The stink of their post All-Star break swoon looked like it was wearing off on Saturday night, as the Red Sox went into the ninth inning with an 8-7 lead, and had Kenley Jansen heading to the mound to close it out.
False alarm.
Boston fell 11-8 in 10 innings to the Yankees, dropping their record to 2-6 since returning from the All-Star break.
“We didn’t finish it,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “There was some close pitches there, you know? But in the end, they did what they did. And where we were bullpen-wise, we needed Chase [Anderson] to go in there and finish the game, you know? So a tough one, but I think we battled.
“The pitching part of it will be better. Our starters, obviously, have struggled lately going deep into the game. So let’s go back to the drawing board, be ready for the next one.”
Boston’s need for additional pitching at the MLB Trade Deadline was on full display Saturday night, as the combination of Kutter Crawford’s poor start (4.2 innings pitched, 8 hits, 5 earned runs and 3 home runs allowed) with a hodgepodge of bad pitching from the Red Sox bullpen led to a loss, despite the great day at the plate from the offense.
The team made its first move to help bolster the rotation on Friday, reuniting with former Dodgers lefty James Paxton , who returns to Boston after going 7-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 19 starts for the Red Sox in 2023. And even though no reinforcements have come in the bullpen just yet, all indications from Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow are that the team intends to continue to try to make moves this deadline season ,
Despite the obvious needs, Cora downplayed the team’s focus on the deadline postgame.
“The only thing we’re waiting [for] is for tomorrow to show up and then play the game,” said Cora when asked if the team was waiting for more pitching help at the deadline. “Like I said before, we’re not going to get caught up in the talk of this-and-that. Our job is to go out there and play hard every day, and let the front office do their job.
“We’re going to do our job and keep winning games. We have two more days of this, and wherever we’re at, we have a good baseball team.”
Saturday also saw the addition of Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen , as Boston sends Toronto minor league infielders Cutter Coffey and Eddinson Paulino, along with minor league pitcher Gilberto Batista.
“He’s hit the ball hard against us for a while,” Cora said of Jansen when asked about him postgame. “It seems like he likes hitting here, pull-side fly balls. He’s been solid. I’ve got some texts from teammates and from [John Schneider] saying that he’s a good kid, likes to work.
“He’s an interesting bat that gives us balance. I think he’s going to do some damage here in Fenway.”
So an offense that has overperformed expectations this season gets another bat.
A starting rotation gets another arm that can potentially help eat innings during the team’s push for the last wild card spot in the American League.
The final piece is bullpen help, and we will see if that comes in before the Tuesday deadline at 6 p.m.
After their loss on Saturday, the Red Sox are now 55-48 on the season, currently good for third place in the American League East, 5.5 games behind Baltimore (61-43). The Yankees are in second at 61-45, and have an opportunity to extend their second-place lead over Boston in the series’ rubber match on Sunday.
Boston blew an opportunity on Saturday to pick up ground on Kansas City for the final wild card spot in the American League, as the Royals lost to the Cubs 9-4. The Royals have now lost three of their last four games.
Most Popular
Comments / 0