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The Boston Red Sox Monday, May 17, 2021 * The Boston Globe Shohei Ohtani’s two-run homer lifts Angels over Red Sox in series finale Julian McWilliams Matt Barnes has been virtually unhittable all year. Barnes came into Sunday’s contest against the Los Angeles Angels with a 1.89 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 19 innings. In converting all nine of his save opportunities, he’d held opponents to just one hit (1 for 29, .034), never mind a run. Yet with two outs in the ninth and the Sox leading by one, the Angels’ heavy hitters put a pause to Barnes’s run. Mike Trout reached first, on a bloop single to right, which kept the inning alive. Then Shohei Ohtani delivered a go-ahead homer to right that stayed fair just inside the Pesky Pole and ultimately denied the Red Sox a series sweep, 6-5, at Fenway. “I threw a fastball in to Ohtani he was ready for,” Barnes said. “I was trying to throw a fastball up and just kind of pulled it in. “I personally think he’s the most physically gifted baseball player I’ve ever seen,” Barnes continued. “He’s a special player. He’s incredibly talented. Hopefully he stays healthy and has a long career.” The context of how Barnes and the Sox got to that point is important. Manager Alex Cora said that he didn’t think reliever Adam Ottavino was sharp in the eighth inning. With one out, Jared Walsh singled and Taylor Ward walked. José Iglesias lined out to Hunter Renfroe in deep right field for the second out, but Walsh tagged up and went to third. Cora had seen enough. He decided to go to his most reliable bullpen arm, and Barnes struck out Phil Gosselin, protecting the one-run lead. In the ninth, Barnes breezed through his first two hitters. He induced a Kurt Suzuki groundout, then struck out José Rojas. The next hitter was Trout, who fought off a 96-mph fastball high and tight and found greenery in right for a bloop single — his only hit of the series ending a 0-for-18 slump. “I thought the game was over. I’ll be honest with you, I thought we had somebody who was going to be camped under it‚” said Barnes on Trout’s contact. “But we didn’t. And then that happens sometimes. It is what it is.” The Red Sox had an opportunity in the bottom of the ninth with two on and one out, but Angels pitcher Mike Mayers answered his two walks by striking out Jonathan Araúz and Michael Chavis to end it. The Angels took a 4-0 lead off Red Sox starter Nate Eovaldi in the second inning, though Eovaldi battled to last five, allowing six hits. His offense bailed him out. Araúz doubled home a run to cap three leadoff hits off José Quintana in the third, then the Sox went ahead with four runs of their own in the fifth, highlighted by Rafael Devers hitting a three-run homer. “Some good and some bad,” Cora said regarding the series. “We just got to keep working. This was a good series. We obviously were disappointed we didn’t finish it but overall, it was a good one.” As for Barnes, don’t expect him to lose his aggression. He’s found success in trusting his stuff, throwing strikes over the heart of the plate, daring opponents to hit it. This time, Ohtani got him on the first pitch he saw. “I don’t consider my run over,” Barnes said. “I just gave up a couple runs today and lost the game. This doesn’t change a thing. I’m going to continue to go out there. I feel good. I’m going to continue attacking the zone.” The Red Sox (25-17) open up a six-game road trip Tuesday in Dunedin, Fla., against the Blue Jays. Michael Chavis still chasing better zone control, perhaps all the way back to Worcester Julian McWilliams Michael Chavis was 2 for 5 with a double in Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Angels. His one-out single in the fifth played a key role in the Red Sox coming back from a 4-1 deficit, when Rafael Devers followed it with a three-run homer. But the game didn’t come without its typical Chavis outcomes, with all three of his outs coming by the strikeout. José Quintana fanned Chavis twice. In the first inning, Chavis chased a pitch above the zone for strike three. In the third, Chavis chased three pitches that were also above the zone, and in the ninth, Chavis swung through three Mike Mayers pitches at the top of the zone. As the Sox begin a six-game road trip against the Blue Jays and Phillies following a Monday off-day, it appears Chavis’s immediate future is a trip back to Worcester. Kiké Hernández is working his way back from a hamstring injury and could be activated off the injured list ahead of Tuesday’s game. Plate discipline and fastballs above his hands remain a weak part of Chavis’s game. He entered the day chasing pitches outside the zone 51 percent of the time. On fastballs at or above the zone, Chavis is 5 for 45, with 39 strikeouts. When asked what Chavis’s future held before Sunday’s game, Cora didn’t intimate too much. “I hate to look ahead,” Cora said. “There’s some people that are coming off the IL. Let’s take it day by day, you know, the day everybody was excited to win a World Series, it’s more than 26 guys. You have to make moves based on your roster and the people that you have. We’ll see what the future brings, but the future for him is today.” Christian Arroyo’s brief setback as he recovers from a left hand contusion might buy Chavis a few more games on the big-league roster. There’s a strong possibility Jonathan Araúz is instead optioned once Hernández returns. As for Chavis, he’s noted a couple of times that he wasn’t able to work on those weaknesses prior to the start of the WooSox season, in part, because they didn’t have umpires. Often, it would be just another player calling balls and strikes. “It was difficult to get working,” Chavis said. “I wasn’t able to get my routine going just because we weren’t playing legitimate games. We didn’t have umpires, and the one thing I was told to do down there was focus on zone recognition.” If that’s the case, the lack of improvement has certainly been evident the last week or so. Garrett Whitlock returns Garrett Whitlock was activated off the COVID-restricted list ahead of Sunday’s game. Whitlock recently felt symptoms after receiving his second COVID-19 vaccine shot. Colten Brewer was optioned back to Triple A . Hernández played seven innings in the outfield Sunday against Syracuse and hit two home runs, including a grand slam in his second at-bat. He finished 2 for 4 with 5 RBIs . Arroyo hit off the tee again, but won’t be with the Red Sox for the start of the road trip and will head to Worcester instead to get treatment and continue his progression. The Red Sox hope Arroyo can begin taking batting practice Wednesday. If the Red Sox want to stay in first in the AL East, they’re going to need help in the bullpen Alex Speier As the ball hung in the air for what seemed an eternity, Matt Barnes anticipated the celebration. After the Red Sox closer struck out the final batter of the eighth and recorded two quick outs in the ninth, this Mike Trout pop-up seemed like the conclusion of a satisfying 5-4 victory. “When it left his bat,” said Barnes, “I thought the game was over.” But it wasn’t. The 225-foot fly ball fell between right fielder Marwin Gonzalez, second baseman Michael Chavis, and first baseman Bobby Dalbec for a single, and on the next pitch, the incomparable — unless comparable to Babe Ruth? — Shohei Ohtani jumped on a fastball on the inner half and snuck it inside the Pesky Pole for the game-winning homer. “That’s the beauty of playing here,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora after the 6-5 Angels win. “Trout makes contact, the ball finds green, then Ohtani gets a fastball and wraps it around the Pesky Pole. It looks tough, it looks like [Barnes] struggled, but he actually pitched well.” Of course, if all had gone according to script, Barnes never would have had to face Trout. The mix of misfortune and mislocation against the two Angels stars could have been avoided had the previous inning unfolded differently. With the Sox ahead, 5-4, Cora summoned Adam Ottavino — holding righthanded hitters to 3-for-32 (.094) entering Sunday — for the eighth to face Angels cleanup hitter Anthony Rendon, a righty. Behind Rendon was lefty Jared Walsh, but four other righties at the bottom of the Halos’ order seemed easy pickings for the 35-year-old. But after Ottavino struck out Rendon, he gave up a single to Walsh and walked righthander Taylor Ward. He nearly gave up the lead to José Iglesias, who hit a rocket to the gap in right-center, but Ottavino was bailed out by an excellent running catch from Gonzalez. At that point, with a walk and almost an extra-base hit allowed to a righty, Cora decided he’d seen enough.

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