BOSTON — The Red Sox needed a strong start to the second half. Instead, the same troubling trends are following them.
Injuries, now to star players, are continuing to ravage the roster. They’re playing sloppily, and not getting enough timely pitching or hitting. And they’re still falling short in the division.
On a day Alex Cora was hoping for a bounce-back effort — less than 24 hours removed from their most embarrassing loss in 99 years — the short-handed and reeling Red Sox’s woes continued. Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah punked them over six innings, and there were plenty of boos heard at Fenway Park on Saturday in the Red Sox’s 4-1 loss as they dropped another series in the American League East.
It seems almost unbelievable, but true: Now in their 12th series against a division opponent, the Red Sox have still yet to win one. They’re 0-11-1 in division series, with a split against the Yankees marking the only they haven’t lost.
The Red Sox (48-47) are now just one game above .500 after they were as many as 11 games above .500 less than a month ago as they continued to fall down the A.L. wild-card standings, now four games back of the Jays.
The Red Sox are in desperate need of some good news.
It’s hard enough to win against the A.L. East, let alone given the Red Sox’s current state. They lost Rafael Devers to a hamstring injury in Friday’s 28-5 loss, and J.D. Martinez was out again with back spasms, forcing Cora to submit a makeshift lineup. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t yield successful results.
Bobby Dalbec homered in the second off Manoah to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, but it was a fleeting and short-lived moment of joy. Less than 10 minutes later, the lead disappeared.
Kutter Crawford produced another strong start as the rookie gave the Red Sox six innings, but the three runs he allowed in the third were ultimately too much to overcome. The Jays recorded four consecutive hits off him to start the third.
Former Red Sox farmhand Santiago Espinal tied the game with a single to right on a hit-and-run play with Matt Chapman, who scored from first. The Red Sox looked like they had a play at the plate when Jackie Bradley Jr. made a quick cutoff throw to Yolmer Sanchez at second. But Sanchez double-pumped the throw and Chapman scored with ease.
The Jays tacked on two more, taking a 3-1 lead after Cavan Biggio doubled and George Springer hit an RBI single before Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly.
The Red Sox had some success against Manoah, scattering seven hits on the All-Star, but he shut down any threat of a rally. The fiery right-hander let them know about it, too.
Alex Verdugo singled off Manoah to start the sixth, but the pitcher struck out the Red Sox’s next three batters. After getting Xander Bogaerts swinging, Manoah sent down the struggling Franchy Cordero swinging and had told him to sit down with some choice language as Cordero walked back to the dugout.
Then, after striking out Dalbec looking to end the inning, Manoah didn’t walk off quietly as he showboated his achievement by pumping his chest with his glove. That led to an exchange with Dalbec and the Red Sox dugout, clearly annoyed by Manoah’s theatrics, which nearly caused both dugouts to empty.
The Red Sox were getting owned in their own park.
The Red Sox still weren’t out of it, but wasted a big chance in the eighth. They had runners on first and second with one out after Bogaerts was hit by a pitch on his forearm. But Cordero struck out for the 17th time in his last 21 at-bats, and Dalbec hit a deep fly out to center.
