BOSTON — Good defense might not win championships in baseball, but poor defense can lose games.
A lack of focus in the field coupled with a dearth of timely hitting formed a perfect storm of sorts for the Red Sox on Monday as they were shut out by Baltimore Orioles 4-0 in the opener of the teams’ three-game series.
Boston put the leadoff man on in three of the first six innings only to have the following batter ground into a double play each time. Only one Red Sox hitter reached second base during those first six frames, and when the Sox finally did threaten by loading the bases in the seventh, Orioles reliever Tommy Hunter came through with back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam.
“Their guy (Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez) did a pretty good job,” said catcher David Ross, who struck out to end the seventh. “I thought we scattered some hits, (but) we didn’t come up with any big hits. Especially there late, we had that guy on the ropes and couldn’t come across with a hit. You know, it happens.”
Meanwhile, the Red Sox seemed incapable of closing out innings, failing to convert on five potential double-play balls and forcing starter Joe Kelly to throw a career-high 120 pitches before he exited with one out in the seventh. The team also committed three errors — each of them costly.
The first came in the sixth inning, when a throw to first by shortstop Xander Bogaerts on the trickiest of the double-play attempts nearly ended up in the dugout, stretching Baltimore’s lead to 3-0. Then, in the seventh, left fielder Yoenis Cespedes took his eye off an Adam Jones fly ball, allowing Alejandro De Aza — who had taken third base on an errant throw by Ross — to score the Orioles’ fourth and final run.
“We were not sharp defensively,” manager John Farrell said. “We had a number of opportunities to turn some double plays that probably factored into some runs allowed, particularly in the (sixth) inning.”
The one exception was second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Although the middle infield tandem of he and Bogaerts lacked cohesiveness, Pedroia made a few excellent individual plays, including two in the fifth to rob Jonathan Schoop and De Aza of base hits. Both Ross and Kelly noted his defensive contributions after the game.
Kelly, whose search for his first win at Fenway Park continues, actually did a lot of things well in the ballgame. The right-hander induced 11 ground-ball outs and did not allow an extra-base hit in 6 1/3 innings of work. Where he struggled, however, was in the command department. Kelly finished with three walks, hit two batters and threw just 72 of his 120 pitches for strikes.
“I thought he threw the ball really well,” Ross said. “A couple of walks came back to bite us, and we didn’t play great defensive behind him. … His (velocity) was there, his direction was there. I think he got a little out of whack a couple of times on a couple of hitters — you know, pitches here and there. But that’s everybody. Again, I thought he threw the ball really well, gave us a chance to win.”
Unfortunately for Kelly, his teammates did not hold up their end of the bargain.
Photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
