Guess the Boston Red Sox are who we thought they were. Their offense has been bad all season long and tonight was no different, but the bullpen for the second straight game got bashed by the St. Louis Cardinals. Kutter Crawford and Miles Mikolas battled to a 1-1 tie when both bullpen gave up a run to put the game at 2-2 going into the bottom of the eighth. Justin Slaten (2-2, 3.38 ERA) got rocked for 5 runs in the bottom of the eighth with the Sox making yet another error. Kyle Leahy slammed the door in the top of the ninth amd the Sox fell another game under .500 in a 7-2 defeat by the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Mikolas got the ball in the top of the first inning and Jarren Duran flied out to left to start. Wilyer Abreu walked, stole second and took third when Nolan Gorman booted a grounder by Connor Wong. Naturally Rafael Devers struck out swinging and Tyler O'Neill forced Wong at second to end the inning. Crawford got the ball in the bottom of the first inning and Brendan Donovan grounded out to short to start. Lars Nootbaar grounded out to short but Paul Goldschmidt singled to left. Nolan Arenado walked but Ceddanne Rafaela made a good diving catch to rob Alec Burleson of a hit to end the inning.
Dominic Smith struck out swinging to open the top of the second before Vaughn Grissom grounded out to third. David Hamilton flied out to center to end the inning. The Cards struck first in the bottom of the second as Ivan Herrera lined out to right to begin. Nolan Gorman then hit a home run all the way to Kentucky to put the Cards on top. Maysn Winn flied out to left but Michael Siani singled to right. Donovan flied out to left to end the inning with the Cardinals ahead 1-0.
Rafaela flied out to center to begin the top of the third and Duran went down hacking. Abreu flied out to right to end the inning. Nootbaar got a base hit in the hole at short to begin the bottom of the third but Goldschmidt took strike three. Arenado popped up to second and Burleson lined out to right to end the inning.
The Sox struck back in the top of the fourth as Wong flied out to right to start, but Devers bashed his eighth home run of the season to tie the game. O'Neill grounded out to short and Smith watched strike three go by to end the inning with the game tied 1-1.
Herrera grounded out to third to open the bottom of the fourth and Gorman froze for strike three. Winn flied out to left to end the inning.
Grissom grounded out to short to start the top of the fifth but Hamilton doubled to center. Rafaela flied out to center to move Hamilton to third but Duran popped up to third to end the inning. Siani walked to start the bottom of the fifth but was thrown out at second trying to steal. Donovan grounded out to third and Nootbaar struck out swinging to end the inning.
John King came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Abreu grounded out to first to start. Wong grounded out first and Devers grounded out to short to end the inning. Goldschmidt struck out swinging to start the bottom of the sixth but Arenado singled to center. Burleson caught Devers asleep with a bunt single but Herrera struck out swinging. Rather than let Crawford go over 100 pitches, Sox manager Alex Cora yanked him after 5 2/3 innings where he allowed 1 run off 6 hits and 2 walks. Brennan Bernardino came in and Arenado got picked off by Wong to end the inning.
Andrew Kittredge came in to pitch the top of the seventh and O'Neill struck out swinging to start. Smith and Grissom both struck out swinging to end the inning. The Cards took command in the bottom of the seventh although Gorman struck out swinging to start. Winn singled to center and Dylan Carson pinch hit for Siani. Carlson singled to right and Bernardino had him picked off...if he didn't throw the ball away for an error. Donovan walked to load the bases and Winn scored on the grounder to first by Nootbaar. Cora got rid of Bernardino and Justin Slaten came in to get Goldschmidt to ground out to short to end the inning with the Cardinals up 2-1.
The Sox fought back in the top of the eighth with JoJo Romero oh the mound. Romy Gonzalez pinch hit for Hamilton and lashed a base hit to left.....but was thrown out at second trying to stretch a double. Sox manager Alex Cora challenged that he was safe but the umpires upheld the call. Rafaela grounded out to short but Duran got a base hit to left. Rob Refsnyder pinch hit for Abreu and doubled to center to score Duran. Wong flied out to left to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
Everything fell apart in the bottom of the eighth as Arenado got a base hit to left to start. Burleson got a base hit to right and Herrera lashed a single to left to score Arenado. Gorman singled to right to score Burleson and Winn hit a sac fly to right to score Herrera. Carlson took strike three but Donovan best out a roller to short to chase the incompetent Slaten. Zack Kelly came in and immediately Nootbaar got a base hit to right....under the glove of Refsnyder. Gorman and Donovan scored on the error but Goldschmidt flied out to center to end the inning with the Cardinals up 7-2.
Kyle Leahy came in to close out the top of the ninth and Devers flied out to center to start. O'Neill got a base hit to center but Smith grounded into a double play to end the game. The Cardinals had won it 7-2.
Jackass of The Night is Justin Slaten. He got nailed for 5 runs in the seventh inning to take the loss.
The Good:
David Hamilton was 1 for 2.
Kutter Crawford allowed just 1 run in 5 2/3 innings off 6 hits and 2 walks. He also struck out 5.
The Bad:
Connor Wong was 0 for 4.
Dominic Smith was 0 for 4 with hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Vaughn Grissom was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 0 for 3.
Brennan Bernardino allowed a run and committed an error in 1 inning of work.
The Ugly:
Jarren Duran was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but scored a run.
Wilyer Abreu was 0 for 2 but walked and stole a base.
Rob Refsnyder got a base hit and an rbi but his error allowed 2 runs to score.
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but hit a home run.
Tyler O'Neill was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Romy Gonzalez got a base hit as a pinch hitter but was thrown out at second on the play.
Zack Kelly allowed an inherited runner to score but none of his own in 1/3 of an inning.
Final Thoughts:
Well if this is how the rest of the season is going to go, at least the Sox made it look interesting for two months. The lack of offense and the lack of aces on the pitching staff combined with the frightening amount of injuries has the Sox two games under .500. This time not only was the offense pretty bad, but the bullpen was as well. That's two games in a row the bullpen got lit up. Not even Cora's fault as Crawford was already at 99 pitches and Bernardino was coming in for the seventh inning anyway. Slaten getting lit up represents a common problem in rookie pitchers where they start out like a house of fire but hitters start figuring them out. Hitters looked to have figured out Slaten so its up to him to re-adjust. The only saving grace about this year's team is the three wildcards mean the Sox can play mediocre for four months then turn it on at the end. Problem is they still need to keep it close and they won't at this pace. The less said of this game, the better. The loss dropped the Sox to 22-24, 9.5 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to snap their four game losing streak tomorrow night when Nick Pivetta (1-2) takes on Matthew Libatore of St. Louis. The game begins at 7:15 PM Eastern time at Busch Stadium.
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