The Boston Red Sox and split their brief two-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays thanks to a 6-3 loss on a soggy Wednesday night at Fenway Park.
Garrett Richards took his second loss of the season after giving up four earned runs off four hits and six walks in 4 2/3 innings. He struggled with his command throughout the contest, and that was not lost on the righty.
"I was just kind of fighting my delivery the whole night," Richards told reporters during his postgame press conference. "(My) release point, the elements, kind of a combination of a lot of stuff. ... Didn't really have a whole lot going tonight, obviously not good."
Red Sox manager Alex Cora took notice of Richards' command issues, too. And it quickly became clear to him what problem was central to it all -- his slider.
"That put him in a bad spot," Cora said. "... We've got to find a way to throw the slider for strikes. He's been very inconsistent with it, even in spring training. That's something we have to work (on) and try to find it."
Now, Richards must put in some serious work on improving his slider. Cora doesn't believe he needs to do so at the team's Alternate Training Site, though.
"He can work on it in between starts," Cora said. "... He's been working on it, but we have to find it. We have to find that pitch. It's hard to maneuver a big-league lineup with one pitch and it seems like it's been that way during the season. If we can get that pitch back to what it was in the past and use the curveball too, we're going to have the guy that we envisioned before the season."
"(I'll just be) doing some work in between before the next start, getting some release-point stuff and some delivery stuff reassured, just continuing to grind and continuing to get better."
And if there's any time for Richards to improve, it's the present.
Here are a couple more notes from Wednesday's Blue Jays-Red Sox game:
-- Richards wasn't incredible, but his night wasn't entirely negative either.
One of the lone bright spots of his night was his performance in the fifth inning, where he helped Boston avoid the bullpen as long as possible.
"... The way he finished his outing was a positive," Cora noted. "He gave us a chance to stay away from some guys early on, and then the bullpen, we just tried to patch that up until the end. But it didn't happen."
-- Only Christian Vázquez and Franchy Cordero went hitless Wedesday night.
-- The Red Sox begin a four-game set against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park on Thursday, with Nick Pivetta expected to get the ball for Boston.
First pitch for Game 1 of the series is slated for 7:10 p.m. ET.
