BOSTON --- Andrew Benintendi was ejected. Alex Cora followed suit.
The outfielder and the manager weren’t subjected to the finish Tuesday night at Fenway Park. Perhaps it’s just as well.
The Red Sox dropped back to the .500 mark for the second time in 10 days. This eight-game home stand will end with a losing record regardless of what happens over the next two meetings with the Rangers.
Boston continues to stagger along in defense of its World Series [...]
BOSTON --- Andrew Benintendi was ejected. Alex Cora followed suit.
The outfielder and the manager weren’t subjected to the finish Tuesday night at Fenway Park. Perhaps it’s just as well.
The Red Sox dropped back to the .500 mark for the second time in 10 days. This eight-game home stand will end with a losing record regardless of what happens over the next two meetings with the Rangers.
Boston continues to stagger along in defense of its World Series championship. Any semblance of momentum the Red Sox hoped to build while sleeping in their own beds has passed, with Texas cruising to a 9-5 victory.
Boston has reached four games over .500 twice this season. The Red Sox dropped four straight from May 28-June 1 and have now lost five of six since Friday. They’re just 34-34 and looking up at the Rangers and a host of others in the chase for the second American League Wild Card berth.
“It’s not good baseball right now to be honest with you,” Cora said. “It’s not fun. We know we can be better. We know that.”
This one officially unraveled with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Benintendi grounded routinely to short and appeared to bark at home plate umpire Angel Hernandez regarding a first-pitch strike call. First-base umpire Vic Carapazza ejected Benintendi and did the same to Cora after coming out of the dugout to defend his player.
“All I said was, ‘You suck,’” Benintendi said. “That was it. Angel didn’t even know I was thrown out until I went back out there, so obviously he didn’t hear that.”
“I’ve got to go out there and defend my player,” Cora said. “I didn’t agree with that. He’s not at the plate screaming at Angel. That’s not the first time someone’s disagreed and screamed from afar at the umpire.”
It was a 6-3 game at that point, and Texas added on three more runs in the next half-inning to settle matters for the evening. Nomar Mazara grounded an RBI single up the middle and Hunter Pence lifted a towering fly down the line in right. Brock Holt made a leaping bid and the ball cleared his glove, brushing the angled wall and rolling toward the visiting bullpen for a two-run inside-the-park homer.
“I had no idea it was still in play,” Holt said. “That’s kind of embarrassing on my part. I’ve got to do a better job of paying more attention. That one was on me.”
Boston’s frustrations have been building throughout the season, and this night was no different. Danny Santana snapped a 3-3 tie in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to left and Ronald Guzman smacked a two-run double off the Green Monster to widen the cushion for the visitors in the fifth. The Red Sox never came within striking distance again.
Darwinzon Hernandez struck out the side in order in the top of the first and ran his fastball up to 97.7 mph. The quality of the Boston left-hander’s raw stuff was undeniable while making his first start in the big leagues. The Rangers managed just six balls in play over the course of 18 batters, and only three of those were hits.
“The stuff is great and all that, but he was erratic,” Cora said. “You saw flashes of greatness in the strike zone early on.”
The flipside of the coin for Hernandez is his lack of command, and five walks in just three innings had the rookie in constant trouble. Three of those men came around to score, as Rougned Odor lined an RBI double to left in the second and Asdrubal Cabrera sent a two-run single to center in the third. Hernandez required 86 pitches to record just nine outs, and he threw only 42 of those for strikes.
“After the first inning I just lost my control a bit,” Hernandez said through translator Bryan Loor-Almonte. “I tried to be as consistent as possible with it, but it was one of those days where I just didn’t have a good outing.”
Boston was able to keep pace early. Xander Bogaerts drilled a solo home run to left-center leading off the second and Rafael Devers snapped an 0-for-20 skid with a two-run triple to the triangle in the third. The Red Sox managed just two more runs over the final six frames, as J.D. Martinez cracked an RBI double in the sixth and Mookie Betts led off the ninth with a solo homer to left.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25