Red Sox Wrap: Boston Falls To Braves In 11 Innings In Opener Of Final Series

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The Red Sox put up a valiant effort, but the Braves were just too much.

Atlanta defeated Boston 8-7 in 11 innings at Truist Park in the last series of the 2020 regular season.

Chris Mazza’s final outing was strong, giving up one earned on four hits across five innings while racking up six strikeouts.

But it wasn’t enough, as Freddie Freeman walked it off with a two-run homer in the 11th.

With the loss, the Red Sox fell to 22-36, while the Braves moved to 35-23 with the win.

Here’s how it all went down:

GAME IN A WORD
Welp.

The game was back and forth, but Atlanta eventually prevailed.

ON THE BUMP
— It didn’t take long for the Braves to score on Mazza.

Ronald Acuña Jr. hit an absolute rocket out of the park in the first to make it 1-0. The round-tripper traveled 495 feet, making some history in the process.

Mazza bounced back with a 1-2-3 second and third, compiling four strikeouts. The pitcher’s night was done after five innings and one earned run with six total K’s.

— Darwinzon Hernandez took over in the sixth and worked around a walk and hit batsman.

— The seventh belonged to Ryan Weber and he struggled a bit after getting the first out.

Weber hit two batters and surrendered a single to load up the bags, but he was able to get out of the inning unscathed with Boston’s lead still in tact.

— Ryan Brasier took the mound for the eighth and got into a bit of trouble with the bases loaded and one out.

Despite getting out No. 2, Marcell Ozuna ripped a single to center to give the Braves a 3-2 lead.

An error made it a 4-2 game before the inning came to a close.

— Matt Barnes tossed a scoreless ninth despite giving up back-to-back walks with two outs.

— Jeffrey Springs had the 10th and a leadoff single from Ozzie Albies brought Acuña around from second to make it 6-5.

Atlanta tied it at 6-6 on a Dansby Swanson double before Springs got out of the inning.

Springs returned and surrendered the walk-off home run to Freeman.

IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Boston got its first hit in the fifth with a game-tying home run from Jackie Bradley Jr.

— The Red Sox took their first lead of the game in the seventh after three one-out walks loaded the bases for Rafael Devers.

The third baseman grounded out, but was able to drive in a run to make it 2-1.

— Things got interesting in the ninth when the Sox loaded the bases with one out.

A bad throw on what should have been an inning-ending ground ball by Rafael Devers turned into two runs scoring to make it 4-4.

— The Red Sox took back the lead in the 10th.

Plawecki singled to drive Alex Verdugo in from second for the 5-4 lead.

Dalbec followed that up with a single of his own to add some insurance and make it a 6-4 game.

— Boston once again took the lead on a Verdugo sacrifice bunt to score Devers for the 7-6 edge.

But the Sox couldn’t hold on to the lead.

— Kevin Plawecki led the way with three hits. J.D Martinez, Bradley and Bobby Dalbec each had one.

TWEET OF THE GAME
We hope the home run cart still is a thing come 2021.

UP NEXT
The Red Sox continue their series with the Braves on Saturday night. First pitch from Truist Park is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.

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