TORONTO -- All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 4-3, 1o-inning loss to the Blue Jays, complete with BSJ insight and analysis
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Porcello deserved better: Rick Porcello got a no-decision but pitched well. In the second inning, he was guilty of a leadoff walk, and later, a wild pitch. But the Blue Jays pushed across three runs thanks to a single to right which came as a result of the Sox shifting second baseman Eduardo Nunez to cover second on a hit-and-run play and a poor decision by Rafael Devers, who chose to go home on an infield chopper when a throw to first would have represented the smarter play. Porcello fanned a season-high nine and allowed just one hit after the second inning, but wasn't about to let himself off the hook for what took place in the three-run second. "Leadoff walk, that was the biggest thing,'' Porcello said. "Putting a runner on without making them earn it; I could have been better there for sure.'' Porcello had walked one batter in his first four starts, but managed to walk three in the first five innings Tuesday night.
Lack of work not a factor in blown save: Thanks to the lopsided nature of most of the Red Sox wins in the last week or so, Craig Kimbrel hasn't had his normal workload. In fact, the Red Sox brought him into a 9-0 game in Anaheim last Wednesday just to get him work. Pitching for the first time since then, Kimbrel overpowered Devon Travis for the first out in the 10th, but fell behind Curtis Granderson 2-and-0 and served up a center-cut fastball which Granderson mashed for a game-winning walk-off solo homer. "I threw the ball in there to get back in the count, and, game over,'' said Kimbrel. "You talk about time off or things like that, those are just excuses. You have a (chance) to keep the game going, I've got to do my job and I didn't do that today."
You: The Grandy Man CAN and WILL.
Narrator: And then he DID. #Walkoff pic.twitter.com/h7Hx4jxSmS
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 25, 2018
- The loss was the first extra-inning setback for the Sox this season, who won their first two tries
- Boston struck out a season-high 14 times
- Porcello, who led the A.L. in homers allowed last season, has yet to allow one in his first five starts.
- The blown save for Kimbrel was his first Aug. 1, 2017.
- Holt has reached base safely in each of his 12 starts.