Sox close year with whimper
Five losses in final six sends advantage to Tribe
The season is over. The Red Sox will play their next game in the postseason, the sign of a successful year.
But the hottest team in baseball just one week ago sure did make a mess of its final six games.
The Red Sox were held hitless until the seventh inning of their eventual 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays yesterday. Paired with a win by the Cleveland Indians, the Sox lost the chance to get home-field advantage in the AL Division Series.
“We played tough,” manager John Farrell said. “We set out to win each of these three games here. But we’ve been able to win on the road. And that’s where our postseason journey begins.”
If the Sox are to make one last run with David Ortiz on board, they’ll be doing it as the No. 3 seed, putting them on the road for the majority of the ALDS and, if the Texas Rangers beat the winner of the wild card game between the Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, ALCS. (The Sox would get homefield advantage in the World Series, if they make it that far, courtesy of the AL’s win in the All-Star Game.)
Stumbling home 1-5, the Sox finished 93-69, a record that surpassed most preseason expectations but could’ve been better if not for a disappointing final week.
The Sox won 11 in a row until last Tuesday, when they lost 6-4 to the New York Yankees. The next night, they blew a 3-0 ninth-inning lead and took a 5-3 walkoff loss. They still celebrated an AL East crown, but came back with a Blineup the next day and lost again to complete a three-game sweep at the hands of the Yanks before losing two of three to the Jays.
“This is a team that played really good baseball when we really needed to,” said David Price, who started yesterday. “We proved ourselves a lot doing what we did against the teams we did during that 11-game winning streak and I know our team is ready to go.”
On the mound needing a win to force the Indians into potentially playing a makeup game with the Detroit Tigers today, Price put the Red Sox in a 1-0 hole when Devon Travis took him deep in the fifth.
Price exited after just five innings and 80 pitches. Farrell said he was planning on keeping Price on a pitch count, since he’ll pitch next on Friday in Game 2 of the ALDS.
“I don’t come up with these plans, I just do as I’m told,” he said. “I was fine with it. It was a big game for both sides. They had a lot on the line. We had homefield advantage on the line.”
Five innings wasn’t enough to help Price’s first regular season in Boston end on a winning note. He finished with 230 innings, allowing 227 hits (including 30 homers) and 50 walks while striking out 228. His 3.99 ERA was Price’s highest since 2009, his rookie year.
“I feel good mentally,” he said. “I’m ready to take the next step.”
Aaron Sanchez joined the list of Blue Jays starters to quiet the Red Sox offense this season with six innings of no-hit ball. Hanley Ramirez finally broke that with two outs in the seventh, when Sanchez hung a second-pitch curveball and Ramirez blasted it over the left-field foul pole. The play was reviewed but the homer stood, giving Ramirez 30 long balls on the season.
Ramirez (111 RBI), David Ortiz (38, 127) and Mookie Betts (31, 113) are the first Red Sox trio ever to record at least 30 homers and 100 RBI in a season.
Ortiz, who was honored in a lengthy ceremony before his final regular-season game, was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He grounded back to the pitcher in the ninth inning and was given a standing ovation on the way off the field. Ortiz tipped his cap.
“I’m exhausted, I’m not going to lie to you,” he said.
With it 1-1, Brad Ziegler surrendered a walk and three singles in the eighth inning as the Jays took the lead for good. The Sox put two on in the final frame but Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded out to end the game.
After a lackluster finish, the Red Sox have to fly to Cleveland, where the Indians are 53-28 at home — tied with Texas for the best mark in the AL — and scoring 5.6 runs per game.
“Now we can go back to normal and I can go back to my routines and try my best once the playoffs kick in,” Ortiz said.