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The Boston Red Sox Friday, May 3, 2019 * The Boston Globe Opportunities squandered as White Sox walk off Peter Abraham CHICAGO — The Red Sox had a one-run lead with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night. Their pitchers to that point had retired eight in a row. When Jose Rondon grounded to third base, it should have been another step toward the first four-game win streak of the season. “That’s a routine play,” manager Alex Cora said. But no play is routine for third baseman Rafael Devers. He overran the ball and the error led to the latest gut-punch loss for the Red Sox. Nicky DelMonico’s three-run homer off Brasier gave the White Sox a 6-4 walk-off victory. It was Delmonico’s first home run of the season. It came on a high slider from Brasier after Yonder Alonso singled to left field. “I made a bad pitch and he did what he was supposed to do with it,” Brasier said. Devers sat at his locker for several minutes after the game, still in his uniform pants. He finally trudged off to the shower after many of his teammates had already left the ballpark. Devers has nine errors, the second-most in the majors. The 22-year-old, who made a nice sliding play down the line to steal a hit away from Jose Abreu in the first inning, is wildly inconsistent. He has committed 33 errors over the last two seasons. Cora thought Devers was too out of control when he came charging in on Rondon’s ball. “Definitely a play I should have made,” Devers said. “Things happen. I went after the ball aggressively.” David Price worked six solid innings. Brandon Workman and Matt Barnes had perfect innings before Brasier came in. “We’ll take our chances with those guys every time,” Cora said. Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez were 8 of 13 with four runs scored and two RBIs at the top of the order. The rest of the Red Sox were 0 for 20, although Devers did drive in two runs. The Sox were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. That came back to bite them. On a 43-degree night, the teams combined for three runs on four hits in the first inning. The Sox loaded the bases against White Sox starter Lucas Giolito when Betts singled, Martinez singled and Xander Bogaerts drew a walk. Devers’ deep fly ball to left field scored Betts. Price allowed a two-run homer by James McCann in the bottom of the inning. The Sox took the lead back in the third inning. Benintendi homered to left field. Betts and Martinez then singled before two groundouts resulted in a run. Price walked Abreu with one out in the sixth inning before McCann doubled to the base of the fence in right center. Abreu got a poor jump off first base but third base coach Nick Capra sent him to the plate. The Red Sox executed the relay perfectly, Jackie Bradley Jr. hitting Bogaerts before Bogaerts threw a strike to the plate in time for Christian Vazquez to make the tag. Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez converts a perfectly-executed relay from Jackie Bradley Jr. to Xander Bogaerts to tag out Jose Abreu at home plate in the sixth inning. Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez converts a perfectly-executed relay from Jackie Bradley Jr. to Xander Bogaerts to tag out Jose Abreu at home plate in the sixth inning.(DAVID BANKS/GETTY IMAGES) When Yoan Moncada grounded to shortstop, Price should have been out of the inning. But Bogaerts had trouble getting a grip on the ball and his throw to first was late. McCann then scored the tying run when Rondon singled to center. Price allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He has a 2.63 ERA in his last four starts, 3.75 for the season. Workman pitched a perfect seventh inning. He has pitched seven consecutive scoreless and hitless innings. Opponents are 2 of 55 against the righthander this season. Barnes was the choice for the eighth inning with the 2-3-4 hitters coming up. He struck out Tim Anderson, Abreu and McCann on 14 pitches. Chris Sale starts for the Red Sox on Friday night. The Red Sox are winless in Sale’s six starts with the lefthander going 0-5 with a 6.30 earned run average. Sale was with the White Sox from 2010-16, making the All-Star team five times. He has faced Chicago one previous time at Guaranteed Rate Field, on May 30, 2017. Sale allowed five earned runs on 10 hits over six innings but was the winning pitcher in a 13-7 game. “You turn the page. Our goal is to win the series,” Cora said. For Red Sox, it was yet another step backward Chad Finn CHICAGO — If they’re going to get to where they intended to be, before a messy April ruined the supposedly best-laid plans of Fort Myers, the Red Sox must beat up on the dregs and mediocrities of the American League. Sure, the rivalry games with the Yankees will always be anticipated and tense, especially if the stakes are high. The Astros are loaded again, and no doubt vengeful for the way their season ended last October. And the Rays, the only 20-win team in the American League , don’t always get their due respect, but the hunch is that they’ll just keep proving worthy of it until they do. But it’s the games like Thursday night’s opener here at Guaranteed Rate Field that matter for the Red Sox, during this recent encouraging stretch that they’re trying to build into something sustained. And once again, it felt like one more long stride backward just when it appeared the Red Sox finally had some momentum forward. Nicky Delmonico’s walk-off three-run homer off Ryan Brasier gave the White Sox a 6-4 victory Thursday night. The Red Sox are back to four games under .500, at 14-18. I hate to keep playing this comparison game, but it tells a story: The Red Sox didn’t lose their 18th game last year until May 31. They had 39 wins. Because their post-championship bandwagon careened into a ditch with a 3-9 start and a 13-17 March/April, they must beat the teams like the White Sox, again and again, for those future games against marquee opponents to have the kind of stakes Red Sox fans both desire and expect. Instead, here they are taking more lumps against right-where-they-should-be 14-15 Chicago, at Non- Descript Ballpark That Should Still Be Called Comiskey, in front of a crowd that looked not much larger than what you’d see in Portland, Maine, when Dustin Pedroia is rehabbing with the Sea Dogs. But these are the ones they’ve got to have. All they got Thursday was more frustration. So much for progress. The Red Sox entered the first game of a seven-game road trip that includes four against the White Sox and three at Camden Yards against the Orioles on a three-game winning streak. That may sound modest, but it was tied with a sweep of the Rays for their longest of the season. The Sox entered 12-9 in their last 21 games, including 8-4 in their last 12 and 5-2 in their last seven. They seem to be getting this thing right, and if it’s true, all of those optimistic parallels to last year’s Dodgers (who were 12-17 on May 2 and ended up in the World Series) might have some merit. The 2018 Red Sox throttled everything in their way en route to 119 wins and a parade, but they were especially cruel to the non-contenders. They went a combined 31-7 against the Orioles and Blue Jays last year. (Surprisingly, they won just 3 of 7 against the White Sox.) One of the stinging early frustrations was, after the brutal season-opening road trip, their 3-3 record in the first homestand of the season against the Jays and Orioles . They’d have won those series last year. There were few style points to be had in this one, but the victory was in reach. They took a 1-0 lead in the first when Rafael Devers’s sacrifice fly off White Sox starter Lucas Giolito scored Mookie Betts. White Sox cleanup hitter James McCann took Price deep for a two-run homer in the bottom half, but the Red Sox tied it in the top of the third on Andrew Benintendi’s third homer of the season, then took the lead in the same inning on Devers’s RBI groundout. Jose Rondon’s RBI single brought the White Sox even again at 3-3 in the sixth, but J.D. Martinez’s RBI groundout put the Red Sox back on top in the top of the seventh. Matt Barnes did his relief ace thing in the eighth, striking out Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu, and McCann. Brasier started the ninth well, striking out Yoan Moncada. But a Devers error (“It was a routine play,’’ manager Alex Cora said afterward) and a sharp opposite-field single by Yonder Alonso set the stage for Delmonico’s unlikely heroics — the homer was his first of the season.