Red Sox blow six-run lead, lose to Blue Jays on walk-off single in 10th inning

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Apr 30, 2025

Published in Baseball

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It had been 577 days since Lucas Giolito last set foot on a big league mound, but you wouldn’t have known it the way he threw the ball most of the night on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, what was looking like a feel-good evening for the Red Sox took an ugly turn late.

While Giolito was excellent in his Red Sox debut, allowing three runs over six strong innings in his first start since Oct. 1, 2023, Boston blew a six-run lead and lost, 7-6, to the Toronto Blue Jays on a walk-off single by Alejandro Kirk in the 10th inning.

The Blue Jays rallied with three home runs from the sixth inning on, including back-to-back jacks against Giolito in the sixth and a game-tying three-run shot by Anthony Santander in the seventh.

The loss also snapped a three-game winning streak for Boston, which squandered an opportunity to move within a half-game of the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East.

Before things went south, Wednesday marked the culmination of a long journey for Giolito.

The right-hander originally signed with the Red Sox on a two-year, $38.5 million deal ahead of the 2024 season, and the idea was he would slot into the top of the rotation and be the type of proven workhorse the club lacked. At that point Giolito had been among the most durable pitchers in baseball over the prior six years, but the plan almost immediately went awry when he suffered a season-ending elbow injury early in spring training.

Giolito underwent internal brace surgery on his right elbow and spent the entire season rehabbing, and the expectation was he’d be back in time for Opening Day 2025. But upon his return Giolito suffered a low-grade left hamstring strain on the very first pitch of his spring debut, which wasn’t a serious injury but was enough of a setback that the right-hander wound up starting the season on the injured list.

Five rehab outings later, the 30-year-old was activated on Wednesday, with the club placing left-hander Brennan Bernardino on the bereavement list to clear space on the roster.

Giolito got a warm welcome from his offense, which has been firing on all cylinders over the last two weeks.

Boston scored two runs in a chaotic top of the first, which saw Jarren Duran thrown out at the plate on a Rafael Devers double, only for Devers to then score on a wild pitch and a balk by Blue Jays opener Yariel Rodriguez. The wild pitch went clear behind Alex Bregman, who appeared to take exception with the miss and crushed a solo home run to deep left field.

The Red Sox added two more runs in the top of the second on a Duran RBI single and a Devers RBI double to make it 4-0, and from there Giolito was in control.

Giolito’s most impressive inning came in the bottom of the third, when he allowed a pair of leadoff singles before picking apart the heart of Toronto’s order to escape the two-on, no-out jam unscathed. He first struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking by dotting a 96-mph fastball on the corner — his fastest pitch of the night — and after drawing a flyout from Anthony Santander, finished the inning by striking out George Springer on three straight change-ups.

Those three were the first of 11 straight batters Giolito retired, and by the time Toronto got another baserunner, Boston had extended its lead to 6-0 on a two-run home run by Carlos Narvaez in the top of the sixth.

The Blue Jays finally got to Giolito with two outs in the sixth, with Springer drawing a walk before Daulton Varsho and Kirk tagged Giolito for back-to-back home runs. Giolito was able to finish the inning, giving him a quality start in his season debut with three runs allowed over six innings on five hits, two walks and seven strikeouts.

But Toronto wasn’t done.

Now trailing just 6-3, Toronto got two men on against reliever Garrett Whitlock in the bottom of the seventh. That brought Santander up as the tying run, and the switch-hitting slugger struck for a three-run home run to tie the game.

The game went to extra innings after Aroldis Chapman struck out Guerrero to polish off a perfect bottom of the ninth, but the Red Sox couldn’t get the ghost runner in from second in the top of the 10th. That put right-hander Justin Slaten in a tough spot right out of the gate, and after Santander moved Guerrero over to third on a sharply hit lineout, the Red Sox intentionally walked two batters to load the bases for Kirk, setting up a potential double-play opportunity if Slaten could get a ground ball.

He could not, however, and Kirk lined a single into left field to complete the improbable comeback.