The Boston Red Sox found themselves down just as quickly as they found themselves ahead against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
After attacking the Orioles early, courtesy of home runs from Triston Casas and Rafael Devers, things took a mighty turn for the worse and Boston wasn’t able to battle back.
What was initially a 4-0 lead over Baltimore after the top of the third, became a 5-4 deficit following the fifth frame that stuck until the very end. Red Sox starter Chris Sale wasn’t able to make work of the Orioles, allowing five earned runs off nine hits through five innings on the mound. Sale also failed to strike out a batter, marking the first occasion in his career that he’s done so when at least pitching an inning.
That setback was all that was needed to register a 5-4 Red Sox loss, dropping Boston right back to the .500 mark at 12-12.
“At the end of the day, you gotta play the game, right?” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “They made pitches, we didn’t. They grind at-bats in that third inning. We put pressure on them. … I feel overall we put pressure on them the whole night.”
On the bright side, Boston’s bullpen came through to keep the squad well within contention, picking up the slack for Sale. Ryan Braiser and Brennan Bernardino held Baltimore scoreless through a combined three innings pitched. Bernardino, who pitched two games for the Seattle Mariners last season, was called up from Triple-A Worcester on short notice. Yet he wasn’t fazed, as he tossed two scoreless innings.
“They gave us a chance toward the end of the game and it just didn’t happen,” Cora said.
Here are more notes from Monday night’s Red Sox-Orioles game:
— Masastaka Yoshida, who went 3-for-3, is on a five-game hitting streak Through that stretch, Yoshida has gone 10-for-20 with two home runs, a double and nine RBIs.
— Rafael Devers, who went deep in the third inning, leads the American League with nine home runs thus far. Devers is two home runs shy of the Major League Baseball leader in homers in Max Muncy (11).
— Infielder Yu Chang made an early exit with a wrist injury during the middle of an at-bat in the seventh inning and was replaced by Christian Arroyo. Cora provided a brief update on Chang afterward.
“He’s in pain,” Cora said, per NESN. “He’s gonna get tested (Tuesday), see where we at. Right now, it’s sore so that’s all we can say right now. He’ll get tested tomorrow here in Baltimore and we’ll know more.”
— In two outings against the Orioles this season, Sale has allowed 12 earned runs off 16 hits over the course of eight innings pitched.
— The Red Sox, who are now 2-2 against the Orioles this season, will look to bounce back in Game 2 of the series Tuesday night. First pitch from Camden Yards is set for 6:35 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, along with an hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.
