Bill Koch

Tuesday

Aug 21, 2018 at 11:02 PM


BOSTON --- It’s been four months since Red Sox fans have had this much reason to fret.


Widespread hand-wringing might be excused considering the unfamiliar feeling taken away by the 37,188 in attendance at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. Boston is on just its second three-game losing streak of the season and in danger of dropping its first series since the calendar flipped to July.


Cleveland looked every bit the part of a formidable October foe for the second straight [...]

BOSTON --- It’s been four months since Red Sox fans have had this much reason to fret.

Widespread hand-wringing might be excused considering the unfamiliar feeling taken away by the 37,188 in attendance at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. Boston is on just its second three-game losing streak of the season and in danger of dropping its first series since the calendar flipped to July.

Cleveland looked every bit the part of a formidable October foe for the second straight night, this time enjoying the lead from start to finish in a 6-3 cruise past the Red Sox.

Solo home runs by Melky Cabrera and Yan Gomes augmented an opportunistic offensive approach, as the Indians managed constant traffic against Boston starter Nathan Eovaldi and four relievers. Not since April 21-22 at Oakland and April 24 at Toronto has Boston gone so long without tasting victory, and the Red Sox hadn’t dropped three straight home games since being swept by Baltimore Aug. 25-27 of last season. Boston will attempt to remain the only big league team without a four-game skid in Wednesday’s 7:10 p.m. matchup.

Eovaldi’s overpowering first inning gave way to a rather pedestrian 4 1/3 frames to follow. The Indians sprayed 10 hits against the right-hander and finally broke through in the fourth after the first two men were out. Gomes grounded an RBI single up the middle and Greg Allen made it a 14-game hitting streak by slicing an RBI double to the corner in left, doubling the lead to 2-0.

Cabrera’s drive to right center leading off the sixth skipped off the top of the short wall and into the Boston bullpen, making it 3-0. Back-to-back one-out singles by Gomes and Allen chased Eovaldi and Joe Kelly came one pitch from escaping the jam when Michael Brantley struck. Cleveland’s batting average leader among regulars ripped a single back through the box, giving the visitors a 4-0 cushion.

The Indians nicked Brandon Workman and Tyler Thornburg for single runs in the seventh and eighth, respectively, to pad their lead. Workman’s leadoff walk to Jose Ramirez proved costly, as the third baseman stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly down the line in right by Yonder Alonso. Gomes needed one swing to reach Thornburg with one out in the eighth, lofting a drive down the line in left that slipped over the Green Monster to restore the three-run lead.

Boston’s lone sign of life came in the seventh. Cleveland starter Shane Bieber had faced just one batter over the minimum and allowed a mere two hits before the Red Sox chased him in quick fashion. Doubles by Andrew Benintendi and Xander Bogaerts sandwiched a single to left by J.D. Martinez, and Mitch Moreland hammered a sacrifice fly deep into the triangle to make it a 5-2 game.

Bieber gave way after 82 pitches and, like the previous night, the Cleveland bullpen was able to cobble together the final eight outs. Ian Kinsler’s run-scoring grounder to second was all the Red Sox could muster the rest of the way, as Adam Cimber, former Boston left-hander Andrew Miller and fellow southpaw Brad Hand combined to retire eight of the nine men they faced.

The last series defeat for the Red Sox came on a tough weekend in the Bronx June 29-July 1. The Yankees sandwiched poundings of 8-1 and 11-1 around an 11-0 Boston shutout. The Red Sox are 10-0-3 in their last 13 series, and they’ll need consecutive victories on Wednesday and Thursday to extended the unbeaten run. The Indians are a lone victory from their eighth straight series win, an impressive run dating back to taking two of three against Detroit from July 27-29.

 

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25