If there was an opening for the role of closer for the Rockies, Pierce Johnson might’ve just snatched it right back.
Facing a potentially disastrous collapse in the 10th inning of a back-and-forth affair at Fenway Park, the right-hander entered a one-run game with the tying run on first base and promptly recorded back-to-back outs to deliver a 7-6 Rockies victory Tuesday night.
It was the Rockies’ third straight win on the heels of a six-game losing skid, and second straight extra-inning victory in the franchise’s first visit to Boston in four years.
Colorado took a three-run lead in the top of the tenth off Randal Grichuk’s two-run double and Jurickson Profar’s sacrifice fly. But the Red Sox immediately got two back when Rafael Devers took right-hander Matt Carasiti deep with a 410-foot two-run blast in the bottom half — his second of the game.
After recording an out, Carasiti walked Jarren Duran.
That’s when Black turned to Johnson, who’d been removed from the closer role just last week after blowing a pair of save opportunities in early June. Given another chance, the right-hander earned his 12th save of the season, first getting Christian Arroyo to fly out to center, then striking out Reese McGuire on a 2-2 curveball.
Former Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard (3-0) recorded the win against his old club after tossing a scoreless ninth inning with one strikeout to send it to extras.
Elias DÃaz hit a three-run double in the third and Brenton Doyle added an RBI double in the fourth as Colorado built a 4-0 lead against Boston starter Kutter Crawford.
The Rockies had six extra-base hits total, including a double and a triple from Diaz, who now has 33 RBIs on the season. Grichuk, Doyle and Nolan Jones each had one double, while Ryan McMahon hit a triple.
The Red Sox began chipping away in the fourth inning against Colorado starter Chase Anderson, with Devers hitting a 311-foot two-run homer down the right field line. Anderson got into trouble the next inning by giving up back-to-back singles, then hitting Masataka Yoshida with a pitch.
Black pulled Anderson, who struck out six over 4 1/3 innings and gave up five hits, for Jake Bird. The right-hander was immediately touched for an RBI single by Justin Turner that could have been worse if not for Doyle’s laser beam throw from center field getting Alex Verdugo at the plate. The Red Sox tied it an inning later on Arroyo’s sac fly, setting the table for the extra-inning dramatics.
Boston, extended to extra innings in three straight games for the first time since June 25-28, 2000, went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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