Officially the Red Sox were only charged with two errors. They probably should have been charged with at least five.
Anyone looking for proof that MLB’s official scorers have become too lenient got all the evidence they needed Monday, as the final box score belied the depths of Boston’s defensive woes. The Red Sox endured a dreadful performance at the worst possible time, squandering their momentum from this past weekend’s sweep with a 9-4 series-opening loss to the Houston Astros.
Chas McCormick added to Boston’s misery by knocking two home runs, including a back-breaking three-run shot in the fourth inning that effectively put the game away.
Rafael Devers had two crucial misplays that should have been ruled errors but weren’t. The first came on a hard grounder that could have led to an inning-ending double play but instead loaded the bases with one out. James Paxton wound up pitching his way out of that first-inning jam without further incident, but they weren’t as fortunate in the second when Devers couldn’t handle another hard hit ball by Alex Bregman, which tied the game and allowed the Astros to continue their eventual three-run rally.
There was also Reese McGuire’s catcher’s interference and Alex Verdugo’s botched catch in right field — Boston’s two official errors — plus a catchable ball off the wall that Masataka Yoshida couldn’t get, and later Paxton’s misplay on a ball up the middle that allowed an already calamitous fourth inning to continue.
Taken together, it was a complete mess.
Even with the poor defense Paxton didn’t make life too difficult for the Astros. The veteran left-hander allowed seven runs (six earned) over four innings, allowing nine hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
He gave up a sacrifice fly to Yordan Alvarez after loading the bases with no outs in the first, and though he worked his way out of that jam, he then allowed three runs on five hits in the second, including Martin Maldonado’s RBI double, Bregman’s game-tying single and Alvarez’s go-ahead RBI single.
The dagger came in the fourth when Chas McCormick ripped a 2-2, two-out fastball into the left field Crawford Boxes for a three-run home run. Paxton then allowed two more to get into scoring position before finally getting out of the inning and wrapping up wrapping up his day.
It could have been much worse. For all the second and third chances they got the Astros still managed to strand 13 runners. Had the Red Sox done a better job capitalizing on their own opportunities they could have still won the game.
Adam Duvall hit a three-run home run to put Boston ahead in the first, and after falling behind in the second the Red Sox had three consecutive innings where they failed to meaningfully capitalize after getting at least two men on with no outs. They came up empty in both the fourth and fifth innings, and in the sixth they loaded the bases and managed to score only one run on a Yoshida groundout to first, which made it 7-4 Houston.
Houston starter Cristian Javier, who came into the game with a 7.56 ERA over his last nine starts dating back to June 21, allowed only three runs on the Duvall homer despite also giving up seven hits and three walks over five innings. Collectively Boston went 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners, and eventually Houston pulled away with back-to-back solo homers by McCormick and Yainer Diaz in the bottom of the eighth.
With the loss Boston falls four games back in the AL Wild Card hunt. The Red Sox will badly needed a bounce back victory on Tuesday when Tanner Houck makes his return from the injured list against Astros ace Justin Verlander. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m.
The high point of the game, without a doubt, came a few batters into the top of the first when Duvall stepped to the plate with two men on and two out.
Kevin Millar, the former Red Sox champion taking his turn as NESN’s color commentator, made a bold prediction.
“He’s going deep,” Millar said. “This is not a good matchup for Javier. I’m telling you, Duvall, this is that last six weeks where he gets going and gets homer hot, but I’m going call you right now early in the game, I know with two outs we’re not used to doing this, we’re doing it right now, Duvall is going deep.”
Two pitches later, Duvall smoked a three-run home run into Minute Maid Park’s train tracks. Millar punctuated the moment with an incredulous “What!?!” and play-by-play man Dave O’Brien could barely contain his delight.
“We’re going to Vegas, brother!” O’Brien said.