BOSTON — The Red Sox lost the game and their left fielder.
The Red Sox’s losing streak reached four games Monday as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated Boston 5-1 in the teams’ series opener at Fenway Park. A mark in the loss column might be the least of Boston’s concerns, however, as Hanley Ramirez suffered a shoulder injury after crashing into the wall.
The initial prognosis on Ramirez, who left the game after his first-inning collision, is good, as he’s considered day-to-day with a left shoulder sprain. Red Sox manager John Farrell had little information while discussing the injury, though, and the outfielder’s status is uncertain for the time being.
It was an all-around difficult day at the ballpark for the Red Sox, who now are two games under .500 at 12-14. Boston is starting to dig itself an early hole in the American League East.
Let’s go over some notes from Monday.
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— Ramirez’s injury is especially concerning because he already has undergone two procedures on his left shoulder: surgery to repair a torn labrum in 2007 and open repair surgery for instability in 2011.
This particular injury appears unrelated, but one can’t completely overlook history.
“Based on the exams and the images tonight, I don’t have anything that suggests that there’s a reoccurrence of an old injury,” Farrell said. “I think over the coming days we’ll have a better read on how he can recover. And we’re hopeful that he won’t miss significant time.”
Injuries are nothing new to Ramirez. He was limited to 92 games in 2011, 86 games in 2013 and 128 games in 2014.
— The mark of an ace is the ability to win at all costs. The Red Sox haven’t won with Clay Buchholz on the mound since Opening Day, a span of five starts.
To be fair, Buchholz has looked sharp at times. Other times, however, he’s been beaten up. Monday’s outing essentially was a combination of both, making it a good microcosm of his season as a whole.
Buchholz allowed five earned runs on nine hits over 6 1/3 innings while striking out seven and walking two. The Rays scored four runs on five hits, including a homer, in the first two innings against Buchholz before the right-hander settled in.
“I’ve had a couple of bad games,” Buchholz said. “Like I said, when it’s not going good, you don’t get breaks. Those breaks include ground balls when you want to get them hit at guys for double plays. It seems like the ball is finding a lot more holes right now.”
— Farrell appeared frustrated after the game, specifically with regard to the Red Sox’s starting rotation. Boston has struggled to score runs of late, but the Sox also are striving for more consistent mound work.
“It is on our starting pitchers to create some stability, to hopefully have us sustain any kind of run, to put a streak together,” Farrell said. “But we’re not looking at streaks. We’re looking at every game individually. Whether it’s to stop a losing streak, whether it’s to sustain success, we have to rely on the starting group that pitches with more consistency.”
— The Red Sox had at least one home run in nine straight games before going homerless Monday. It was the longest active streak in Major League Baseball.
— Allen Craig, who replaced Ramirez in left field, collected his 500th career hit.
— Dustin Pedroia now has 1,400 hits, tying him with Mike Greenwell for 11th place on the franchise’s all-time list.
Pedroia is hitting .400 (12-for-30) over the life of an eight-game hit streak.
— David Ortiz upped his hit streak to seven games, during which he’s hitting .385 (10-for-26).
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
