Video: Red Sox allow inside-the-park HR against Rays on disastrous play

The Boston Red Sox took a comfortable 7-1 lead into the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, but things quickly went south following what looked like a routine fly ball.

Chris Sale appeared to get out of a jam when he got Nelson Cruz to hit a pop fly to center field. Instead, Alex Verdugo lost the ball in the sun. That allowed three runs to score, and Cruz also came around to score because of a throwing error from Red Sox second baseman Taylor Motter.

The play was initially ruled a triple with a throwing error. It was later changed to a three-base error from Verdugo in addition to the Motter error. You can see the madness unfold below:

Verdugo misses the catch, there's an E4 throw, and Nelson Cruz hits a little league inside-the-park grand slam pic.twitter.com/GciZPEaKSB

— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) September 6, 2021

What should have been a 7-1 lead quickly turned into 7-5.

Players looked like they were having trouble with the sun all day. It just so happens that it could not have become a factor at a worse time for the Red Sox.