Daniel Bard was summoned to preserve a 4-3 lead with four outs to go for Triple-A Pawtucket against Syracuse. Instead, he suffered his first blown save since being sent to the minors.
Bard entered in the bottom of the eighth with runners on first and second and two outs. He retired the first batter he faced on a pop-out, but then gave up a double (to Chris Marrero, cousin of Red Sox 2012 first-round pick Deven Marrero) and single with a pair of wild pitches en route to a two-run yield over four outs. In addition to uncorking the pair of wild pitches, Bard threw just 11 of 22 pitches for strikes, threw a first-pitch ball to five of the six hitters he faced and got one swing and miss in the outing.
Though the PawSox had scored an insurance run for him after the eighth, Bard's two-run yield tied the game and ultimately permitted Syracuse to claim a 6-5 walkoff win in 11 innings.
The outing represented something of a reversal, as Bard had delivered four shutout innings with six strikeouts and one walk in his previous two appearances, also out of the bullpen. Overall, he has a 7.36 ERA in five Triple-A games, none longer than two innings, and all but one of which has come from out of the bullpen.
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