Roman Anthony scores three as Red Sox rally past Cubs 4-3 at Fenway

Chicago’s burst, then Boston’s hold

Chicago gave itself the kind of start that usually travels well. Tyrone Taylor opened the scoring with a first-inning double that brought home Seiya Suzuki, and the Cubs pushed the margin to 3-0 in the second when Miguel Amaya doubled to left and drove in Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch. Two innings in, the Cubs had already produced the extra-base contact Boston was still searching for.

Then the game changed shape. Chicago kept putting men on base, but the scoreboard stopped moving. The Cubs finished with seven hits, four walks and a hit batter, yet stranded 19 runners. Busch reached twice by hit and scored once, Matt Shaw added two hits, and the lineup made Boston work through 160 pitches, but the finishing blow never came.

That left room for Boston’s pitching staff to rewrite the game after Alec Gamboa’s difficult opening. Jake Bennett covered 3.2 scoreless innings, Greg Weissert added 1.1 more without allowing a run, and Raymond Burgos closed the final 2.0 innings with no hits, no walks and three strikeouts. Chicago’s early advantage was real. Its inability to add to it was even more important.

Anthony in every turning point

Boston’s comeback began with pressure more than power. In the third inning, Wilyer Abreu grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Roman Anthony came home when Swanson’s throw from shortstop went astray. It was only one run, but it trimmed the deficit to 3-1 and made Anthony the central figure in a game he kept reappearing in.

Anthony finished 3-for-3 with a walk and scored three times, which is a clean summary of how Boston climbed back. In the fifth, Adley Rutschman tied the game with a single to left that scored Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Anthony. Rutschman’s line was efficient rather than loud — 2-for-4 with two RBIs — but those two runs erased Chicago’s entire cushion.

The winning play arrived in the seventh, and Anthony was in the middle of it again. Connor Wong doubled to left to score him and put Boston ahead 4-3. That sequence says plenty about the difference between the teams in this one. Neither club hit a home run. Both clubs left 19 runners on base. Boston simply got one more scoring swing attached to its most productive hitter.

Our take: the game turned after the first two innings

Our take: the headline belongs to the comeback, but the truest story is Boston’s recovery. Gamboa gave up three runs in 2.0 innings, and that could have sent the game sideways. Instead, Bennett steadied the middle, Weissert survived two walks without damage, and Burgos gave the Cubs nothing at the finish. Boston did not need a takeover performance from the offense once the bullpen stopped the game from getting any bigger.

Our take: Chicago’s clearest area to sharpen is not mysterious. The Cubs had 38 plate appearances, four walks, a hit batter and seven hits, but only three runs and none after the second inning. When a lineup creates that much traffic and leaves 19 on base, the missing piece is straightforward: a better conversion rate in the middle of those innings. For Boston, the result is encouraging, but so is the warning inside it. Spotting an opponent a 3-0 lead and asking the bullpen for seven scoreless innings is a useful escape once; it is not a comfortable habit.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Taylor doubled to left, Suzuki scored.

2. 2nd Inning

   Amaya doubled to left, Swanson scored and Busch scored.

3. 3rd Inning

   Abreu grounded into fielder's choice to second, Anthony scored on throwing error by shortstop Swanson, Abreu to second, Rutschman out at second.

4. 5th Inning

   Rutschman singled to left, Kiner-Falefa scored and Anthony scored.

5. 7th Inning

   Wong doubled to left, Anthony scored.