Rain put a one-hour, 13-minute hold on Wednesday night’s Red Sox-Marlins matchup in the sixth inning. When the contest ended, it was a Sox’ self-inflicted downpour that led to a 6-2 loss at Fenway Park and another series defeat.
With the game tied at 1, two runners on and one out for Miami when the game resumed, Josh Winckowski inherited Nick Pivetta’s 1-2 count on Jazz Chisholm Jr. and immediately struck him out. After walking Garrett Cooper to load the bases, Winckowski got ahead of Jean Segura, 0-and-2.
But Winckowski, who has seen his share of gloom in June, skipped a cutter past catcher Connor Wong for a wild pitch to score the go-ahead run. Then, it got worse.
Segura hit a high chopper over Winckowski’s head. Shortstop David Hamilton charged the ball, but it hit the palm of his glove to score one run, then bounced far enough toward the second base side to score another and make it 4-1.
“It was a tough play,” said Hamilton, adding it was a play he had to make. “I tried to make a play and missed it. That’s pretty much it.”
Pivetta had been cruising before the rain, against a Marlins team that put up 10 runs and 19 hits in Tuesday’s win. He was the bulk reliever in a bullpen game, with Kaleb Ort pitching the first two innings and departing down, 1-0, following a Cooper solo shot in the second.
Pivetta, however, overpowered with his fastball a lineup that has made its living by sitting on offspeed pitches this series. Pivetta needed just 12 pitches in the third inning, as he struck out Jonathan Davis and Jorge Soler each side of a Luis Arraez fly out. He fanned the side on 12 more in the fourth, and ultimately racked up seven strikeouts in 3⅓ innings.
In the sixth, however, he walked both Soler and Bryan De La Cruz before the delay. That set the table for another defensive disaster, and eventually the Red Sox falling below .500 (40-41) at the season’s midway point.
“I felt good today,” said Pivetta, also acknowledging that the walks put the club in a tough spot. “I feel like I’ve been consistent. The things I’ve been working on are paying off and I’m just going to continue to go out there and be consistent.”
Rafael Devers had tied the game with his 19th home run in the fourth inning, off starter Braxton Garrett. Miami added single runs in the eighth, when Chisholm banged a left-on-left homer off Chris Murphy to straightaway center, and the ninth, on a double, walk, sacrifice, and Arraez groundout.
The Sox strung together three one-out singles in the ninth, the last by Jarren Duran scoring Devers and bringing Miami closer A.J. Puk into the game to face pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida. Yoshida, who sat Tuesday with forearm soreness, grounded into a double play to end it.
The Red Sox have scored just 11 runs in the last six games, their fewest over a six-game stretch since July 17-22, 2015. They are an MLB-worst 2-12 in interleague games at home this season.
“It’s not that we’re worse than them, we’re just getting beat,” Cora said. “Like, the Cardinals swept us, but we were leading in two games. The Rockies, we played two extra-inning games. Obviously, these guys [Marlins] have played better than us the last two days. I wish I knew.
“We go to Arizona, one of the best teams in the big leagues, and we beat them two out of three. We went to San Diego and did the same thing. Here we got swept by the Cardinals and the Pirates and it’s just one of those that I wish I knew.”
His team has lost four straight games and six of seven, and is 2-6-1 in its last nine series. Wednesday was a continuation of the agony the club has brought on itself.
“Pivetta had Jazz with two strikes and then it rained,” said Cora.
Rained, then poured.
Julian McWilliams can be reached at julian.mcwilliams@globe.com. Follow him @byJulianMack.