Wade Miley has been by far the Boston Red Sox’s best starting pitcher since the All-Star break.
But despite one fantastic start and another solid one, the left-hander has nothing but no-decisions to show for his efforts.
Factors outside of Miley’s control again doomed him Thursday night as the Red Sox fell to the Houston Astros 5-4 to complete a winless seven-game road trip.
Miley wasn’t perfect in his six innings of work, but he battled, working around five walks to allow just one Astros run — a solo home run by Marwin Gonzalez in the first inning. Once he handed the reins over to his bullpen, however, things went south in a hurry.
Alexi Ogando and Junichi Tazawa combined to allow three runs on five hits in the seventh inning alone, coughing up a 2-1 lead in the process, and Astros second baseman Jose Altuve broke a 4-4 tie in the ninth with a walk-off homer off Craig Breslow.
“We had a tough time keeping guys in the ballpark,” manager John Farrell told reporters after the game, as aired on “Red Sox Extra Innings LIVE.” “The way they’re able to go left-right-left throughout their lineup, sooner or later they end up getting a matchup that they’re hopeful for, looking for. And after a strong six innings of work by Wade, who really battled (Thursday night), we battled back into this one to tie it. (But) unfortunately, we get walked off once again.”
The “again” referred to Miley’s previous start, in which he took a no-hitter into the seventh and did not allow a run, only to watch Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout victimize closer Koji Uehara with a walk-off homer of his own.
“It’s a tough one,” Miley told reporters after Thursday’s loss. “We had a chance to get back in that game right there. The Astros obviously are playing really good baseball right now — a good team over there — and they came out ahead.”
Miley, whose 4.33 ERA is the lowest it has been since April 14, has allowed one run in 13 innings over his last two starts.
Some additional notes from Thursday’s loss — Boston’s eighth in a row:
— In keeping with their reputation, three of the Astros’ five runs came via the longball. This was after Houston used home runs to score all four of its runs in Wednesday’s 4-2 win and launched two dingers in its series-opening 8-3 victory on Tuesday.
“This is a dead-red fastball-hitting team,” Farrell said Thursday of the Astros, who lead the majors in home runs this season.
— Speaking of home runs, they’ve been a problem for Ogando of late. The right-hander has been touched for five in his last five relief appearances — a period spanning just 6 1/3 innings. He’s also allowed eight runs over that span, causing his ERA to balloon from 2.72 to 4.01.
— Farrell told reporters Uehara would have been available for four outs Thursday night. The Red Sox closer has not pitched since allowing Trout’s walk-off homer last Friday.
— Second baseman Dustin Pedroia was given the night off. Brock Holt started at second and went 1-for-4 with a single and a strikeout.
— During this horrendous road trip, which Red Sox fans likely would prefer to put out of their minds forever, the Sox were outscored 39-13 over the seven games, holding a lead in just two.
Six different pitchers started games on the trip. Only Miley was able to complete six innings, which he did in both of his starts.
“Obviously, it’s not a very good trip,” Miley told reporters. “From a team standpoint, it’s not something you want to do coming out of the All-Star break. But’s it’s in the past now, so we’ve got to move on. We’ve got to figure out what we need to do and try to figure something out to get it going again.”
— For Sox fans in need of a pick-me-up, here’s your photo of the night, featuring Altuve and David Ortiz:
Above photo and thumbnail photo via Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports Images
