The Boston Red Sox couldn’t have asked for much more out of Chris Sale on Thursday. But their offense? Now, that’s a different story.
The Red Sox starter only allowed one earned run on four hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts in eight dominant innings. Unfortunately for him, though, that one run came in the bottom of the eighth inning, and it proved to be the difference in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 1-0 win at Citizens Bank Park.
While Sale was on top of his game, the offense had an off night for the Sox. Boston had five hits, and its best hitter arguably was Sale.
Sale hit a hard groundball that looked like a sure single with the bases loaded in the second inning, but Howie Kendrick made a nice play at second base to get him out and end the threat. Sale also hit a double to left field to lead off the eighth inning, and he advanced to third on Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly. However, Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts struck out and popped out, respectively, to end the frame.
Other than that, it was a pretty quiet night for the Sox’s bats, which spoiled a great night for Sale.
Let’s take a look at a few more notes from Red Sox vs. Phillies.
— Tyler Thornburg was acquired by the Red Sox in the offseason in a trade that sent Travis Shaw to the Milwaukee Brewers. And a few months into the season, Thornburg still has never pitched in a regular-season game for the Sox and is set to have season-ending surgery on his shoulder.
Unfortunately for Boston and everyone else in Major League Baseball, there’s always a chance something could go wrong after making a trade.
“It’s just one of those things that happen,” Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said, via MassLive.com’s Jen McCaffrey, before Thursday’s game in Philadelphia. “When you make trades at times, it’s buyer beware. There’s no way you would know this. You just hope that you get a healthy player back for next year and it ends up taking place.
“I’ve had guys throughout my career that I’ve traded that unfortunately have gotten hurt in other places. And I don’t believe in any way, when I say that, that Milwaukee knew that this was taking place. They gave us all the information. There’s no question that they were very upfront in that regard. It’s just a very unfortunate situation and you just want to get the player healthy and move on from there.”
— Carson Smith, meanwhile, threw a simulated inning Thursday, and Farrell provided an update on how he did.
“It was OK,” Farrell said, via MassLive.com. “The stuff was OK maybe the consistency wasn’t quite there. But honestly, I think that’s to be fully expected. He’s going to go through some minor peaks and valleys as he continues to build up to game competition. So I think what he’s going through right now might be a little frustrating for him given all the rehab and time he’s gone through but these are normal progressive steps to getting back to full strength.”
But it wasn’t necessarily all good news for Smith, who’s trying to come back from Tommy John surgery.
— Eduardo Rodriguez also threw before Thursday’s game, and his situation appears to be improving.
Thumbnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images
