A weekend to forget
What a series loss to the last-place Orioles taught us about Sox
BOSTON — That wasn’t how the homestand was supposed to go.
Three losses in five games to the Baltimore Orioles, a team with a payroll one-fifth the size, a bottom-five offense, a bottom10 pitching staff and one player, Cedric Mullins, who had ever been on an All-star team?
Yuck.
The Sox were lifeless in the series finale Monday night, when they took a 10-0 loss on the chin and snapped their streak of four straight series wins. It was the Sox’s most lopsided shutout loss in a decade.
“They’ve got some solid hitters that hit the ball out of the ballpark,” manager Alex Cora said of an Orioles team that entered the series ranked 24th in Major League Baseball in home runs.
“That was the whole series right there: We didn’t keep it in the ballpark. They did damage and that’s why they won the series.”
To lose three out of five against the last-place Orioles was ugly, disappointing and, depending on which side of the fence you lean, surprising. But it shouldn’t have been.
Until the Red Sox find actual answers on the pitching side and discover more than Tanner Houck as a reliable relief option, extended winning streaks are going to be rare. They won six in a row because their offense plated 54 runs in those six games, scoring at least five every night.
Then what happened? The
Red Sox had the O’s and the Reds, arguably the two worst teams in baseball, waiting for them when they returned to a warm and sunny Fenway Park on Friday, scored six runs in the first two innings and then watched their bullpen blow a six-run lead entering the seventh inning.
“I think we learned the lesson Friday,” Cora said. “At this level any team can score a lot. If you get going and you put up good at-bats, you can score three in one inning, four in the next one, and obviously that’s a game that we have to finish from the mound.”
Watching the bullpen allow 10 runs in the final three innings Friday was one of the worst moments of the season.
Given all the momentum the Sox had after scoring 33 runs in three games in Chicago and the energy in Fenway Park that felt back to October levels for the first time all year, it was a catastrophic defeat.
“We had a lot of chances to keep rolling on Friday night and we didn’t,” Cora said.
Then on Saturday the Red Sox had another golden opportunity.
Nathan Eovaldi threw his first career complete game in the first of two on the schedule. The bullpen was fully rested for the second game of the doubleheader. But rookie Josh Winckowski struggled in his major-league debut and the Sox split the twinbill, an embarrassment considering the huge advantage.
Nick Pivetta set the tone for a big win Sunday, then Rich Hill put together his worst start in four years Monday and once again the team looked lifeless as it was shut out on just four hits.
The five-game series ended with just two wins against the worst team in the American League. The Sox are 3-5 against the Orioles this season.
“Bottom line is we have to take care of what we have to take care of here in this clubhouse,” Hill said. “Whatever any other team is doing is not a concern of what’s happening with us.”