When the Red Sox won eight out of nine games to climb back into the playoff picture this month, they did so on the strength of their pitching. For about two weeks the starters went deep into games, the bullpen held onto leads, and everyone did their job.
But late Monday in Anaheim, the Red Sox could hardly find the plate.
The Red Sox pitching staff had a tough night in Monday’s 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, collectively walking a season-worst 11 batters en route the club’s third straight defeat. Walker Buehler endured a horrible first inning and finished with five runs allowed on seven walks, and with the game tied in the bottom of the eighth Garrett Whitlock and Jorge Alcala couldn’t keep the Angels at bay, giving up four runs late.
Boston also committed several baserunning blunders as well as a costly error in the eighth, continuing a series of worrisome trends that appeared to have been cleaned up during the recent hot streak. Manager Alex Cora was also ejected for the second consecutive game in the top of the fifth after arguing with the umpires over a play at second base in which it appeared Luis Rengifo blocked Abraham Toro from the bag with his leg.
On the play in question, Jarren Duran was initially caught in a rundown after breaking for third on a ground ball to the shortstop. He was easily tagged out, and Toro was then doubled up trying to make it to second.
“Our view was that he was blocking the bag at second,” Cora told reporters in Anaheim postgame, adding that they had a similar situation with the same umpire crew in a game last year against the Twins in which the call was reversed, and he was upset that they upheld the call this time. “I was trying to make that point, it happened six months ago, same situation, and it was reversed last year. Maybe he’s right, he was going to be safe, but I wanted to make sure. I didn’t agree with it.”
Things couldn’t have started off better for the Red Sox, who scored three runs right out of the gate after stringing together five straight singles in the top of the first. Wilyer Abreu delivered the bulk of the damage with a two-run single and Ceddanne Rafaela followed with an RBI knock, but Buehler gave it all right back and then some.
Coming off an ugly outing in Seattle in which he allowed eight runs over 3.1 innings, Buehler endured another calamitous first inning. The Red Sox right-hander served up a solo home run to Zach Neto on the first pitch he threw before allowing four walks and two hit batsman over the course of the inning, three coming with the bases loaded. The Angels ultimately sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the first and took a 5-3 lead.
Buehler got into trouble again in the fourth inning, allowing two more walks to load the bases with one out. The veteran was able to escape the jam unscathed after striking out Travis d’Arnaud and forcing Jo Adell to pop out, but by that point he’d already thrown 94 pitches.
Buehler has now allowed 26 earned runs over 22 innings in his last five starts. He has a 6.29 ERA for the season and an 8.59 mark since coming off the injured list on May 20.
Despite Buehler’s ugly showing, the Red Sox offense was able to come back and tie the game. Connor Wong delivered his first RBI of the season on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth, and Trevor Story knotted things up at 5-5 with a solo home run to lead off the sixth.
The Red Sox also had a golden opportunity to re-take the lead in the seventh, loading the bases with one out, but Roman Anthony and Story struck out to end the threat.
Up until the eighth the Red Sox bullpen had gotten the job done, with Luis Guerrero throwing two scoreless innings and Whitlock starting strong with a perfect seventh. But when Whitlock came out for his second inning he immediately gave up the lead when LaMonte Wade Jr. singled, stole second, took third on a throwing error by Wong and scored on a sacrifice fly by Christian Moore. He then gave up another single and intentionally walked Mike Trout to load the bases with two outs, but despite getting two strikes on Taylor Ward he couldn’t limit the damage to just the one run.
Whitlock wound up walking Ward to drive in another run, and he was charged with two more runs when Jorge Alcala came in and gave up a two-run single to d’Arnaud, which effectively put the game away. The Red Sox went quietly in the top of the ninth, though things initially took an unfortunate turn when former Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen left the game with the trainer after throwing only four pitches.
With the loss the Red Sox (40-40) have fallen back to .500. The club will look to bounce back with Garrett Crochet on the mound Tuesday, when the Red Sox officially reach the season’s midway point.
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