Facing the toughest remaining schedule of any playoff contender, the Red Sox have to take advantage of the few opportunities they have left against weaker competition if they hope to reach the postseason.
This week’s tilt against the last-place Washington Nationals was a golden opportunity, but the Red Sox let it slip away.
Though they made things interesting late, the Red Sox couldn’t erase an eight-run deficit and wound up losing 10-7 after being dominated in every facet during the early innings. Boston was doomed by two early errors and some uncharacteristically poor pitching performances, and the result was a second straight loss to lose the series.
The Red Sox trailed by as much as 9-1 after Washington scored five runs in the fifth and three in the sixth, but in the top of the seventh Boston’s bats finally came to life. Luis Urias hit a grand slam and Rafael Devers crushed a two-run home run to make it a two-run ballgame, but while the Red Sox got the tying run to the plate in the ninth, they couldn’t get over the hump.
Triston Casas kicked things off with a towering solo home run to left field in the top of the third. The opposite field bomb was the rookie’s 20th home run of the season, and according to the Red Sox communications staff, it also made him the third player in franchise history age 23 or younger to reach 25 career homers in his first 135 games. The others were Tony Conigliaro and Ted Williams.
Crucially, it was also a breakthrough for Casas against left-handed pitching. The 23-year-old has played sparingly against lefties and only three of his homers have come against them, but with Justin Turner limited to DH duty thanks to his bruised heel Casas is getting more opportunities.
For a while that was the game’s only positive takeaway.
The Red Sox shot themselves in the foot a couple times in the bottom of the third, committing two errors to allow the Nationals to tie the game at 1-1. Former Red Sox prospect Jeter Downs walked, stole second and reached third after Connor Wong’s throw sailed into center field, and then he scored after Rafael Devers bobbled a line drive by Joey Meneses.
Then in the fifth things started getting ugly.
Chris Sale’s second start back from the IL wasn’t as good as his first. He was charged with three runs (two earned) over 4.1 innings and left after 65 pitches when he walked two in the top of the fifth. Josh Winckowski came on and endured one of his worst outings of the season, allowing four hits to score both of Sale’s inherited runners plus three more.
Chris Murphy came in the sixth but wasn’t any better, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk, and Mauricio Llovera allowed one more run in the eighth.
Meneses led the onslaught with a pair of two-run doubles, Kiley Adams had a two-run single and Stone Garrett went 2 for 4 with three RBI, including a run-scoring single in the bottom of the eighth that stretched Washington’s lead to 10-7.
Alex Verdugo led off the ninth with a single and Jarren Duran doubled to put two on with no outs, but Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan shut the door from there, forcing a Reese McGuire groundout, striking out Devers and getting Trevor Story to line out to second to end the game.
The setback puts Boston 3.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the last American League Wild Card spot, a difficult position given how much tougher the road is about to get for the Red Sox and Toronto’s soft upcoming slate. Boston (63-58) now heads to the Bronx to open a three-game series against the New York Yankees.