BOSTON — A weekend that started with so much promise for the Red Sox ended with a whimper.
Boston’s comeback victory on Friday was followed by a stunning loss on Saturday and an outright capitulation on Sunday. The lowly Blue Jays stole the three-game series and halted any momentum built by Boston over the last two weeks.
Marcus Stroman escaped a pair of early jams and frustrated Red Sox hitters for the second time in as many starts this season. Rick [...]
BOSTON — A weekend that started with so much promise for the Red Sox ended with a whimper.
Boston’s comeback victory on Friday was followed by a stunning loss on Saturday and an outright capitulation on Sunday. The lowly Blue Jays stole the three-game series and halted any momentum built by Boston over the last two weeks.
Marcus Stroman escaped a pair of early jams and frustrated Red Sox hitters for the second time in as many starts this season. Rick Porcello couldn’t do the same, eventually allowing Toronto to spread out its lead in the top of the sixth inning. The result was a dismal 6-1 defeat that served as a sharp contrast to an otherwise idyllic afternoon at Fenway Park.
The sun-bathed sellout crowd of 36,495 fans barely mustered a roar as Boston yielded in meek fashion. The Red Sox are now a sub.-500 team on home soil this season, slipping to 18-19. Porcello carried a 6.22 earned-run average in eight career starts here against the Blue Jays and didn’t do much to trim it.
The big damage for Toronto came after Cavan Biggio walked and Freddy Galvis lined a ground-rule double down the right-field line to begin the sixth. Porcello’s hopes of an escape vanished when he balked in Biggio, only his fifth such mistake in the last nine seasons. A two-run single through the left side by Danny Jansen – one that bounced past the waving glove of Eduardo Nunez at third base – only made matters worse.
Toronto nicked Porcello for a pair of two-out runs early. Brandon Drury forced a broken-bat single through the right side in the top of the second, making it 1-0. Biggio found the wall in straightaway center with a run-scoring double in the third, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. slid in ahead of a perfect relay to the plate to make it 2-0.
Eric Sogard’s solo home run in the eighth against Josh Smith was the cherry on top. The Blue Jays scored all but two of the final 16 runs on the weekend, the lone exception coming in the bottom of the ninth on both Saturday and Sunday. Eduardo Nunez’s leadoff double and an error covering first base by pitcher Joe Biagini was all that saved Boston from its fourth shutout loss of the season.
The Red Sox helped short-circuit their own best chance in the bottom of the second. Three straight one-out singles only resulted in Brock Holt being cut down at the plate on a strong throw from left field by Gurriel. Holt grabbed for his left hamstring and was later removed from the game, potentially costing Boston its prime utility man for the upcoming days.
Stroman faced another jam in the third when the Red Sox put a pair of men in scoring position with two outs. First base was open for J.D. Martinez, and Toronto elected to attack the slugger in a right-right matchup instead of facing Holt on deck. Martinez grounded softly to third base, rewarding the Blue Jays for a bit of boldness.
Boston’s lone run came after most of the crowd had departed. Nunez smoked a drive to left-center and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a two-hopper to first base. Cavan Biggio fielded cleanly but Biagini couldn’t make the catch coming over, with the ball hitting his knee and rolling into foul ground. Nunez scored easily from second but Biagini retired the last two men he faced to end it.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25