BOSTON — It took most of a rainy night at Fenway Park for the Red Sox to find their offense. It took one wild inning by reliever Brooks Kriske for the Yankees to squander an opportunity to gain valuable ground on their longtime rivals.
Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run double that tied the game with two outs in the ninth inning, and Boston took advantage of a record four wild pitches by Kriske in the 10th to rally past New York 5-4 on Thursday.
Kriske (1-1) allowed Boston’s final two runs for a blown save, becoming the first major leaguer to throw four wild pitches in a single extra inning, according to STATS. His four wild pitches are tied for the most in any inning and for the most in a game by any pitcher this season.
All of them came on splitters that bounced.
“It was just pure execution,” said Kriske, optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the loss. “It’s part of the game. I’ve got to do a better job.”
New York took a 4-3 lead in the 10th on a sacrifice fly by Brett Gardner that scored Tyler Wade. But Boston quickly tied it in the bottom half thanks in large part to Kriske’s quartet of wild pitches. His first one moved automatic runner Rafael Devers to third base, and a second pitch in the dirt allowed him to score.
After Xander Bogaerts walked, Kriske’s control issues continued. Two more wild pitches got Bogaerts to third, setting up Hunter Renfroe‘s game-ending sacrifice fly to right.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.