BOSTON — The Red Sox are running out of answers.
While it’s been a long season for Boston, there have been times when it has looked like the Red Sox might turn things around. The current five-game losing streak has the club perplexed, however, as it simply cannot discover a winning formula despite any encouraging developments that arise.
The Red Sox’s offense has looked formidable (in spurts) of late, but the improvement again proved fruitless Saturday. Russell Martin lifted the Blue Jays to a 5-4 win with a solo homer in the 11th inning.
The Red Sox already were swept earlier this week by the Baltimore Orioles. Eduardo Rodriguez, who has been dominant in his first three major league starts, will need to play the role of stopper Sunday.
Let’s run down some notes from Saturday.
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— The Red Sox are 9-28 when they don’t score the game’s first run.
The Sox look like a team that lacks the “it” factor — if you’ll pardon the cliché — and their inability to successfully come from behind definitely magnifies that blemish.
— Boston’s five-game losing streak is the team’s longest since an eight-game skid from Aug. 17 to Aug. 24, 2014.
— Clay Buchholz’s performance was about as mediocre as it gets. He allowed four runs on eight hits over six innings, which looks rather poor on the surface but is helped somewhat by his ability to make it through six frames despite a very shaky second inning in which he allowed three runs on five hits.
— David Ortiz’s game-tying home run in the sixth inning moved him ahead of Carlos Delgado for 31st place on Major League Baseball’s all-time homer list with 474.
Ortiz struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh inning — a huge missed opportunity by the Red Sox — but he’s been taking baby steps forward of late. The 39-year-old has reached base in each of his last six games, and he’s homered in two of his last three.
— Xander Bogaerts, like Ortiz, struck out with the bags packed in the seventh as the Red Sox wasted a great scoring chance. It was rather surprising given that the 22-year-old is hitting .479 (9-for-19) with runners in scoring position since May 15 and has been one of Boston’s best hitters recently.
Bogaerts extended his hit streak to nine games with an RBI single in the fourth inning.
— Hanley Ramirez, who went 2-for-5, is batting .345 (19-for-55) over his last 15 games.
— Dustin Pedroia has hit safely in each of his last 13 home games, marking the longest home hitting streak for a Red Sox player since David Ortiz hit safely in 13 consecutive home games from July 4 to Aug. 3, 2013.
Pedroia wasn’t too happy about the loss, though. The second baseman sounded extremely frustrated while briefly answering questions after the game, even calling one question regarding a baserunning decision “irrelevant.”
“We’ve got to show up (Sunday) and play,” Pedroia said. “We’re all grown men. We can’t start crying.”
— Pablo Sandoval’s status for Sunday’s series finale is unclear after the third baseman left Saturday’s game after six innings with right quad tightness. Losing Sandoval would be a blow, obviously, especially since he’s hitting .348 (8-for-23) with a homer, two doubles and six RBIs over his last six games.
“There wasn’t one event. He just felt some gradual tightness as the game wore on and felt it as he was swinging in that final at-bat (in the sixth),” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “It’s his front leg, which he’s hitting against, and he felt the tightness continue on. Precautionary, we got him out of there.”
— Matt Barnes surrendered the game-winning home run to Martin in the 11th. Barnes, to his credit, successfully navigated through the 10th inning despite facing the meat of Toronto’s order — Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion — but it’s been a tumultuous week for the 24-year-old.
Barnes, who yielded three consecutive singles Friday without recording an out, has allowed five earned runs on seven hits over his last three appearances. His ERA is up to 4.24 and his WHIP sits at 1.76.
Barnes simply mislocated to Martin in the 11th inning. He attempted to go away with a 2-0 fastball and caught too much of the plate.
“I’ll think about that pitch for the next few hours, and then it will be out of my head, because we have a game (Sunday) that we need to win,” Barnes said.
— The Red Sox still are working through their options with Justin Masterson, who could be activated off the disabled list as early as Monday. It’s unclear what role he’ll fill with Boston moving forward.
— The Red Sox activated Edwin Escobar from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtucket. Escobar, who began the season on the DL with left elbow inflammation, threw three scoreless innings in a two-game rehab assignment between Pawtucket and Single-A Greenville.
Thumbnail photo via Gregory Fisher/USA TODAY Sports Images
