It took a couple of extra innings to finish up Tuesday’s match between the Red Sox and Colorado Rockies, but things didn’t quite pan out in Boston’s favor on a chilly night at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox lost a heartbreaker to the Rockies thanks to an 11th inning RBI-single that gave Colorado a 5-4 lead they wouldn’t give up. The loss erased an impressive outing put together by Boston ace Chris Sale, who threw a career-high 17 strikeouts while allowing just two runs to score.
Despite the loss, manager Alex Cora said it was exciting to see Sale excel on the mound.
“That was fun to watch, I mean what a performance,” he said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Fastballs, change-ups, sliders, in-and-out, up — that was pretty cool to watch.”
But that doesn’t mean the skipper wasn’t disappointed with the bullpen’s inability to put the game away.
“It sucks, honestly. But I think we had the right matchups going into that (eighth) inning,” he said. “We had (Brandon Workman) against a lefty, he’s been amazing against lefties. So just a 2-0 breaking ball, (Charlie Blackmon) put a good swing on it, hit it out of the ballpark. You don’t expect that with the way he’s been throwing and the matchups and where they were in the lineup, thinking about pinch-hitting and all of that … That’s why we went with (Workman). But it didn’t work out tonight.”
But Cora said there’s nothing they can do to change the unfortunate outcome of Tuesday’s game. “You just show up tomorrow and go play again.”
The Sox will try to split the series with the Rockies when they close out their two-game set Wednesday, with first pitch slated for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Here are some more notes from Tuesday’s Rockies-Red Sox game:
— Sale now is tied for the longest strikeout streak by a Red Sox pitcher to start a game since the beginning of the Expansion Era in 1961 after striking out the first six batters he faced.
— In fact, Sale is just the fourth pitcher in MLB history to toss 14 or more strikeouts in consecutive games. The last player to achieve that feat was none other than ex-Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez, all the way back in the year 2000.
— In total, the Red Sox’s pitching staff struck out 24 batters Tuesday. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough to give Boston the win.
— After going through a bit of a slump, Michael Chavis appears to be right back on track. Tuesday marked the 23-year-old’s eighth multi-hit game since his call-up to the big leagues.
In fact, Chavis’ second-inning homer was his seventh of the season, tying J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts for the second-most singers hit this season.
Mitch Moreland still leads the team with 12.
