Oct. 1—By getting a three-game series against the last-place Baltimore Orioles at this stage of the season, the Boston Red Sox got a gift from the scheduling gods.
Rather than take advantage, the Red Sox dropped two out of three. Now the team’s playoff hopes are balancing on the razor’s edge.
For the second time in three days, the Red Sox bats went ice cold against the worst pitching staff in baseball. Boston only managed five hits in a 6-2 loss, once again falling into a long run of empty at bats while the Orioles capitalized on key opportunities.
Early on it looked like it might be a completely different story.
Orioles starter Alexander Wells, who came in with a putrid 7.61 ERA, gave up a solo home run to Kiké Hernández on the first pitch of the game. After Xander Bogaerts walked and Rafael Devers singled to put two men on, it looked like the Red Sox had Wells on the ropes.
Instead Wells got out of the jam and proceeded to shut down the Red Sox the rest of the way.
Boston only managed two baserunners against Wells after the first inning, as the lefty retired 16 of 18 through the end of the sixth inning.
Meanwhile, Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta had good stuff but caught a bad break in the third inning after benefiting from a huge break moments earlier. Pivetta got into trouble with a leadoff walk and a single to put runners on the corners, but nearly fought his way out after striking out Jahmai Jones and Cedric Mullins, the later getting rung up on a curveball that was clearly up out of the zone.
But next batter up, rookie slugger Ryan Mountcastle took a quality pitch from Pivetta and hammered it out for a three-run home run.
Baltimore scored three more runs in the sixth on a two-run single by Tyler Nevin and a sacrifice fly by Pat Valaika. Boston’s best chance at a rally came in the seventh when J.D. Martinez doubled and Hunter Renfroe walked to start the inning, but the Red Sox could only get one run across the plate thanks to a series of wild pitches.
With the loss, the Red Sox now find themselves in a tie for the second American League Wild Card spot with the Seattle Mariners, who were off Thursday night. The New York Yankees hold a two-game lead for first in the Wild Card race and the Toronto Blue Jays are a game back of Boston and Seattle after the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 6-2 in the finale of their three-game series.
“We have to win out,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We have to win this series and see where that takes us.”
Boston now faces the Washington Nationals over the final three games of the season. Eduardo Rodriguez (11-8, 4.93 ERA) will take the mound for the Red Sox against National lefty Josh Rogers (2-1, 2.73).
Email: mcerullo@northofboston.com.
Twitter: @MacCerullo.