Bullpen Can’t Lift Chris Sale Out Of Jam In Red Sox Loss To Nationals

Chris Sale’s second start since returning from his latest stint on the injury list did not go as well as his first as the lefty failed to make it out of the fifth inning in the Boston Red Sox’s 10-7 loss to the Washington Nationals on Thursday.

The 34-year-old went 4 1/3 innings allowing three runs, two earned, on two hits while striking out three and walking three.

“The ball wasn’t jumping out of the hand like I wanted it to,” Sale said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “But I was able to for the most part make pitches when I needed to.”

Sale walked the first two batters he faced in the fifth before recording a final out before exiting the game in favor of Josh Winckowski, who inherited the two baserunners. Winckowski uncharacteristically gave up four consecutive hits which plated five runs for Washington.

“Super frustrating,” Winckowski said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I’m not even really too upset about the runs I gave up, more upset about (Sale’s) for sure. I’ve been able to work out of a few of those situations this year and kind of expect to do it.”

Even though the Nationals are below .500, Winckowski said they never underestimate any of their opponents.

“Still a big league team,” Winckowski said. “Every lineup is still a big league lineup, and they still got some really good starters over there. You want to get as many wins as you can, but again a loss is a loss.”

The Red Sox are set to face the New York Yankees in a three-game set starting Friday in the Bronx, and the series could have a direct impact on the American League wild -card race with Boston trailing Toronto by three and a half games and New York six and a half games out.

“As long as we got a chance, I like where we’re at,” Sale said. “Even today it showed. We were in a pretty big hole in the middle of the game, and we kept fighting back. … This team responds well when we got our backs against the wall. We know we’re not going to give up.”