Tovar's single in 12th gives Rockies 9-8 win, extending Red Sox skid to 4

DENVER (AP) — Ezequiel Tovar singled home the winning run with the bases loaded and two outs in the 12th inning Monday night to give the Colorado Rockies a 9-8 victory over Boston, handing the Red Sox their fourth straight defeat since the All-Star break.

“A little Michael Jordan flu game for Tovey tonight,” said teammate Sam Hilliard, whose two-run homer with one out in the 10th tied it at 7.

“Stud. He wasn't in the lineup last night because he was sick. He was good enough to play tonight. To get the game-winning knock right there, you could just tell he was grinding. So just the heart he showed tonight was sick, honestly. It was great."

Jake Cave singled off rookie Bailey Horn (0-1) to drive in Brendan Rodgers with the tying run with no outs in the 12th.

Cave took second when charging left fielder Tyler O'Neill let the ball get past him for an error, and Jacob Stallings was intentionally walked to bring up Hilliard, who sacrificed the runners up a base. After Aaron Schunk was intentionally walked, Horn struck out Charlie Blackmon before being replaced by Chase Anderson.

Tovar had three hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Blackmon had two hits, including his seventh homer, and the last-place Rockies won for the fourth time in five games.

“It was going to be a tough loss for whoever lost that one,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “Our guys endured. Showed a lot of resolve. A couple of big swings.”

Justin Lawrence (3-3) worked two innings for the win.

Wilyer Abreu’s two-out RBI single in the top of the 12th gave Boston an 8-7 lead. The Red Sox are playing without closer Kenley Jansen, who will miss the series because of health concerns related to the Denver altitude.

Boston manager Alex Cora was ejected after the 11th inning.

“We didn't agree with the 2-2 pitch to Stallings,” said Cora. "They (the umpires) have the toughest job in baseball."

Stallings lined out to second for the first out of the 10th before Hilliard homered off Zack Kelly.

“I was just trying to tell myself to shorten up and don't do too much, and I was able to put the barrel on it and it went,” said Hilliard, who has three homers in 36 at-bats since being added June 21.

“There is no quit in these guys. We're never going to lie down. We feel we can compete and beat anybody. Play spoiler, whatever you want to call it.”

Boston grounded into double plays in the eighth, ninth and 11th, the first two ending an inning.

Pinch-hitter Dominic Smith doubled in the first run and Rafael Devers added a sacrifice fly in Boston's two-run 10th for a 7-5 lead, but Hilliard tied the game on a 450-foot homer with one out in the bottom half.

O’Neill had three hits for the Red Sox, who were swept at Dodger Stadium last weekend but are 29-21 on the road, the third-best record in the majors.

“It's been a tough four games for us, but that's all it's been," O'Neill said. "We're just one swing away, one out away, in all these games here. It's just one of those stretches. We have confidence in ourselves.”

Boston starter Tanner Houck gave up four runs and 10 hits in six innings. He entered with a 2.54 ERA, fourth-lowest in the majors.

Blackmon hit a two-run homer off Houck in Colorado's four-run third. Boston came back with four runs in the fifth behind Jamie Westbrook's three-run homer off Austin Gomber. Westbrook is in his 11th pro season, his first in the majors.

“All in all, stuff was just kind of flat,” said Houck, who made his first appearance at Coors Field. “Not as sharp as it usually was. Ultimately, it comes down to executing a little better, a little finer.”

Gomber gave up four runs and six hits, five in the fifth. He struck out five and walked one in 5 2/3 innings.

“I made one bad pitch and gave up a three-run homer,” Gomber said. “It's the best I've thrown the ball since 2021, stuff-wise.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: SS Trevor Story (left shoulder) received a standing ovation in his return to Coors Field for the first time since signing with Boston before the 2022 season. He is expected to miss the rest of the season but said he “possibly” could return by the end of the year. … RHP Justin Slaten (right elbow inflammation) played catch but is not expected to be activated when eligible to return Thursday.

Rockies: 1B Kris Bryant (bruised rib, oblique strain) went through a full pregame workout at Coors Field and could be activated Tuesday. Bryant was 5 for 5 with a 384-foot homer and four singles in his last rehab game for Triple-A Albuquerque on Sunday. He has not played in the majors since June 2. … C Elias Diaz (right calf strain) missed his second straight game. … All-Star 3B Ryan McMahon (jammed finger) was held out of the starting lineup. ... Tovar returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s game with the flu.

UP NEXT

LHP Ty Blach (3-5, 5.46 ERA) pitches Tuesday for the Rockies after scheduled starter Germán Márquez was placed on the injured list Monday. The Red Sox had not announced a starter.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Zack Kelly works against the Colorado Rockies in the ninth inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Boston Red Sox's Connor Wong celebrates as he circles the bases after hitting a solo home run off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Jalen Beeks in the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Chase Anderson heads to the dugout after giving up a walkoff RBI single to Colorado Rockies' Ezequiel Tovar in the 12th inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Jacob Stallings gestures to the dugout after reaching second base on an RBI double off Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Winckowski in the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Jacob Stallings follows the flight of his RBI double off Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Winckowski in the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, left, argues with home plate umpire Mark Wegner, front right, and third base umpire Bruce Dreckman in the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Charlie Blackmon, back, douses Ezequiel Tovar after his walkoff RBI single off Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Chase Anderson in the 12th inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Charlie Blackmon, back, douses Ezequiel Tovar after his walkoff RBI single off Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Chase Anderson in the 12th inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Ezequiel Tovar smiles as he gestures to the dugout while heading up the first-base line after hitting a walkoff RBI single off Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Chase Anderson in the 12th inning of a baseball game Monday, July 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

NIZI, Congo (AP) — Every day, community health worker Gédéon Banga Ngbape and his team fan out across communities in eastern Congo looking for people who may have crossed paths with the country’s fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history.

The workers investigate dozens of alerts, search for those exposed to suspected or confirmed cases and try to get anyone showing symptoms into care before the virus spreads further.

But the surveillance system is increasingly failing to keep pace with the virus. Between 60% and 70% of new Ebola cases are being detected among people who were not already being monitored as contacts, meaning health workers may only discover infections after patients become sick and have had opportunities to expose others.

“If surveillance does not work well, the entire response suffers,” Ngbape said. “Surveillance is the engine of a response.”

The outbreak has killed over 2,200 people out of more than 4,700 cases, according to the latest government figures. This death toll has been reached almost three times faster than in the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa — the worst in history. That outbreak claimed over 11,000 lives.

“We are chasing the virus; the virus is ahead of us,” said WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi, this week.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher on Friday announced an additional $30.5 million in emergency funding to help tackle the Ebola outbreak.

In Nizi, Ngbape’s surveillance teams say they receive an average of 60 to 70 alerts a day. They move through communities to investigate suspected infections, follow people who have been in contact with suspected or confirmed cases and direct those showing possible symptoms to health facilities.

The work can stretch deep into the night.

“I leave in the morning at 8 and return around 11 p.m., sometimes midnight,” Ngbape said. “I still have to follow up and plan the next activities. I feel really tired, but what matters to me is always being of service to the community.”

He did not say how many days a week he works or how often he is able to take time off.

Community health workers who go door to door face risks of their own. Ana Ndroy Kasime, a community health worker in Nizi, said she visits homes to educate residents about Ebola and reports suspected cases to health officials. But she said workers like her lack basic protective supplies.

“When we go door to door, we don’t have protective equipment, like boots, disinfectant and other supplies, even though we are at risk,” Kasime said. “We buy disinfectant with our own money.”

The current outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo Ebola virus, is unfolding in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable. There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, though trials are underway. Strikes by some unpaid health workers, threats by rebel groups, anger from long-traumatized communities and misinformation asserting that Ebola isn’t real have significantly hindered the response.

The gaps are especially consequential in Nizi, one of the most affected health zones in Ituri province, which accounts for about 90% of Congo’s Ebola cases and 80% of its deaths.

“We started surveillance with fewer workers,” Ngbape said. “The challenges are enormous,” he added.

On Thursday, health workers at the Nizi Treatment Center went on strike and the facility temporarily closed. Ngbape said the health workers have not been paid in over three months.

The head of Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, on Thursday called on Congo’s government to pay the outstanding salaries, saying money was available and that paying workers was the government’s responsibility.

The government says payments are delayed because it’s verifying worker payroll lists after finding unrelated names had been added and while it shifts payments from cash to mobile money.

Kasime said community health workers like her have received their payments, but at about $50 a month, she considers the amount inadequate for the work and risks involved. She said other Ebola response workers should be paid quickly.

“They are making sacrifices and taking risks,” Kasime said. “If these workers decide to stop working, the epidemic will spread further into the population.”

Surveillance workers in Nizi often struggle to get around, making it harder to investigate alerts and follow contacts across the health zone, Ngbape said. Frequent population movements linked to mining and people fleeing armed conflict add another complication, as people can move before surveillance teams are able to follow up with them.

Poor and sometimes impassable roads can also make remote areas difficult to reach, while insecurity restricts where health workers can safely operate. It remains unclear how many communities in the province are currently inaccessible to surveillance teams.

Dozens of rebel and militia groups operate across eastern Congo. The Allied Democratic Forces, which is tied to the Islamic State group, is among those active in Ituri. The insecurity has forced some health and aid workers to leave remote Ebola hot spots for the relative safety of the provincial capital, Bunia.

Violence affecting the Ebola response has also come from residents. At least a dozen attacks on health facilities and workers were recorded as of mid-July, according to local health authorities. In one incident, residents attacked a hospital in Nyakunde and entered a nearby Ebola treatment center, forcing patients and staff to flee before operations resumed the following day.

Many residents’ anger is caused by misinformation about the virus and bans on traditional burials — when families prepare the bodies and people gather for a funeral, which can lead to further infections.

Ngbape, however, said his surveillance teams in Nizi have not been attacked.

He said cooperation has improved as residents have become more familiar with the surveillance teams and their work. Ngbape also said he does not believe people in Nizi are widely concealing suspected infections, though population movements and limited transportation can still make contacts difficult to follow.

For Ngbape, maintaining that surveillance is critical to preventing individual infections from developing into wider chains of transmission. The long hours and limited resources have left him exhausted, he said, but not ready to stop.

“I am here to save the lives of the population,” he said.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Gédéon Banga Ngbape, right, an Ebola surveillance officer, arrives at his office in Nizi, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)

Ana Ndroy Kasime, a community health worker ,second from left, meets other health workers during an Ebola contact tracing in Nizi, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)

Ana Ndroy Kasime, a community health worker in Nizi, speaks during an interview as she visits homes to educate residents about Ebola and reports suspected cases to health officials in Nizi, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)

Gédéon Banga Ngbape, left, an Ebola surveillance officer, does contact tracing in Nizi, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)

Gédéon Banga Ngbape, left, an Ebola surveillance officer, does contact tracing in Nizi, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)