Fastball

Boston Red Sox Do Something They Haven't Done in More Than 20 Years with Loss Saturday

The Boston Red Sox lost to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon, 4-3. This marks the first time in more than 20 years that the Red Sox have blown consecutive games they led in the ninth inning.

Brady Farkas

Boston Red Sox Do Something They Haven't Done in More Than 20 Years with Loss Saturday
Boston Red Sox Do Something They Haven't Done in More Than 20 Years with Loss Saturday /
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The Boston Red Sox were on the wrong side of team history on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.

One day after blowing a ninth inning lead to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Sox imploded again, turning a 3-1 ninth inning lead into a 4-3 loss.

From the ESPN Stats & Info Twitter account:

This is the first time the Red Sox have lost back-to-back games after leading in the 9th inning since June 27-28, 2000 (both vs the Orioles)

It was also the second straight night that closer Kenley Jansen imploded. The closer recorded his historic 400th save on Wednesday in Atlanta and then gave up three runs without getting an out on Friday, and gave up three more runs in the ninth inning today.

After hitting 99 mph in the Wednesday save, Jansen's velocity and control have eluded him in the last two appearances. He walked the leadoff man in each of the last two games.

If the Red Sox are to be in a save position on Sunday against the Cardinals, you'd have to imagine that Alex Cora will turn elsewhere, to give Jansen both a physical and mental break.

With the loss, the Red Sox are now 22-18. They've fallen back into last place in the highly competitive American League East. They are 7.5 games out of first place, but are 0.5 games back of the Yankees for fourth, 1.5 back of the Blue Jays for third and 4.5 back of Baltimore for second.

The Sox and Cardinals will finish out the series on Sunday at 7:10 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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