BOSTON — Cleveland pitcher Zach Plesac threw the ball completely out of Fenway Park as the grounds crew began to roll the tarp onto the field, and the Boston Red Sox ended a five-game losing streak by beating the Guardians 3-1 Monday night.
With a light rain falling, Yolmer Sánchez hit an RBI single in the third inning to put Boston ahead 1-0. Plate umpire and crew chief Dan Iassogna then called for the tarp and Plesac, who was walking toward the third-base dugout, fired the ball over the third-base roof and out of the ballpark.
There were dark skies over Fenway when Iassogna was shown the weather radar by a member of the grounds crew. The rain quickly picked up, and very shortly after the tarp was completely in place, the skies opened up for about 15 minutes, making the conditions awful for any possibility of playing.
“Well, I mean, it wasn’t even raining,” Plesac said of his frustration. “It’s kind of like they’re anticipating it. I was ready to play until we couldn’t play. I don’t think we should stop the game if we’re capable of playing at the moment.”
“I was just frustrated we shut that down. I didn’t know if we’d be able to play or not coming out of the break. Luckily, it only lasted like 40 minutes or so,” he said.
The game was delayed 38 minutes and Plesac returned to pitch.
Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking double and Boston’s bullpen worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings. The Red Sox are just 6-15 in July and remain only a half-game ahead of last-place Baltimore in the AL East.
“We do understand that we could be a seller, you could be a buyer,” Verdugo said of the up-coming trade deadline. “It all depends. We know we have a good team, we have a good group of guys and we could go somewhere. We’re hoping we can just stick with what we’ve got and maybe get a couple of additions and make a postseason push.”
José Ramírez drove in Cleveland’s run with an infield hit. It was the third straight loss for the Guardians.
Wearing their “city connect” yellow-and-powder blue uniforms, the Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the sixth, chasing Plesac (2-8).
Verdugo doubled off the Green Monster and Rob Refsnyder raced home when the ball bounced over left fielder Steven Kwan back toward the infield as he fell to the ground trying to play the carom. Christian Vázquez added a bloop RBI single off reliever Trevor Stephan.
John Schreiber (3-1) got Myles Straw to ground out with two runners on to end the sixth before pitching the seventh. Garrett Whitlock got six outs for his second save.
“We played good defense. I think that was the difference,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said a day after said his team was playing “awful.”
Making his first start since July 15 because of the All-Star break, Plesac was charged with three runs in five-plus innings, allowing only three hits.
“It was kind of an odd night,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of Plesac’s start. “He didn’t give up too many hits.”
Boston starter Nick Pivetta gave up seven singles and one run over 5 2/3 innings.
MLB players’ union rejects international draft proposal
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball’s goal of an international amateur draft was thwarted again when the players’ association rejected management’s final offer on Monday and retained direct draft-pick compensation for free agents.
The quirky tie between the two provisions was established in the March 10 agreement that ended the 99-day lockout and preserved a 162-game season.
The sides gave themselves until July 25 to reach an agreement on an international draft, which MLB has sought since 2002, and specified the draft-pick provision would be dropped in the event of a deal.
There was little movement over the four months. The union made an offer during a Zoom meeting Saturday, and MLB presented what it termed its final proposal in an email Sunday.
Union officials forwarded that plan to the players’ executive board and said they planned to reject it.
Hearing no opposition, union deputy executive director Bruce Meyer telephoned deputy commissioner Dan Halem with the rejection at about 3:45 p.m. EDT Monday.
The decision, announced about eight hours before the deadline, was the final step needed to complete the collective bargaining agreement that expires on Dec. 1, 2016.
Retaining compensation is likely to limit the market for some older players set to become free agents, a group set to include Anthony Rizzo, J.D. Martinez, Chris Sale and Charlie Morton.