BOSTON --- It’s apparently going to take a lot more than the comforts of Fenway Park and the return of Dustin Pedroia for these Red Sox to right the ship.
Boston continued to take on water Tuesday in its maiden home voyage of the season. Chris Sale suffered through another abbreviated outing and more sloppiness in the field gave the Blue Jays all they needed to spoil the afternoon in a 7-5 victory.
Sale didn’t reach the fifth inning, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. [...]
BOSTON --- It’s apparently going to take a lot more than the comforts of Fenway Park and the return of Dustin Pedroia for these Red Sox to right the ship.
Boston continued to take on water Tuesday in its maiden home voyage of the season. Chris Sale suffered through another abbreviated outing and more sloppiness in the field gave the Blue Jays all they needed to spoil the afternoon in a 7-5 victory.
Sale didn’t reach the fifth inning, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. recorded a straight steal of home plate and Pedroia celebrated his first start in nearly 11 months by stranding a pair in scoring position. The Red Sox didn’t absorb their ninth loss until May 3 last season, one in which they earned the World Series rings handed out during pregame ceremonies. Those October days – both past and future – seemed far off indeed, as most of the chilled 36,179 fans on hand filed out well before the finish.
Sale retired the first seven men he faced before the wheels fell off. Three consecutive one-out singles in the third put the Blue Jays on the board, with Freddy Galvis bouncing one through the right side to make it 2-1. Teoscar Hernandez lined a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game.
Toronto notched three straight singles again in the fourth, this time to lead off the frame. Gurriel plated the go-ahead run with a liner into right and Danny Jansen eventually scored on a passed ball. The real lowlight for Boston came when Gurriel took off from third base with two outs, diving in head-first into the plate to make it 5-2.
Sale labored through 34 pitches to finish the fourth and Tyler Thornburg took over from there. The left-hander was charged with five earned runs and struck out just three, requiring 76 pitches to record 12 outs. Sale’s top fastball at 94.7 mph marked a considerable improvement from his last start at Oakland, but he’s yet to put together anything approaching his best.
Boston started brightly, taking a quick lead on a Mitch Moreland solo homer in the first and threatening for more in the second. Xander Bogaerts reached on an error and Rafael Devers singled to right before Pedroia bounced into a 6-4-3 double play. It was a 2-0 advantage but could have been more against Toronto starter Matt Shoemaker.
The Red Sox hit for another pair in the sixth, but again Pedroia left a man in scoring position by lining to right. Mookie Betts drilled a leadoff homer beyond the Green Monster and Bogaerts scored when a Devers liner to left was dropped, making it 5-4. Boston bullpen’s allowed single runs in the seventh and ninth to widen the deficit again and Betts struck out swinging as the potential winning run against Blue Jays’ closer Ken Giles.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
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