Before the game the Boston Red Sox made some roster moves. Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford were placed on the "restricted" list for being unvaccinated and Connor Wong was sent back to Worcester. The Sox activated Kevin Plawecki from the Covid list, brought back Tyler Danish and brought up 28 year old pitcher John Schreiber from Worcester. Schreiber is Worcester's set-up man and could be used in late inning situations this coming series.
The good news was the Boston Celtics swept the Brooklyn Nets out of the first round of their NBA playoff series with a Game 4 win. The bad news was once again the Red Sox found a new way to lose. If you thought things couldn't get worse for the Red Sox....think again! Once again the anemic Red Sox offense were held to just two runs by mediocre pitching. Jose Berrios held the Red Sox scoreless for seven innings before an eighth inning rally tied the game. Nathan Eovaldi had the Red Sox best start of the season by holding the Jays to two runs in 7 innings on just 72 pitches. Incompetent acting manager Will Venable decided that Matt Strahm should pitch the eighth inning and the gamble failed. With two men on, Venable defied all logic by spurning 8th inning stalwarts Hansel Robles, Hiro Sawamura and Matt Barnes in favor of TYLER DANISH. Naturally George Springer singled to load the bases and Bo Bichette hit one of the most effortless grand slams in history to effectively end the game. The offense continues to struggle, Venable has no idea what he's doing and the Sox tumbled closer to last place with a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Jays at the Skydome.
Berrios got the ball in the top of the first and Kike Hernandez led off with a fly out to left. Alex Verdugo lined out to right and Xander Bogaerts grounded out to second to end the inning. Eovaldi got the ball in the bottom of the first and George Springer beat out a roller to third to begin. Bo Bichette banged into a double play and Vladimir Guerrero Jr grounded out to second to end the inning.
Rafael Devers flied out to left to start the top of the second inning before the returning JD Martinez doubled to center. Jackie Bradley Jr walked and Bobby Dalbec dropped a base hit to right to load the bases. Naturally Christian Arroyo grounded into a double play to end the inning. Lourdes Gurriel Jr struck out swinging to start the bottom of the second and Matt Chapman flied out to center. Alejandro Kirk grounded out to third to end the inning.
Kevin Plawecki led off the top of the third with a ground out to third. Hernandez struck out swinging and Verdugo flied out to left to end the inning. Raimel Tapia flied out to center to start the bottom of the third before Santiago Espinal struck out swinging. Bradley Zimmer went down hacking to end the inning.
Bogaerts singled to left to open the top of the fourth before moving to second on the grounder to second by Devers. Bogaerts moved to third on the fly out to right by Martinez but JBJ flied out to center to end the inning. Springer popped up to first to start the bottom of the fourth and Bichette grounded out to second. Guerrero Jr lined out to center to end the inning.
The lifeless Sox offense did nothing in the top of the fifth as Dalbec flied out to right to start the top of the fifth before Arroyo flied out to center. Plawecki hit an absolute rocket to center but Springer made a great diving catch to end the inning. The Jays struck first in the bottom of the fifth as Gurriel Jr hit a home run all the way to Vancouver to put the Jays up for good. Chapman flied out to right and Kirk grounded out to third but Tapia singled off the glove of Dalbec. Espinal struck out swinging to end the inning with the Jays up 1-0.
Berrios dominated the top of the sixth as Hernandez struck out swinging again to start. Verdugo struck out swinging and Bogaerts lined out to right to end the inning. The Sox have been held scoreless in 28 of the last 30 innings. Eovaldi did the best he could in the bottom of the sixth as Zimmer flied out to center to start. Springer flied out to right and Bichette struck out swinging to end the inning with Eovaldi at just 61 pitches.
The Sox rolled over and died in the top of the seventh as Devers lined out to short to start. Martinez struck out swinging and JBJ lined out to left to end the inning. The Jays struck again in the bottom of the seventh as Guerrero Jr got a base hit in the hole at second to begin. Guerriel Jr banged into a double play but Chapman hit a home run to Pluto to ice the game. Kirk grounded out to second to end the inning with the Jays up 2-0. Eovaldi held the Hays to 2 runs in 7 innings on 72 pitches but the bats did nothing.
Somehow Dalbec singled to left to start the top of the eighth before Arroyo got a base hit to center to chase Berrios. Adam Cimber came in to face Plawecki and Kevin dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over. Hernandez stepped up with a seeing eye single to left to score Dalbec and put runners at the corners. Verdugo hit a sac fly to center to score Arroyo to tie the game but Bogaerts flied out to right to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
Defying all logic, not only did acting Sox manager Will Venable pull Eovaldi after 72 pitches, he wanted Matt Strahm to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Tapia grounded out to second but Espinal singled to right and Zimmer dropped down a bunt back to Strahm. Strahm fired to first but Dalbec dropped it for a "single" that should have been an error. Rather than bring in Hansel Robles or Hiro Sawamura, for some reason Venable pulled Strahm for Tyler Danish. Naturally Springer singled to center and Bichette hit a grand slam to Asia to put the Sox out of their misery. Guerrero Jr lined out to Hernandez but Gurriel Jr doubled to left. Gosuke Katoh pinch ran for Gurriel and Chapman went down hacking to end the inning with the Jays up 6-2.
Just like his father used to, Bo hits a grand slam
Jays win
Danish Jackass
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4.
Julian Merryweather came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Devers doubled to left to start after a review. Martinez struck out swinging, JBJ grounded out to short to move Devers to third and Dalbec grounded out to second to end the game. The Jays had won it 6-2.
Jackass of the Night is Tyler Danish. He allowed the grand slam to Bo Bichette to lose the game.
The Good:
Bobby Dalbec was 2 for 4.
Christian Arroyo was 1 for 3 with a run scored.
Nathan Eovaldi tossed 7 innings and allowed just 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 5.
The Bad:
Kevin Plawecki was 0 for 2.
Matt Strahm was charged with 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning.
The Ugly:
Kike Hernandez was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but drove in a run.
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but drove in a run.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4.
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4.
JD Martinez was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 but walked.
Final Thoughts:
The Red Sox are imploding early this season. The offense is underwhelming, the bullpen blows more games than they save and the starters are being pulled way too early which goes much deeper than Sox manager Alex Cora or Will Venable. Analytics moseyed into baseball, adjusted their glasses and said "well ackshually statistics show starters are less effective three times through the order". Now Cora, Venable, Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash and teams across baseball are going with the analytics despite all evidence pointing otherwise. Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck were pulled with no-hitters last year, Clayton Kershaw was denied a perfect game by Dave Roberts this year and fans are fed up with the product on the field. What does this have to do with the Red Sox? By taking out the starters in the fifth inning or at really low pitch counts, that forces your bullpen to throw 3-4 innings a night and we all saw when the A-Team disintegrated last July what the results of that is. This time they're not waiting around to July, they're imploding already. Its bad enough the quartet of Martinez, Devers, Bogaerts and Story are rapidly falling to the bottom of the offensive standings, but the bullpen coughing up one game after another inspires no confidence at all. If you're a Sox starter, what's the point if you're just going to get yanked after five innings or so? Is there someone in the Sox front office willing to put their foot down and say "Alright, screw the analaytics"? Did they not see the second half of last season or Game 4 against the Houston Astros? What they're doing is NOT WORKING! The news gets even worse tomorrow night as Kevin Gausman looks to blind them two starts in a row and Nick Pivetta (0-3, 10.03 ERA) goes for the Sox. The game begins at 7:05 PM at the Skydome.
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