Red Sox bullpen blows it again in Toronto
BOSTON -- It looked like the Red Sox were on their way to an inspiring comeback win over the Blue Jays in Toronto on Tuesday night. For a team that has struggled to win north of the border and will likely be battling with the Jays for playoff seeding over the next three months, it would have been a huge boost to close an already stellar June.
Instead, the Boston bullpen faltered again. With Tanner Houck unable to travel to Canada because of his vaccination status, Alex Cora had to turn to Tyler Danish and Hansel Robles to close things out in the ninth inning. Neither recorded an out and let the Jays rally for a pair of runs to walk off with a 6-5 victory.
It erased all the good mojo stemming from the offense's comeback, as the Red Sox trailed 3-0 after the first inning and 4-1 after the third. Rob Refsnyder launched a two-run blast in the top of the seventh to tie the game 4-4, and Christian Vazquez put Boston ahead 5-4 in the top of the eighth with an RBI single.
John Schrieber, who has been the best arm out of the Red Sox bullpen as of late, was called upon to preserve the 4-4 game in the bottom of the seventh. He needed only 11 pitches to get it done. Danish retired the Jays in order in the bottom of the eight.
In a normal scenario, Cora would have turned to Houck to slam the door in Toronto. But because he's unvaccinated, Houck is back in Boston and wasn't able to help his team secure a win on Tuesday night.
Cora went with Danish to at least start the ninth and potentially earn the first save of his career. But the righty surrendered a single to Alejandro Kirk and then walked George Springer on five pitches. Cora went to Robles, who promptly gave up a first-pitch RBI single to Bo Bichette to tie the game at 5-5. Guerrero sent the Jays to a walk-off victory when he roped a slider from Robles into left, plating Springer for the game-winning run.
While having Houck wouldn't have guaranteed a victory, he's been on a roll in June with a 1.54 ERA and all six of his saves this season. Cora wouldn't say much about Houck's absence, but sounded pretty flustered after the loss.
"I mean, we go with the 26 that are here," said Cora. "We tried to get 27 outs and we didn't do it."
The crosshairs are on Houck at the moment, but a deeper pen would have done the Red Sox wonders on Tuesday night. And Boston losing games late in Toronto is nothing new this season. The Sox lost on April 25 when Danish gave up a Bichette grand slam in the eighth inning, breaking up a 2-2 tie, and then blew a 5-2 lead in the ninth the next night when Jake Diekman crumbled on the hill.
Houck's decision obviously doesn't help matters, and it could be back in the spotlight in late September/early October with Boston's final three road games of the season taking place in Toronto. Those could be huge contests, with the Jays currently ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card standings by half-a-game. And if the playoffs started today, the Red Sox would be face the Blue Jays in Toronto.
That puts the Red Sox in a precarious spot if they plan on going with Houck as their closer the rest of the way. It could become a moot point if Garrett Whitlock returns to the bullpen when other starters return from injury, or if the Red Sox add an actual closer at some point. Tuesday night made it clear that Chaim Bloom needs to focus on adding an arm or two to the bullpen ahead of the trade deadline, preferably guys who aren't career journeymen with no experience closing games.
The Red Sox dropped to 2-7 against the Blue Jays with Tuesday night's loss, and will look to avoid a three-game sweep in the series finale on Wednesday night.
