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One hand couldn’t wash the other against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Boston Red Sox dropped two of three down in St. Petersburg, Fla., culminating with a 2-1, walk-off loss in Thursday’s series finale. The offense and pitching just couldn’t produce at the same time in the three-game set, resulting in Boston’s first series loss of 2015.
The Red Sox, who travel to Baltimore with a 9-7 record, couldn’t generate much at the plate Thursday, spoiling a solid outing by Clay Buchholz. Boston scored just seven runs total in the series.
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Let’s run down some other notes from Thursday.
— Buchholz said Thursday’s start was the best he’s felt all year. It’s believable, because he looked about as good as he did in his fantastic Opening Day start against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Buchholz allowed one run on two hits and three walks over six innings. He struck out 10 and had very little trouble navigating through Tampa Bay’s lackluster offense with the exception of the second inning.
— Buchholz has owned the Rays at Tropicana Field.
He entered Thursday as the only visiting pitcher ever to string together scoreless starts in three consecutive road outings against Tampa Bay. Buchholz had a 22 1/3-inning scoreless streak at The Trop broken up in the second inning when Logan Forsythe hit an RBI single off the right-hander.
Buchholz owns a 1.92 ERA in 11 career starts in Tampa Bay.
— The Panda sure is agile.
— The Red Sox are 12-for-12 on stolen-base attempts this season after Mookie Betts swiped second base in the third inning.
Betts owns a team-high five steals.
— The Red Sox are hitting .230 as a team in the wake of Thursday’s three-hit effort. That’s good for ninth in the American League.
Boston has left a major league-worst 133 men on base.
— Manager John Farrell said after the game he felt good turning to Anthony Varvaro in the ninth inning given his success against left-handed hitters.
But as fate would have it, both lefties Varvaro faced — Allan Dykstra and Kevin Kiermaier — singled to set up Rene Rivera’s walk-off single.
Left-handers had only one hit in their last 21 at-bats (.048) against Varvaro dating back to last season before Thursday. He had made 11 consecutive scoreless appearances on the road.
— There’s really no sense in looking at standings this early in the season. But for what it’s worth, the Red Sox, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays enter Friday with identical 9-7 records.
— Shane Victorino is considered day-to-day with a hamstring injury. He’s hopeful he’ll be able to play this weekend, but this season already is turning into a grind for the 34-year-old outfielder.
“It’s frustrating. I was feeling good, feeling great and it’s basically more of the same,” Victorino said after Thursday’s game, according to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. “You work so hard and you feel so good out there, you’re doing everything, and then you go and steal a base and you feel it. You’re like, ‘What? Where did this come from?’ ”
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
