Cubs let three-run lead slip in 4-3 loss to Red Sox in doubleheader opener

The Cubs built a three-run lead in the first two innings at Fenway Park on Friday, then watched Boston complete a 4-3 comeback in the opening game of their split doubleheader. The official MLB play log records Connor Wong's seventh-inning double as the deciding hit. Chicago did not score after the second inning and made the final out in the top of the ninth with the tying run still needed.

Seiya Suzuki scored on Tyrone Taylor's first-inning double. In the second, Miguel Amaya doubled home Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson to make it 3-0. MLB's video of Amaya's hit shows the early swing, but the Cubs could not turn that opening burst into a larger cushion. Boston's bullpen held Chicago scoreless after starter Alec Gamboa left at the end of the second.

The Red Sox got one run in the third on a grounder that ended with a Dansby Swanson throwing error, then tied the game in the fifth on Adley Rutschman's two-run single. Roman Anthony scored on both plays. In the seventh, Anthony reached again and scored when Wong doubled to left off Aaron Civale. The official clip of Wong's double captures the play that put Boston ahead for good. Anthony finished with three hits in the opener; Rutschman drove in two.

Clay Holmes allowed three runs, two earned, in 4 1/3 innings for Chicago. Caleb Thielbar kept Boston from scoring over the next 1 1/3 innings before Civale yielded the go-ahead run. For the Cubs, Busch and Matt Shaw each had two hits, while Amaya's double accounted for two of their three RBI. The score and those individual lines are from MLB's official box score feed.

Chicago still has another game at Fenway on Friday. The MLB schedule lists the second game for 5:35 p.m. Eastern. That gives the Cubs a same-day chance to recover after dropping the opener, while Boston carries the momentum of a comeback win into the nightcap. The second game's result remains open; this recap covers only the completed first game.