Thursday marked a new low for the embattled reliever, who walked pinch-hitter Yastrzemski to score the go-ahead run and then allowed a grand slam to Acuña to turn what had been a tightly contested game into a 7-2 laugher.

No one was laughing at Fenway Park, however, with loud boos raining down when Acuña crossed the plate and even louder boos following after the inning eventually ended. The Braves tacked on a solo home run by Michael Harris II in the seventh and a two-run shot by Ozzie Albies in the ninth to wrap up the scoring.

Tracy said postgame that as bad as the outcome was, Weissert was put in an almost impossible spot and when you have the bases loaded with no outs against a team like the Braves you’re almost assuming at least one run is going to score.

That calculus was a big part of why he opted against using Justin Slaten, thinking that even if he were to record two quick outs, two runs might score and now one of your top leverage relievers might not be available the next day.

“What (Weissert) came into today is not, that is not easy,” Tracy said. “It’s the same thing whether it’s Slate or Weis, you’re coming in knowing that our infield is in and any batted ball that’s not right at somebody is likely runs, that’s not easy, I know Acuña hits a home run but you can pick any number of persons to come out of the bullpen in that spot you’re almost banking that runs are going to score. You’re just trying to have them score as few as possible to keep you in the game.”

Weissert said as difficult as the spot was, he still needs to be better.

“It’s obviously a tough situation but the goal is to throw strikes, get ahead and let what’s going to be going to be,” Weissert said. “So it’s a tough situation but it’s why we’re here, it’s why we’re in the bullpen and it’s the situation you want to go into.”

Even setting Thursday’s circumstances aside, Weissert has been called upon more than any other reliever on the team to help pitch the club out of jams, and the results haven’t been pretty. Weissert has now allowed 12 of 21 (57.1%) inherited runners to score this season, which is tied for the most inherited runners scored in MLB and is the worst percentage of any reliever who has come on with at least 20 inherited runners.

Yet with right-hander Garrett Whitlock placed on the 15-day injured list prior to first pitch, Tracy only has so many alternatives available to serve as fireman outside of closer Aroldis Chapman and Slaten.

“You only have so many righties down there if Whit’s not there, and you have to find the right lanes for people regardless of the situation,” Tracy said.

It won’t get any easier for the Red Sox, who are set to hit the road for a weekend road trip to face the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians. First pitch Friday at Progressive Field is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

Samaniego to open

Following Thursday’s game the Red Sox announced that rookie left-hander Tyler Samaniego will start Friday’s series opener against the Cleveland Guardians as an opener. Samaniego is expected to be followed by Brayan Bello, who will pitch the bulk of the game in relief for the fourth time this season.