The Red Sox have become a better team over the past few days. James Paxton will bolster the starting rotation, Danny Jansen will provide an important right-handed bat off the bench, and once they arrive relievers Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia should help lift Boston’s bullpen up off the mat.
But prior to Tuesday night’s game, manager Alex Cora made a comment that proved prophetic about one weakness the club will have to address on its own.
“Obviously the defense needs to improve,” Cora said. “And we’ve been working hard on that.”
Though not the catastrophe it was most of last season, the Red Sox have slipped into a lot of old habits on defense recently, and Tuesday night the club may have hit its nadir. For the second time in three nights Boston committed three errors, leading to a sloppy and embarrassing 10-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
The errors collectively resulted in five unearned runs, most of which came in a hideous five-run top of the fifth that may have been among the Red Sox worst of the season.
Leading 3-2 thanks to a three-run home run by Rafael Devers in the bottom of the third, the Red Sox allowed a leadoff single and put men on second and third after Dom Smith threw the ball away on a bunt single by Leo Rivas. Then followed back to back fielder’s choice opportunities that resulted in all runners being safe, the latter of which included a fielding error by shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela and resulted in Mitch Haniger scoring to tie the game.
Seattle subsequently took the lead on an RBI groundout by Justin Turner, and after Jorge Polanco walked to load the bases Dylan Moore sent everyone home with a three-run double off the Green Monster that was only a couple of feet short of going for a grand slam.
The defensive miscues let down Paxton, who made his first start back with the Red Sox since being acquired from the Dodgers on Friday. The veteran lefty allowed six runs (three earned) on six hits over 4.1 innings with one walk and a solo home run to Polanco in the top of the fourth. He also struck out five, reaching 1,000 career strikeouts in the process.
Tuesday also marked another tough night for right-hander Zack Kelly, who walked two men and allowed the three-run double over just 0.1 inning of work.
The sixth inning didn’t go much better for the Red Sox. The Mariners scored three more times thanks in part to a throwing error by Connor Wong and an erratic debut by new pitcher Yohan Ramirez. The recently claimed right-hander logged 1.1 innings, and during that time he hit two batters, gave up an RBI double to Polanco and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch.
By that point it was 10-3, and though the Red Sox had one last push in them, the seven-run deficit proved too much to overcome.
Boston scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to get back within striking distance. Rafaela was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to lead off the inning, Jarren Duran singled, and after Wilyer Abreu struck out, Masataka Yoshida reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners at the corners with two outs. Devers, Tyler O’Neill and Dominic Smith then came through with three consecutive scoring hits, with Devers and O’Neill each firing off RBI singles before Smith ripped an RBI double to left.
Devers ultimately finished 3 for 4 with a home run, a double and four RBI. He finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
There will be better nights for Boston, and getting Sims and Garcia into the mix starting Wednesday should go a long way towards stabilizing a Red Sox pitching staff that’s been hemorrhaging runs for two weeks now. In 11 games since the All-Star break the club has now allowed 92 runs, an average of 8.3 per game, which is obviously unsustainable for a club with playoff aspirations.
But while the Red Sox brought in more arms, their defensive alignment pretty much is what it is, and it’s imperative that nights like Sunday against the Yankees or Tuesday against the Mariners don’t become the norm. First chance to turn things around will be Wednesday afternoon, when the Red Sox (56-50) aim to take two of three from Seattle (57-52). First pitch is 4:10 p.m.