This month, the Red Sox relied heavily on their pitching to win eight of nine games and move back into the playoff race. For around two weeks, everyone performed their duties, the bullpen held onto leads, and the starters went deep into games.
The Red Sox, however, barely found the plate in Anaheim late Monday.
In Monday’s 9–5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, the Red Sox’s pitching staff had a difficult night, walking a season-high 11 batters in their third consecutive loss. In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the game tied, Garrett Whitlock and Jorge Alcala were unable to hold the Angels at bay, giving up four runs late. Walker Buehler had a terrible opening inning, finishing with five runs allowed on seven walks.
Along with a costly error in the ninth and many baserunning errors, Boston continued a string of concerning patterns that seemed to have been cleaned up during the current hot streak. After fighting with the umpires over a play at second base when it seemed like Luis Rengifo impeded Abraham Toro from the bag with his leg, manager Alex Cora was also dismissed for the second straight game in the top of the fifth.
Jarren Duran broke for third on a ground ball to the shortstop on the disputed play, but he was first caught in a rundown. Toro was doubled up attempting to reach second after he was easily tagged out.
Cora told reporters in Anaheim after the game, “We thought he was blocking the bag at second.” He also mentioned that they had experienced a similar circumstance with the same umpire crew in a game against the Twins last year where the decision was reversed, and he was disappointed that they supported the call this time. That was my argument; the same thing occurred six months ago, and last year it was reversed. I wanted to be sure, but perhaps he was correct and he would be safe. I disagreed with that.
The Red Sox had a perfect start to the game, scoring three runs immediately after hitting five consecutive singles in the top of the first. Ceddanne Rafaela followed with an RBI knock after Wilyer Abreu delivered the majority of the damage with a two-run single, but Buehler returned the favor and more.
Buehler suffered again another disastrous first inning after a poor performance in Seattle, where he gave up eight runs in 3.1 IP. The Red Sox right-hander gave up two hits and four walks throughout the inning, three of which came with the bases loaded, after serving up a solo home run to Zach Neto on the first ball he threw. In the end, the Angels led 5-3 after sending 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the first.
After letting two more walks load the bases with one out in the fourth inning, Buehler found himself in danger once more. After forcing Jo Adell to pop out and striking out Travis Arnaud, the veteran managed to get out of the jam unscathed, but he had already thrown 94 pitches by then.
In his last five outings, Buehler has now given up 26 earned runs in 22 innings. Since returning from the disabled list on May 20, he has an 8.59 ERA and a 6.29 ERA for the season.
The Red Sox offense rallied to tie the game in spite of Buehler’s poor performance. Trevor Story tied the score at 5-5 with a solo home run to start the sixth, and Connor Wong scored his first RBI of the season on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth.
In the seventh inning, the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out and had a great chance to take the lead again, but Story and Roman Anthony struck out to end the threat.
With Whitlock getting off to a solid start with a perfect seventh and Luis Guerrero throwing two shutout innings, the Red Sox bullpen had done the job until the eighth. However, Whitlock lost the advantage as soon as he entered his second inning when LaMonte Wade Jr. singled, stole second, took third on a throwing error by Wong, and scored on a Christian Moore sacrifice fly. Despite getting two strikes on Taylor Ward, he was unable to keep the damage to one run. He then deliberately walked Mike Trout to load the bases with two outs and gave up another single.
Alcala came in and let up a two-run single to d Arnaud, officially ending the game, and Whitlock ended up walking Ward to drive in another run. He was then charged with two more runs. The game took an ugly turn when former Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen exited the game with the trainer after just throwing four pitches, but the Red Sox went quietly in the top of the ninth.
The Red Sox (40-40) have dropped back to.500 as a result of the defeat. When the Red Sox formally reach the halfway point of the season on Tuesday, Garrett Crochet will be on the mound as the team looks to recover.
