The Boston Red Sox’s nine-game road trip is off to a bad start.
The Red Sox suffered their second straight loss to the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday. Michael Bourn delivered a clutch, two-run double in the seventh inning to propel the Tribe to a 5-3 win at Progressive Field.
The Indians secured a series win with Tuesday’s victory, although the Red Sox certainly would love to escape Cleveland with at least one win before traveling to Detroit to face the daunting Tigers, who swept Boston the last time the teams hooked up.
Let’s go over some notes from Tuesday’s contest.
— Jake Peavy had a weird outing.
Peavy surrendered five straight hits to begin the game, and the Indians scored three runs in the first inning. The right-hander then settled into a rhythm from the second inning through the sixth inning, retiring 14 of 15 batters in that span.
Peavy walked David Murphy and allowed a single to Yan Gomes to begin the seventh inning, after which Red Sox manager John Farrell turned to Andrew Miller, who surrendered the go-ahead double to Bourn.
“Jake settled down after they bunched some hits together in that first inning, kept the game very much under control and we battled back to tie things up,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “But the timely hit on their part in the seventh.”
— The Red Sox squandered several scoring chances despite rallying to tie the game in the seventh on Dustin Pedroia’s RBI double.
Jonny Gomes struck out with two runners in scoring position in the first inning. Jonathan Herrera grounded into an inning-ending double play with two runners on in the second inning. A.J. Pierzynski flied out with two on in the third inning. Brock Holt grounded out with two runners in scoring position after Herrera’s RBI single in the sixth inning.
The Red Sox even had a chance to grab a lead after Pedroia’s game-tying double, but Gomes, Pierzynski and Alex Hassan failed to do any damage against Scott Atchison and Nick Hagadone following an intentional walk to David Ortiz.
The Red Sox went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
— Xander Bogaerts went 2-for-4 and homered for the second straight game.
— Hassan went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in his second career start.
— David Ortiz made some more pointed comments before the game about the Red Sox’s ongoing feud with the Rays. He was upset that Red Sox starter Brandon Workman was handed a six-game suspension while Rays ace David Price walked away unscathed.
Ortiz’s frustration certainly is understandable, as the Red Sox have gotten a raw deal in their whole debacle with the Rays. The slugger needs to focus on turning things around, though, as he’s marred in a rough patch right now.
Ortiz went 0-for-4 with a walk and left four men on base in Tuesday’s loss. He’s now hitting .148 (9-for-61) over his last 19 games since producing back-to-back multihomer games in Minnesota on May 13 and May 14. He has just one extra-base hit in that stretch, although it was an important three-run homer against the Atlanta Braves on Memorial Day.
— Jonathan Herrera, who had three hits Sunday, collected two hits and an RBI.
— Burke Badenhop escaped a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning by inducing a double play.
