HEADLINE

Holt plays hero as Red Sox top Royals in suspended game

Field Level Media

August 22, 2019 at 5:35 pm.

Brock Holt hit a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning to lead the host Boston Red Sox past the Kansas City Royals 5-4 in the completion of a suspended game on Thursday afternoon.

Holt’s liner down the left-field line drove in pinch runner Chris Owings and brought an end to a contest that originally began Aug. 7. The score was tied at 4 in the top of the 10th when heavy rains forced a delay of 1 hour and 49 minutes that ultimately led to the decision to call for a suspension.

The resumption, scheduled for Thursday – a mutual off day for both clubs – lasted all of 12 minutes before Holt’s game-winning hit. The Royals had flown in from playing in Baltimore on Wednesday.

When things kicked off Thursday, the Royals pinch-hit Nick Dini for Meibrys Viloria, who had worked a 2-1 count against Red Sox reliever Josh Taylor before the original game was halted. Dini inherited that 2-1 count, and Taylor (1-1) picked up where he left off and got a first-pitch lineout to first.

After Ryan O’Hearn struck out, Bubba Starling pinch-hit for Billy Hamilton, who is no longer on the Royals after being claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves on Monday. Starling grounded out.

Andrew Benintendi began the bottom of the 10th with a strikeout against Richard Lovelady (0-2). Christian Vazquez followed with a double, and after pinch hitter Sam Travis was intentionally walked, Holt singled home Owings, who pinch-ran for Vazquez.

The unorthodox affair marked the first time the Red Sox have resumed a suspended game later than a day after since 1968.

Prior to the game’s suspension, the Red Sox had taken a 4-2 lead on a two-run double from Xander Bogaerts in the bottom of the fifth. The Royals scored single runs in the sixth and seventh to knot the score.

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