For the 16th time in their last 18 games, a Red Sox starter lasted at least five innings.
That’s the good news from Sunday night’s series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The bad news is pretty much everything else: the starter, a shaky bullpen, a quiet lineup, and a series loss turned into a series sweep with a 9-1 drubbing.
Corey Kluber took the mound for his eighth start of the season, and continued proving he’s no longer the formidable two-time Cy Young pitcher of the mid-2010s.
Over five innings, he allowed four earned runs on seven hits, including a pair of absolutely clobbered home runs, each of which traveled at least 425 feet.
“Command was off today. He battled, right?” Alex Cora said. “He gave us five, which was good for us.”
While it was the 37-year-old right-hander’s fifth consecutive start of at least five frames, the innings themselves deflated the Red Sox early. He gave up a leadoff double to Lars Nootbaar, who promptly scored when Paul Goldschmidt singled in the next at-bat. The Red Sox entered the game 8-14 when their opponents score first.
After giving up a solo homer in the second, Kluber loaded the bases on three walks in the third. While he managed to escape damage by getting Paul DeJong to strike out swinging, it’s only the 27th time in 259 career regular-season starts that Kluber has issued three walks, never mind within the same frame. It was also only his 27th time giving up multiple home runs in a start.
Through eight starts, Kluber has yet to pitch a scoreless outing. He’s allowed three or more earned runs in six of his games, likewise for issuing at least one walk. It’s his third time giving up multiple home runs this year; his ERA is up to 6.41.
“There was a lot of traffic,” Cora noted.
The Red Sox answered back immediately in the first, with Alex Verdugo matching Nootbaar’s leadoff double and scoring the tying run. Then, the bats fell silent; they left seven men on base, including squandering four walks. Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas didn’t get a single strikeout in six innings, but it turned out, he didn’t need any to hold the home team down.
A glimmer of hope in the 7th was quickly snuffed out when Enmanuel Valdez’s 2-run homer by the Pesky Pole was reviewed and overturned for a foul ball. He struck out swinging, instead. They got another chance a few batters later, but Masataka Yoshida flew out to shallow left, leaving the bases loaded.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals kept adding on, and adding on, and adding on. They scored in five of the first eight innings, leading 9-1 by the end of the penultimate frame, and holding that score until the last out in the ninth.
There would be no Mother’s Day Miracle this year.
Since ending their 8-game win streak last Sunday in Philadelphia, the Red Sox are in a somewhat-inexplicable free fall, back at the bottom of the division after clawing their way up to third less than two weeks ago.
“I think overall, pitching-wise, we were off,” Cora noted.
That’s been true of the entire series. Friday and Saturday were winnable games until Kenley Jansen took over; his sudden struggles are alarming, though there’s been no talk of injury. Brennan Bernardino and Ryan Brasier combined for five earned runs on six hits between the sixth and eighth innings in the series finale.
“We played two good games, and we lost in the ninth, and today, they kicked our butt.”
Indeed, this is the second time in less than two months that the Red Sox have been swept at home. Both times by less-than-stellar National League teams, too.
The Red Sox have relied heavily on offensive production this season, and it’s becoming painfully clear that when the bats falter, they have little to fall back on. They’re 21-8 when scoring at least four runs, now 1-11 when scoring less.
After coming to town 13-25, the Cardinals get to fly home with a series sweep and serious momentum under their wings.
Leaving the Red Sox with nothing.