Red Sox force extras, but rally falls short in 6-5 loss to struggling Tigers

There aren’t any must-wins in early May, but Wednesday night felt like a missed opportunity on a number of levels for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox, who looked lifeless for most of the night, finally came alive late to force extra innings but didn’t execute enough in a painful 6-5 home loss to the Detroit Tigers, who have the worst record in baseball.

Wednesday’s takeaways as the Red Sox fell to 18-13 this season, needing a victory in Thursday’s matinee to take the series against the lowly Tigers:

— Garrett Whitlock came on the scene with a dominant April and one of the best early stories of the Red Sox season, but his beginning to May may have marked the end to his honeymoon period.

The rookie Rule 5 draft pick didn’t allow an earned run in his first six appearances, but the turn of the calendar has shown his first career struggles. After allowing his first career earned run on a home run in Sunday’s loss to the Rangers, Whitlock wasn’t sharp on Wednesday. The righty was summoned for the start of the 10th and had a tough-luck bloop drop in for a hit to put runners on first and third, but Jeimer Candelario followed by hammering a first-pitch fastball to right for a three-run homer and the ultimate dagger.

The Red Sox scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the 10th and threatened to steal the game, but their rally came up short when Kiké Hernandez struck out looking to end the game.

— A night after erupting for 11 runs on 14 hits, the Red Sox struggled against Tigers starter Casey Mize, the first overall pick in the 2018 draft. Their only run off him came aided by a pair of walks in the second, when the Red Sox plated one on a ground out.

So, the Red Sox were certainly happy to see him depart after the sixth. And their red-hot designated hitter took full advantage.

The Red Sox started the game 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, but with Hernández standing on second with two outs and trailing 3-1, J.D. Martinez changed that loudly with an opposite-field shot into the Red Sox’ bullpen, his major league-tying 10th homer of the season to tie the game.

But it wasn’t enough. The Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth after Rafael Devers doubled and Martinez was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs, but Xander Bogaerts’ sharp liner to left went straight to Robbie Grossman’s glove.

— Franchy Cordero has been bad enough at the plate, and on Wednesday night, it bled over to his defense.

The Red Sox led 1-0 in the fourth and the Tigers had two runners on and two outs when a routine single from Niko Goodrum rolled toward Cordero in left. But Cordero misplayed the ball as it bounced off his glove and away from him, which allowed the game-tying run to score and the other two runners to advance to second and third.

It looked lonely in left for Cordero, whose offensive struggles continued with a pair of ground outs on Wednesday, extending his hitless streak to 25 consecutive at-bats. He doesn’t have a hit since April 19.

To Cordero’s credit, he bounced back with an impressive sliding catch to end the seventh, but Cora then pinch-hit for him with another slumping hitter in Bobby Dalbec.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2SuJ75z