Back home for a brief three-game homestand, the Red Sox stumbled and bumbled their way to an embarrassing 16-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles Friday night for their most lopsided and humiliating defeat of the season.
The Orioles scored in four of the first five innings and hung 11 runs -- though just four earned -- on starter Rick Porcello, who needed 101 pitches to record 14 outs. Joe Kelly and Blaine Boyer, who followed Porcello to the mound, were similarly pounded, combining to give up five more runs.
How bad was it? Mitch Moreland, who handled the ninth and pumped in fastballs in the low 90s, was the most effective Red Sox pitcher of the night.
The loss, following a 13-6 loss in Cleveland Thursday night, marked the first time the Sox had allowed 13 or more runs in consecutive games since August of 2006.
The Red Sox combined to make a season-high five errors in a sloppy display.
Xander Bogaerts had a two-run homer in the second and Sandy Leon produced the third run with a sacrifice fly.
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
- Hard to think of a more poorly played game by the Red Sox this season. They've committed five errors -- a season high -- in five innings and have allowed a whopping seven unearned runs, to say nothing of six others that were earned. For the second night in a row, their starting pitcher failed to go very deep. On Thursday, Chris Sale was done after just three innings and tonight, Rick Porcello was removed with two outs in the fifth. On back-to-back nights, that's going to take a toll on the bullpen.
- Just when it seems as though Porcello had figured some things out. Granted, some errors behind him didn't help (though a big one was committed by the pitcher himself, ordinarily one of the team's best fielding pitchers ). Porcello was rapped for nine hits in just 4.2 innings and got very few swings-and-misses. He had one 1-2-3 innings (the fourth) and couldn't carry that momentum very far, allowing five more runs in the next inning.
- Mookie Betts is back in the lineup Friday, a day after he came out of Thursday's game in the seventh inning with a knee contusion. "He woke up this morning and (the swelling) was reduced,'' said John Farrell. "He got some treatment today, went through a number of running exercises on the field...he's ready to go.''
- Dustin Pedroia got some on-field work in with his teammates and took batting practice in the cage as he attempts to rebound from his second stint on the DL. "He's now in that next phase,'' said Farrell. "We're into more functional baseball activity.''
- David Price was expected to throw from a distance of 120 feet as he ramps back up with his throwing program.
- Jackie Bradley Jr. is "improved,'' according to Farrell after suffering a sprained left thumb in a home plate slide Tuesday night in Cleveland. The soreness and swelling have both been reduced and he's starting some range of motion and strengthening exercises.