Even though the Boston Red Sox lost three of their first five games, at least those games were entertaining. This game against the Pittsburgh Pirates was anything but. Pittsburgh silenced the Boston bats for the second day in a row, allowing just 5 hits and a run. This time it was Sox manager Alex Cora who reverted back to his 2021 ways to cost them. Corey Kluber (0-2, 6.48 ERA) had shown great improvement over his first start, holding the Pirates to a Carlos Santana home run through five innings at just 67 pitches. Cora then warped back to 2021 and yanked him, naturally the Sox bullpen allowed three runs in the next two innings to pretty much ice the game. Meanwhile Mitch Killer was allowed to go 7 innings and he held the Sox to just a Christian Arroyo rbi. The Sox defense committed two errors and it all added up to a humiliating three game sweep by the Pirates. Just like last game, the Pirates won 4-1 at Fenway Park.
Kluber got in trouble immediately in the top of the first as Oneil Cruz ripped a base hit to center to start. Bryan Reynolds lined out to right but Andrew McCutchen singled to left. Carlos Santana walked to load the bases but Ke'Bryan Hayes popped up to second and Jack Suswinski also popped up to second to end the inning. Keller got the ball in the bottom of the first and Alex Verdugo grounded out to second to start. Rafael Devers struck out swinging but Justin Turner drew a walk. Masa Yoshida struck out swinging to end the inning.
Rodolfo Castro flied out to center to begin the top of the second before Ji Hwan Bae lined out to right. Jason Delay took strike three to end the inning. Triston Casas grounded back to the mound to start the bottom of the second but Christian Arroyo got a base hit to left. Arroyo took second on a balk before moving to third on the Raimel Tapia grounder to the mound. Yu Chang struck out swinging to end the inning.
Cruz grounded out to second to start the top of the third before Reynolds did the same. McCutchen flied out to right to end the inning. Connor Wong grounded out to third to start the bottom of the third before Verdugo grounded out to first. Devers lined out to second to end the inning.
The Pirates struck first in the top of the fourth when Santana hit a home run all the way to Taiwan on the first pitch to put the Pirates up for good. Hayes popped up to first, Suwinski flied out to center and Castro grounded out to first to end the inning but Pittsburgh was ahead 1-0.
The Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the fourth as Turner flied out to right to start. Yoshida grounded out to second and Casas grounded out to third to end the inning.
Kluber cruised in the top of the fifth inning as Bae flied out to left to start. Delay popped up to short and Cruz struck out swinging to end the inning. Despite throwing just 67 pitches, Kluber was taken out by Cora after just five innings. He allowed just 3 hits and a walk but would be saddled with the loss.
Keller dominated the bottom of the fifth as Arroyo was rung up for strike three to start. Tapia and Chang both struck out swinging to end the inning.
John Schreiber came in to crap his pants in the top of the sixth inning as the pain in the ass Reynolds doubled to left to start. McCutchen beat out a roller to third to put runners at the corners but Santana struck out swinging. Hayes caught the Sox asleep with a suicide squeeze bunt up the first base line to score Reynolds. Suwinski walked to load the bases as the boos rained down on Schreiber and Cora for pulling Kluber. Thankfully Castro struck out swinging and Bae lined out to short to end the inning but it was 2-1 Pittsburgh.
Wong grounded out to start the bottom of the sixth but Verdugo walked. Naturally Devers popped up to short and Verdugo was doubled off first to end the inning.
Kaleb Ort got no help from his defense in the top of the seventh as Delray doubled over the head of Tapia to start. Cruz hit a roller to Casas but nobody covered the base and technically it wasn't an error but now there were runners at the corners. Reynolds hit a fly ball to Yoshida who turned and fired the ball into the monster seats for an inexplicable error to score Delay. McCutchen popped up to second but Santana iced the game with a double to right to score Cruz. Hayes took strike three to end the inning but it was 4-0 Pirates.
The Sox did manage to rally in the bottom of the seventh with Connor Joe replacing Cruz. Turner popped up to second and Yoshida grounded out to first, but Casas doubled to left. Arroyo ripped a base hit in the hole at second to score Casas and break up the shutout. Arroyo swiped second and Tapia moved him to third with a single in the hole at short. Reese McGuire pinch hit for Chang and....looked at strike three to end the inning. I could have done that! Still, the Sox got a run to trail 4-1.
Richard Bleier came in to pitch the top of the eighth with McGuire staying behind the plate and Kike Hernandez coming in to play short in Wong's spot. Suwinski walked but Castro grounded into a double play. Bae lined one off of Bleier for a hit but Delay grounded back to the mound to end the inning. Rob Zastryzny came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Hernandez popped up to first to start. Verdugo struck out swinging and Devers popped up tp second to end the inning.
Zack Kelly came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Joe grounded out to short to start. Reynolds walked and McCutchen was hit by a pitch before the Pirates pulled off a double steal on the incompetent McGuire. The Pirates then did themselves no favors when Santana hit a ball back to Kelly who threw home to nail Reynolds then threw to third to get McCutchen to end the inning.
Duane Underwood Jr came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth and Turner got a base hit to left to start. Yoshida killed the rally by hitting into a double play and Casas flied out to left to end the game. The Pirates had won it 4-1 and swept the Sox out of Fenway Park.
Jackass of the Night is Masa Yoshida. He went 0 for 4 at the plate with a strikeout to leave two men on plus committed an error in the field that led to a Pirates run scoring.
The Good:
Justin Turner was 1 for 3 with a walk
Christian Arroyo was 2 for 3 with an rbi and a stolen base.
Raimel Tapia was 1 for 3.
One of the rare times the losing pitcher ends up on the Good list but Corey Kluber was solid, allowing just one home run in 67 pitches through five innings. He walked one and struck out two, he deserved better.
Richard Bleier tossed a scoreless eighth inning.
Zack Kelly pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Rafael Devers was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Yu Chang was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts.
Reese McGuire struck out as a pinch hitter.
Connor Wong was 0 for 2 at the plate.
Kike Hernandez was 0 for 1 at the plate.
John Schreiber allowed a run in the sixth inning.
Kaleb Ort allowed 2 runs in the seventh inning.
The Ugly:
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked.
Triston Casas was just 1 for 4 but scored a run.
Final Thoughts:
If you're a hater of the Red Sox this was the game for you. It had everything from errors, bad bullpen, bad managerial decisions and bad attendance. Due to the bad weather and bad team on the field, the Sox only drew 24,000 which would have been unheard of the last 20 years. You get what you put in and when Sox GM Chaim Bloom put this team together with a bargain bin budget, it was totally expected they'd suffer for it. So far Yoshida has been more of a slap hitter than the second coming of Hideki Matsui, the bottom of the order sucks, the starters get yanked too early or they stink, the bullpen has faltered and the bench is borderline useless. A guy like Yu Chang would be in Worcester right now if they had Trevor Story and Xander Bogaerts on the team but one's gone and the other's hurt. Still, the bright side is Kluber looked a lot better this time around and Arroyo stepped up for once. The only bright side of the Sox getting swept in front of 24,000 people is maybe that'll help send a message to Sox owner John Henry to send Bloom packing after 2 last place finishes in 3 years and possibly a third coming up. The Sox now travel to Detroit for a three game set with the Tigers beginning tomorrow afternoon. Chris Sale looks to rebound from his terrible start as he battles with Spencer Turnbull of Detroit. The game begins at 2:10 PM Eastern time at Comerica Park.
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