BOSTON — Alfredo Aceves attempted to downplay his
struggles and deflect the blame. And he did so in a quizzical manner.
Despite giving up not one, but two game-altering hits in Thursday's 14-13 extra-inning loss to the Angels, the reliever remained unfazed
by his lackluster night, where he yielded five runs in one-plus inning of work.
"I'm feeling strong as ever," Aceves said in
Spanish after the game. "I was evaluating myself and I mean, I'm throwing 96 [mph] this
late in the year and I was throwing 93, 92 earlier in the season. Now, I'm
throwing 96.
"And remember, they're putting me in the game when we're losing,
when we're winning, when we're tied up. In all the situations that they've put
Aceves, he's done the job. So he's confident that he'll move forward and
continue to do his job."
On this night, however, he didn't. Just two outs away from
notching his 26th save of the season, the closer surrendered a solo shot to Vernon Wells into the Monster Seats, beginning another meltdown.
"I mean, he's our closer," Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "You got to stay strong
with him. We got to have confidence in our closer."
An error from Cody Ross added to the pressure. An error from Cody Ross added to the pressure, when the outfielder misplayed a Mike Trout single and allowed the 21-year-old rookie to reach second on the hit.
While Torii Hunter and Mark Trumbo made the Red Sox pay for the miscues by belting RBI singles, Aceves had a chance to redeem himself
with the game tied in the 10th inning. Instead, Kendrys Morales took Aceves deep into the first row of the right-field seats.
Reflecting on his struggles of the night, Aceves simply shrugged them off.
"Sometimes you have your control and sometimes you don't,"
Aceves said. "You can't control that. The only thing you can control is
throwing the ball. Wherever it lands, it's not on me."
Either way, it's his seventh blown save of the season.
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