It was bad news all around as the Boston Bruins lost Game 3 of their second round NHL playoff series and the Boston Red Sox lost to the Washington Nationals. Once again the Red Sox couldn't get a clutch hit when it counted as they actually outhit the Nationals in this one 9 hits to 8. Unfortunately Patrick Corbin of Washington held the Sox to one measly run in 5 innings of work. Tanner Houck (3-4, 2.24 ERA) allowed 3 runs in 7 innings of work that normally would be enough to win a game. The Nationals bullpen pitched a shutout the rest of the way, the bats pounded Kenley Jansen for another 2 runs, and won the game 5-1 at Fenway Park.
Houck got the ball in the top of the first inning as Jacob Young grounded out to third to start. CJ Abrams struck out swinging and Luis Garcia Jr grounded out to second to end the inning. The Sox scoring woes continued in the bottom of the first with Corbin on the mound. Jarren Duran grounded out to first before Rob Refsnyder grounded out to second. Tyler O'Neill doubled off the Monster and Devers walked, but Connor Wong got a base hit to right. O'Neill motored around third but was thrown out at home to end the inning.
Joey Meneses grounded out to second to open the top of the second and Jesse Winker lined out to center. Keibert Ruiz got a base hit to right and Eddie Rosario doubled to right and Trey Lipscomb got a bases clearing base hit to right to put the Nationals up for good just two innings into the game. Lipscomb swiped second and Victor Robles got a base hit to left. Lipscomb tried to score but was thrown out at home by Duran to end the inning with the game already over, 2-0 Nationals.
The Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the second as Vaughn Grissom popped up to second to start. Garrett Cooper lined out to second but Romy Gonzalez singled to left. Ceddanne Rafaela flied out to right to end the inning.
Young's bunt attempt was snuffed out by Devers to start the top of the third and Abrams grounded out to second. Garcia Jr doubled to center and Meneses got a base hit past Grissom to score Garcia to ice the game. Winker grounded out to second to end the inning with the Nationals up 3-0.
The Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the third as Duran grounded out to second to start. Refsnyder took strike three and O'Neill struck out swinging to end the inning.
Ruiz grounded out to short to start the top of the fourth before Rosario flied out to left. Lipscomb walked but Robles flied out to center to end the inning. The Sox broke through in the bottom of the fourth although Devers grounded out to second to start. Wong caught Lipscomb asleep with a bunt single but Grissom struck out swinging. Cooper doubled off the Monster to score Wong but Gonzalez grounded out to short to end the inning with the Sox down 3-1.
Young was hit with a pitch to start the top of the fifth before he stole second. Abrams flied out to center to move Young to third but Garcia Jr took strike three. Meneses grounded out to second to end the inning. The Sox blew another rally in the bottom of the fifth as Rafaela got a base hit to short to begin. Duran got another base hit in the hole at short but Refsnyder flied out to right to move Rafaela to third. O'Neill took strike three and Devers forced Duran at second to end the inning.
Winker grounded out to first to start the top of the sixth before Ruiz struck out swinging. Rosario grounded out to second to end the inning. Derek Law came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth and the Sox blew another rally. Wong flied out to right but Grissom got a base hit to right. Cooper flied out to right but Wilyer Abreu pinch hit for Gonzalez. Abreu and Rafaela drew back to back walks to load the bases and Robert Garcia came in to face Duran. Duran took strike three to end the inning as the misery continued.
Houck returned for one final inning in the top of the seventh and Lipscomb grounded out to second to start. Robles lined out to left and Young struck out swinging to end the inning. Houck did the best he could, allowing just 3 runs in 7 innings that would be good enough to win with a better offense.
Hunter Harvey came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and the Sox blew a rally AGAIN. Refsnyder walked and O'Neill banged into a double play. Devers struck out swinging to end the inning.
Brennan Bernardino came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Abrams flied out to left to start. Garcia popped up to third and Meneses struck out swinging to end the inning. Dylan Floro came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Wong grounded out to third to start. Grissom grounded back to the mound and Dominic Smith pinch hit for Cooper. Smith grounded out to short to end the inning. The Sox have scored just three runs combined in the last three games.
Kenley Jansen came in to pitch the top of the ninth and struck out Winker swinging to start. Ruiz went down hacking but Rosario got a base hit to right. Rosario took off for second and Wong threw the ball away, allowing Eddie to take third on the error. Naturally a wild pitch scored Rosario and Robles got a base hit to left to score Lipscomb. Robles stole second base but Young struck out swinging to end the inning with the Nationals up 5-1.
Jacob Barnes came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and somehow Abreu doubled to right. Naturally Rafaela and Duran struck out swinging before Refsnyder drew a walk. To cap off the ineptitude with RISP, O'Neill struck out swinging to end the game. The Sox were 1 for 9 with RISP and left 11 men on base as they lost 5-1.
Jackass of The Night is Kenley Jansen. Not that the Sox were going to score many runs but he turned a 3-1 game into 5-1 just like that.
The Good:
Connor Wong was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Garrett Cooper was 1 for 3 with an rbi.
Romy Gonzalez was 1 for 2.
Wilyer Abreu was 1 for 1 with a walk.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Brennan Bernardino pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
The Bad:
Dominic Smith was 0 for 1 as a pinch hitter.
The Ugly:
Jarren Duran was just 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts but threw out a runner at home.
Rob Refsnyder was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked twice.
Tyler O'Neill was just 1 for 5 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Rafael Devers was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked.
Vaughn Grissom was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Tanner Houck took the loss but allowed just 3 runs in 7 innings with 6 hits and a walk.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox are officially in a team wide slump and Sox analyst Lou Merloni says its in their heads now. They've scored just three runs in the last three games and look completely incompetent with men on base. The Sox offense was an issue going into the season and losing Trevor Story and Triston Casas put the team in serious danger of falling out of contention early. The Sox dropped to .500 and the worst part is the pitching hasn't been the problem....apart from Jansen anyway. Houck pitched well and normally you'd be happy with 7 innings and 3 runs allowed from your starter. The sad part is the Sox are getting their pitchers back from injury like Nick Pivetta and Brayan Bello, but its not going to mean anything if they can't hit. Niko Kavadas is hitting .299 with 8 home runs and 22 rbis in Worcester and it might be time to give him a chance if guys like Cooper and Smith aren't getting it done. Its no time to panic but things don't look good right now, hopefully things change soon. The loss dropped the Sox to 19-19, 6.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to bounce back tomorrow afternoon against Washington when Cooper Criswell (2-1, 1.74 ERA) takes on Jake Irvin of the Nationals. The game begins at 4:05 PM at Fenway Park.
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