Justin Turner ties game in ninth, but Red Sox fall 3-2 on Giants walk-off home run

The San Francisco Giants let the Red Sox hang around all game, and for a brief moment it looked like it might cost them. After being held to just three hits through the first eight innings, the Red Sox finally broke out and tied the game in the ninth, with Justin Turner coming through in the clutch again with a game-tying two-run single.

But in the bottom of the ninth, the Giants only needed one pitch to put the Red Sox away.

J.D. Davis crushed the first pitch he saw from Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen for a walk-off solo home run, giving the Giants the 3-2 win on a day where they finished 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners on base.

In the process, San Francisco snapped Boston’s five-game winning streak, setting up a big rubber match on Sunday to conclude the series.

Sean Manaea, who threw a no-hitter against the Red Sox the last time he faced them in the Bay Area during his time with Oakland, continued his dominance over Boston. Coming on in the third inning following opener Ryan Walker, he shut the Red Sox down and allowed two hits with five strikeouts over 4.2 innings.

His excellence was needed on a day where San Francisco’s offense did everything it could to leave the door open for Boston.

Despite seemingly having Red Sox starting pitcher James Paxton on the ropes throughout his entire outing, the Giants couldn’t deliver the knockout blow. San Francisco started the game with an Austin Slater single, a Wilmer Flores RBI double and a J.D. Davis single, but Paxton was able to escape after getting three straight outs to end the threat.

Paxton later drew a double play to get out of a two-on, one-out jam in the third, and in the fourth he got a big assist from Alex Verdugo, who made a sliding stop to cut off a Marco Luciano double and prevent lead runner Michael Conforto from scoring. The Giants subsequently load the bases but Paxton forced a flyout to escape again, and he finished with one run allowed over five innings with eight hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

San Francisco scored its second run in the sixth off reliever Richard Bleier after Luciano singled and came around to score on a Slater RBI groundout, but they couldn’t capitalize on a bases-loaded situation in the eighth that likely would have put the game away.

Instead the Red Sox pounced.

Facing Giants All-Star closer Camilo Doval, the Red Sox had Masataka Yoshida pinch hit for Yu Chang, and he sparked the rally by drawing a leadoff walk. Jarren Duran followed up with a double off the right field wall, and then Turner tied the game with a clutch two-run single.

But the momentum was short-lived. Rob Refsnyder, who pinch ran for Turner, was caught stealing for the first out and then Doval got Rafael Devers and the red hot Triston Casas to keep things tied heading to the bottom of the ninth.

Then Davis got ahold of a 92.1 mph cutter by Jansen and that was all she wrote.

In addition to Bleier and Jansen, Boston also trotted out newly acquired reliever Mauricio Llovera, who pitched an eventful but ultimately scoreless eighth in his Red Sox debut. He allowed a hit and two walks to load the bases but struck out the side to keep it a 2-0 game heading into the ninth.

Turner led the offense by going 2 for 4 with two RBI, and Duran also went 2 for 4 with a double. Casas, who came into the game as the hottest hitter in baseball since the All-Star break, was bumped up to the cleanup spot but went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

Boston (56-48) will look to take the three-game series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET.