Any time a team goes on a long winning streak, the pressure to keep it going mounts with each game.
Even more so for a team like the Red Sox, who most experts predicted will win around 78 games and finish at the bottom of their division again this year, but entered Sunday afternoon’s series finale in Philadelphia with an 8-game win streak on the line and the fourth-best record in the majors.
Boston had already won the series by taking the first two games, but they weren’t going to be able to keep the pricy and powerful Philly lineup quiet all weekend. Instead, their own bats fell silent while familiar faces handed them a deflating 6-1 loss.
Phillies starter Taijuan Walker pitched six innings of 1-run ball, but the toughest pill to swallow was that Kyle Schwarber (2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI) and Matt Strahm (2 IP, 1 H, 3 K) helped put their former team away.
While both starting pitchers faced the minimum through the first three frames, Tanner Houck got himself into trouble in the fourth. He loaded the bases on back-to-back singles and a walk, then allowed two runs to score. He exited after 5 ⅔, charged with three earned runs on five hits, a walk, and four strikeouts on just 74 pitches. Not his best day, but good enough to make it the 13th consecutive game in which a Red Sox starter went at least five innings.
Boston batters were 7-for-36 in their careers against Walker, but the bulk of that belonged to Justin Turner (4-for-16), who wasn’t in Sunday’s lineup. Neither was Christian Arroyo, who landed on the 10-day injured list unexpectedly on Sunday morning. The Red Sox had to bring up Bobby Dalbec, who’s played four major league games and none since April 13, from Triple-A to patch over their sparse middle infield.
Masataka Yoshida quickly extended his major league-leading hit streak to 16 games in the first inning, then got picked off, so it ended up being a 1-2-3 first inning, as did the following two frames.
After striking out in his first battle with Walker, Triston Casas turned on a 4-seam fastball, and put his team on the board in the fifth. Walker held Boston to three hits, a run, struck out six, and didn’t issue a walk, and Casas’ 106.4 mph, 416-foot homer was the only run his team scored all day.
Meanwhile, Schwarber roared back in a big way after an 0-for-5 game on Saturday night. The popular 2021 Red Sox trade deadline addition struck out in his first at-bat, then singled to bring in a run in the fourth, and blasted a 110.8 mph, 434 home run off Richard Bleier in the sixth.
Though Schwarber was 1-for-8 against Bleier in the past, it was surprising to see the lefty take the mound when he did; Houck had only thrown 74 pitches, and Bleier has struggled against left-handed hitters this season.
Strahm, one of Boston’s only reliable relievers last year, proceeded to add salt to the wound by striking out three in a scoreless eighth inning. His performance stood in sharp contrast with Zack Littell’s season debut in the bottom of the inning. In his first game with the Red Sox, Littell loaded the bases and gave up a 2-out, 2-run single to Realmuto, putting his new team’s already-quiet lineup in an even bigger hole, before Strahm put the Red Sox away in the ninth.
Defense behind the dish was one of the only bright spots for Boston. Runners continue trying to run on Connor Wong, who entered Sunday tied for the second-best Catcher’s Caught Stealing Above Average and second-best Pop Time to second base in the majors, and showed off his arm on Sunday. He caught fellow catcher J.T. Realmuto (who leads their position in pop time to second) stealing in the second, then repeated the move in the seventh, nabbing Edmundo Sosa. Both times, the play ended the inning.
The Red Sox entered Sunday’s game 8-11 when their opponents score first. They already have 14 comeback wins this season, but it’s unrealistic to expect them every game. Sometimes, they’ll score one run, strike out nine times and won’t draw a walk.
Not every game will end with a bang. For the first time in over a week, the Red Sox whimpered.