Boston Red Sox Toronto Blue Jays: It’s getting uglier and uglier

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Earlier this year, the Red Sox had apparently just found ways to win. More recently, they have found ways to lose. This time, they held an early lead, with Nathan Eovaldi cruising. But then the offense lost a chance to open the lead early in the fifth, and the wheels came loose for Eovaldi late in the set. He allowed up seven points in the blink of an eye, and the game went from Boston’s lead to Toronto’s laughter. Just another day for these Red Sox these days.

We’re at a point on the Red Sox calendar where every game seems like a must-see. This is not literally true in the sense that they would still be alive in the playoff race (and indeed in possession of a playoff berth) whether they won or lost. But it might as well have been true. Stuck in the middle of their worst streak of the season, they also faced a fiery Blue Jays team that has a chance this weekend to really come back to this division, not to mention Boston’s own playoff image. It was the Red Sox’s job to stop Toronto, and also to regain momentum in the right direction.

The only good news on that front was their starting pitcher, Nathan Eovaldi. Although the right-hander had a rough start, he was the best member of the team’s rotation this year and had not allowed more than two points per start since his fourth and fifth starts of the season, back in April. And he was dominant for most of his early days. His splitter in particular was nasty, but he really had all the secondaries working early and just along the edges.

Really, there weren’t a lot of problems in his first four innings of work. The Blue Jays got a runner in three of those frames, but only a double in the first inning got a man past first, and no inning saw more than one batter hit in the inning. Throwing just 58 shots over the course of those four innings, Eovaldi was in full swing and desperate for help with his offense.

And while it’s not fair to say that the lack of offense went under the radar during this crisis, it feels like the starting pitcher has been blamed more, and that’s not necessarily fair. It feels like the offensive has failed to materialize in every opportunity they’ve had for two consecutive weeks. And once again, they struggled, this time against Blue Jays rookie Alek Manoah.

Example: In the first inning, they immediately called a single with an out with a double play to nip any momentum in the bud. They then shot a goal but got nothing else in the second before dropping back down in order in the third.

Finally, in the fourth quarter, there was a little more action, starting with Alex Verdugo who managed a double lead in the gap of the field at the center right. They were looking for a big hit to make a sustained rally, but they were going to take the next best thing when Verdugo moved up to third on a ground ball before giving his team a one point lead over a sacrifice fly from Rafael. Devers.

The fifth is really where this game has been won and lost. And at the start of this round, it seemed like a good thing for the Red Sox. They got two men with just one out, then after one strikeout, Kiké Hernández was able to keep the inning alive and double the Boston lead with a bloop liner falling into center field for an RBI single. Verdugo then came on and fired a goal, and suddenly the Red Sox had Martinez at home with a two-point lead and bases loaded, a real chance to break that open game. Instead, the struggling slugger pulled one out to complete the round and leave them loaded.

So after lost luck, the only thing they could potentially hang their hat on was the Eovaldi Cruise. But it all fell apart in the lower half of the sleeve. The right-hander started things off by allowing three consecutive trebles, and in the blink of an eye the game was tied, there was no one outside and the green light was in position to score. After finally getting the first goal of the set, the Red Sox intentionally made Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walk, putting the men in the corners with a hold for Marcus Semien.

It was a huge decision for the Red Sox who could very well have decided the game. Eovaldi responded with a huge strikeout from Semien for number two, putting him just aside from coming out with a tie. It would have been bad, but not catastrophic. Instead, Bo Bichette went back from 0 to 2 to rip up a simple RBI, and then the floodgates opened. Eovaldi then allowed two more on a double before Lourdes Gurriel Jr. slid one over the wall into left field all the way down the line. The two-point shot ended Eovaldi’s night and gave Toronto a shocking 7-2 lead.

And it didn’t even start there! Hansel Robles walked in and just unraveled. He immediately gave up a hit before hitting the next hitter he would face, which pissed off the Blue Jays. Surprisingly, both benches ended up being warned, and there was also a shouting match that followed. In the end, Robles would give up two more runs, and it was a 9-2 game as the set happily ended.

At this point, it was basically going to take a Red Sox miracle to win this game, which, to be fair, we’ve seen it before. And they cut the deficit a bit in the sixth with a two-run homerun from Hunter Renfroe. But it was still a five-point game, and Austin Davis would come out late in the inning to give one of those points right away.

If the Red Sox were to respond and make it a game again, the seventh was going to have to be a start with the meat of the order ahead. And they put on a two-man rally, with Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Devers all reaching to charge the bases with two down and Renfroe coming to the plate. Instead, he got down to it and gave Boston their second pop up to leave the bases full of the night.

This match also featured the first relief appearance of the year for Martín Pérez, whose move to the relievers’ pen has just been announced this afternoon. The southpaw allowed another run in the seventh to make it 11-4. Jonathan Araúz pitched the last round because it was that kind of day. The infielder allowed another point

The 12-4 loss dropped the Red Sox record to 64-47. If the Rays maintain their late four-point lead, Boston’s division deficit will drop to 2.5 games.

The Red Sox are looking for their momentum again with a double schedule on Saturday’s schedule. Game 1 will see Nick Pivetta take on Robbie Ray, with the opening pitch at 3:05 p.m. ET.

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