BOSTON — The Red Sox had another one of those shake-your-head losses Friday night.
This season has been spiraling out of control for some time, but the Red Sox keep finding new ways to disappoint. Boston blew a seven-run lead Friday in a 13-10 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox fell to a season-high eight games under .500 (27-35) with the defeat. They’re winless in four games since capping a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a win that many saw as a potential turning point for Boston’s season. Times certainly are tough.
Let’s run down some notes from Friday.
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— The Red Sox’s offensive performance was a silver lining.
Boston’s five-run first inning marked the club’s most runs in the opening frame since scoring five runs on May 24, 2014, against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. It was the Red Sox’s most runs in the first inning at home since scoring five on May 8, 2013, against the Minnesota Twins. Incredibly, all three of the aforementioned games ended in Red Sox losses.
The Red Sox’s 10-run effort marked Boston’s biggest offensive output of 2015. The Sox, who compiled 12 hits, have recorded at least 11 hits in each of their last five home games, which amazingly is the longest such streak by any major league team this season.
Boston received contributions from up and down the lineup. Rusney Castillo led the way with three hits and reached base four times. Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz and Blake Swihart each finished with two hits. Pablo Sandoval and Mookie Betts hit back-to-back homers in the first inning, and Dustin Pedroia clubbed a three-run homer in the third inning.
— Sandoval’s home run snapped a 64-at-bat homerless drought. He hadn’t homered in 18 games.
— Betts’ home run snapped a 124-at-bat homerless drought. He hadn’t homered in 33 games.
— Ortiz recorded his 1,556th and 1,557th career RBIs, moving him ahead of Willie McCovey for 42nd place on Major League Baseball’s all-time list.
— Mike Napoli has seen better days.
While everyone else did damage at the plate, Napoli marched his way to an 0-for-5 night. He struck out with the bases loaded in the eighth inning while representing the tying run. It was his third strikeout.
Napoli is 1-for-20 with 10 strikeouts over his last five games. He’s hitting .194 (7-for-36) with a .544 OPS so far this month after showing signs of breaking out toward the end of May.
“Not in a confident place. I think that probably goes without saying,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said of Napoli’s performance. “The swing path is consistent, (but the) timing is not.”
Napoli didn’t make excuses after Friday’s loss. He’s well-aware things aren’t going his way right now.
“It’s frustrating,” Napoli said. “I’m going to keep working, keep grinding every day. I’m out here early, hitting early BP, doing my cage work, trying to keep going.
“Obviously, I don’t look comfortable up there. I’m not feeling too comfortable. Just working to that at-bat where I can find it and I can be in that position where I can do something.”
Napoli compounded his rough night at the plate by playing less-than-stellar defense. The first baseman typically is a very reliable defender, but he failed to knock down a ball in the seventh inning that he usually fields cleanly. He also failed to apply a tag on a good snap throw by Swihart.
— The Blue Jays scored nine runs in the seventh inning before an out was recorded.
The last team to score nine runs in an inning before making an out was the Red Sox on May 7, 2009, against the Cleveland Indians. Boston scored 12 runs in the sixth inning of that game before making an out.
— The Blue Jays continue to give Junichi Tazawa fits. Tazawa, who has been so reliable this season, allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits in the seventh inning without recording an out.
Tazawa owns a 7.88 ERA in 26 career appearances versus the Blue Jays.
“They’re obviously good hitters and I have the history, but I still have to make my pitches,” Tazawa said through a translator.
— Hanley Ramirez was out of the lineup because of soreness in his left knee and left hamstring, according to Farrell.
— Justin Masterson was scheduled to throw a bullpen session Friday. He won’t be ready to pitch in a game until at least Monday, as he made a rehab start Wednesday at Triple-A Pawtucket, and his future role remains unclear.
— Tonya Carpenter, the woman struck by a broken bat last week at Fenway, was released from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on Friday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
“Ms. Carpenter’s recovery so far has been excellent,” Dr. Efstathios Papavassiliou, a Beth Israel neurosurgeon, said, according to the team’s website. “She’s getting stronger every day, and we’ve seen tremendous progress. We’re confident she’s ready to move forward with the next phase of her care.”
Thumbnail photo via Gregory Fisher/USA TODAY Sports Images
