Dark cloud hangs over Red Sox starters

Following Tuesday's loss to the Blue Jays in the home opener, the Sox starting rotation is now a collective 0-8 and has allowed 16 homers in 12 games.

BOSTON – Home Sweet Home?

Not quite yet for the Boston Red Sox and their faithful fans who flocked to Fenway Park to open another baseball season for the 108th time Tuesday afternoon. Despite the presence of David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez and even Manny Ramirez plus a World Series ring ceremony before the game, the champion Red Sox continued their woeful start and fell to the equally woeful Toronto Blue Jays, 7-5.

Before the game we were promised a fresh start for a Red Sox team that began the season 3-8 after opening this season with stops in Seattle, Oakland and Arizona. After a long, cold, mistake-filled outing, manager Alex Cora didn’t flinch when asked what has infected his team out of the gate in 2019.

“I’ve been saying it all along, just play better,” Cora said. “Better defense, better offense, pitch better. As everybody knows we go with the starters. Our starters are our strongest point and so far it hasn’t been good.”

Not good at all. The biggest red flag out of the gate has clearly been those starters, and particularly Chris Sale. Instead of risking his exit to free agency next fall, the Sox awarded their tall lefty a five-year, $145-million extension last month. There were loads of hugs and kisses at the contract press conference but only raised eyebrows after his first three starts.

After getting rocked for seven earned runs in three innings in the season opener but throwing much better in his next try, Sale let go a stink bomb in front of the home fans. He was staked a 2-0 lead after two innings but the weak-hitting Jays kept alive late in counts and poked and jabbed at the team’s supposed ace, scratching out five earned runs in four innings. Included was a rare steal of home in the fourth inning by Lourdes Gurriel that left everyone in the crowd of 36,179 shaking their head.

Boston’s bullpen – which rolled six strong – held the Jays to two runs over the final five innings but when MVP Mookie Betts struck out with the tying runs on base in the ninth inning, the Sox trudged back to the warmth of their clubhouse wondering when the sunshine is going to replace the black cloud that’s followed them since leaving Fort Myers, Florida.

“It’s one in that category that we had a chance to win,” Betts said, “but we’re on the wrong side of those right now.”

To his credit, Sale didn’t shrink from the spotlight. He’s 0-3 and has allowed 13 earned runs in 13 innings. There’s nowhere to go but up but you have to wonder if a pitcher who was limited by arm woes last August, September and October and owns just one postseason victory in four starts with Boston is the same guy the Sox decided to shower so much cash over.

“Obviously some balls found some holes today but at the end of the day if you’re giving up hits, you’re giving up runs, you’re going to lose games,” Sale said. “We have to win that game. It’s very easy to just throw that one on top of the pile and say we’re not playing good but this wasn’t us not playing good. This was me sucking today and that’s frustrating because today was the day that we were going to turn it around. We’re back home, the ceremony, in front of our home fans. Everyone did what they had to do except for me and that’s a frustrating spot to be in.”

While Sale is a definite red flag and his partners in the starting rotation are now a collective 0-8 and have allowed 16 homers in 12 games, it’s far from panic time. The truth is the team’s starters were babied in Fort Myers and not fully prepared to perform out of the gate. This scuffling won’t linger, or at least it better not. Starters Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodrigues are set to pocket $87 million in 2019. That’s more than the entire Blue Jays active roster, not to mention the Orioles and Rays. That financial disparity alone should remind everyone just how bad some teams in the American League are.

A year ago the Red Sox beat up on teams that lost 86 or more games (53-15). Mark it down, the Jays will lose that many once again.

The six games to open the Fenway schedule against the Jays and Orioles need to be the Sox’ panacea. Same goes for tests against the lowly Royals, White Sox, Tigers and Twins.

These are the Red Sox, after all, the World Series champs. But the truth is right now they’re in last place in the American League East and looking for a starter to stand up and earn his millions.

On Thursday night it’s Nathan Eovaldi’s chance to turn around a Red Sox season that hasn’t really started yet.