Column: Instead of finishing off Yankees, Red Sox invite them to hang around

NEW YORK — In baseball, there’s an old axiom that pennant races don’t begin in earnest until Labor Day, and so it is with your 2017 Red Sox.

They could have canceled the pennant race before it was time to begin. The Red Sox had the chance to make the final four weeks of the season be more about playoff seeding, gaining home field advantage and carefully re-introducing injured pitchers back into their given roles.

Now, all those things are secondary



After dropping three out of four to the New York Yankees, capped by a hideous 9-2 loss Sunday night, the Red Sox have to first worry about holding off their rivals. Sunday night represented a big swing – beyond the one Aaron Judge took when he sent a missile into the left field seats off Addison Reed.

Had the Red Sox managed a victory and a split of the series, they’d be sitting on the same 5.5 game lead they had when they came to town last Thursday.  Instead, that lead has been shaved to 3.5 games, three games in the loss column. That’s hardly insurmountable in four weeks’ time.

“They cut into (the lead) a little bit,’’ acknowledged John Farrell. “We’ve got to go home and regroup, bottom-line. Missed opportunities, we can’t go back. We just have to take care of business tomorrow and beyond.’’

For the second straight day, the Sox’ offense was ineffectual. Consider that in the four-game series, the Red Sox failed to get a hit with runners in scoring position until the ninth inning of the fourth game, by which time the Yankees were barely paying attention.

The Sox were a woeful 1-for-27 with RISP for the series; for the season, the Sox were 20-for-140, for a putrid .143 batting average. Here it is September and there remain real questions about their ability to hit good pitching.

But beyond the tightening divisional race, perhaps the most ominous development was the work of Chris Sale, who labored through 4.1 innings, needing 109 pitches to record a mere 13 outs.

“They ran the pitch count up,’’ said Farrell. “A high number of foul balls and they worked deep counts, and (forced him to go through) a couple of long innings.’’

“Gotta be better with two-strike pitches,’’ lamented Sale.

Actually, Sale has to be better, period, than he has been of late. While there have been flashes of the brilliance he displayed in the first half – last week’s gem in Toronto stands as a perfect example – the overall trend is disconcerting.

Since Aug. 1, Sale has made seven starts and compiled a 4.57 ERA, hardly commensurate with his stuff and ability. Add to that Sale’s history for wearing down in the latter part of seasons – his career ERA is 3.22 in August and 3.79 in September — and there’s genuine cause for concern.

Sale maintained that he felt fine and dismissed any suggestion that he was tiring.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m doing alright,’’ said Sale. “I had a rough one tonight. That’s what I chalk it up to. I’ve got another one coming up in (six) days and I’m looking forward to that one. I feel real good. We’ve done a lot of things over the course of the year, dating back to spring training, to kind of get over this hump right here. Just gotta keep grinding, keep working, to get the results we need.’’

Whether he believes he needs it or not, Sale will soon get some extra rest. Thanks to an off-day on the schedule Thursday and another one next Monday, the Sox have the ability to give Sale an extra day for each of his next two turns.

Even if he doesn’t believe he needs the time, it can’t hurt at this point of the season, 28 starts in.

But the larger concern is the team as a whole. Even if Sale rediscovers the dominance he displayed in the first half, he alone won’t carry the Red Sox to the division title.

They need to the offense to stir awake and they need a better performance from the bullpen than they got Sunday night.

Fortunately for the Sox, the schedule delivers them a nine-game homestand, chock full of beatable teams. Their next opponent (Toronto) is in last place and so is the one which visits Fenway next week (Oakland).

“The short of it is this,’’ said Farrell, “collectively, we’ve got to do a better job all the way around.’’

And fast. The race which they could have ended is now just beginning.