For the second straight night, the Red Sox were humbled by the Houston Astros.
The Sox dropped a 7-3 decision to the Astros, with Houston scoring four runs in the first three innings off Chris Sale. In the first, a walk and a wild pitch helped contribute to the 2-0 head start. A solo homer from George Springer and another wild pitch and two singles resulted in two more runs in the third.
Joe Kelly, who had allowed one run since April 1, was shelled for three runs -- with the help of two tape-measure homers-- in the eighth.
The Sox got a run in the third on an RBI-double from Brock Holt, then got consecutive solo homers from Mitch Moreland and J.D. Martinez in the fourth, but that represented their last scoring for the night.
WHO: Red Sox vs. Houston Astros
WHEN: 8:10 p.m.
WHERE: Minute Maid Park
WHAT'S UP: This is the second game of a four-game weekend set between the division leaders. The Astros took the opener Thursday night, 4-2. Dating back to last September and counting the Division Series, the Sox have lost seven of their last nine meetings with Houston. Mookie Betts remains out of the lineup for the sixth straight game and the Sox will also be without Dustin Pedroia, who is experiencing some soreness in his surgically-repaired left knee. Chris Sale will be looking to rebound from a disappointing start last time out. He has a strong history against Houston (5-1, 1.31).
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Chris Sale (5-2, 2.76) vs. RHP Gerrit Cole (5-1, 2.05).
TV/RADIO: NESN/MLB Network; WEEI 93.7 FM
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
10:12 Assume that will be it for Cole, who finishes strong. After yielding consecutive solo homers to Moreland and Martinez to start the fourth, Cole retired 12-of-14, allowing only a one-out single to Bradley in the fifth, followed by a walk to Benintendi.
9:42 Gerrit Cole pitches himself out of a big jam After a single and stolen base by Jackie Bradley Jr. and a walk to Andrew Benintendi, the Red Sox had baserunners at first and second with just one out. But Cole muscled up for a 98 mph fastball that overpowered Xander Bogaerts and then caught Moreland looking at a curveball for strike three, stranding two baserunners.
9:18 Back-to-back solo homers from Mitch Moreland (No. 9) and J.D. Martinez (No. 19), and the Sox have pulled to within a run. Moreland's was a mammoth shot to straightaway center, off the big batter's eye with the Astros logo. Martinez, naturally, hit his to the opposite field, just reaching the first row in the right field bleachers.
9:11 Sale is, again, not himself. In the third inning, he's already thrown two wild pitches - both of which led to runs being scored.
9:01 The homer by George Springer off Sale was the 10th allowed by Sale in 13 starts this season. By comparison, last year, he allowed just six homers in his first 13 starts.
8:52 Chris Sale gets himself a seven-pitch innings, which he could dearly use after throwing 34 pitches in the first inning.
8:43 The Astros aligned their outfield to the point where there was a huge gap in center between center fielder Jake Marisnick and right fielders George Springer - and Brock Holt shot a line drive between them for a double, scoring Eduardo Nunez from first base.
8:34 For the second time in as many games, the Astros take a 2-0 lead in the first inning. And for the third time in the series, the Astros manage to score a run when a batted ball doesn't get past the pitcher's mound. First, came a run scoring on a strikeout-wild pitch, and then a second run on a dribbler to Rafael Devers charged but couldn't barehand properly.
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Benintendi LF
Bogaerts SS
Moreland 1B
Martinez RF
Devers 3B
Nunez DH
Holt 2B
Leon C
Bradley CF
ASTROS
Springer RF
Bregman 3B
Altuve 2B
Correa SS
Gurriel 1B
Gattis DH
Stassi C
Davis 3B
Marisnick CF
:
- For the sixth straight game since feeling some vague "tightness'' in his left side, Mookie Betts was out of the lineup Friday night. Betts, who swung off a tee on Thursday, was set to take BP prior to Friday's game as a test to see how he's progressed. "Then, we'll see if he plays Saturday or Sunday, or whether we have to push him back,'' said Alex Cora. "We'll know after batting practice.'' Cora said the Sox have trusted Betts to inform that as to his availability, but that the recovery "has taken longer than we expected. But we do feel it's going it's going to be sooner rather than later.'' The Sox now find themselves caught in the middle, since there's a maximum of three days that a team can place a player on the DL retroactively. That means if the Sox were to do so Saturday, they could only backdate him to last Wednesday, meaning he wouldn't be eligible until next weekend.
- Dustin Pedroia remained sidelined for the second straight game, feeling some discomfort in his surgically-repaired left knee. "He's sore,'' said Cora. "Coming into this situation, we knew he was going to have some good days and some bad days. It just happened that (Thursday) was a horrible one for him. He was down, not only physically, but (also emotionally). For everything he went through, with the rehab and how good he was feeling...then that happened. But at the same time, they've been telling him, our medical staff, that there's going to be some bad days. It happened probably quicker than what we wanted.''
- Cora re-affirmed his support for Drew Pomeranz, who allowed four runs in five innings. "Regardless of the result (Thursday),'' he said, "he threw the ball well, especially in the last part of the start. The breaking ball was better and the fastball, as you saw, he used it late in the count and was able to get some swing and misses.''
- Steven Wright has flourished in the bullpen role, with nine consecutive scoreless innings, including three on Thursday. "I think our next step is (bringing him in) with traffic on the bases,'' said Wright. "The part I was hesitant about was because of the catchers. But they're framing knuckleballs; they're doing an outstanding job. We know he can start at this level and be really, really good. But I think he's becoming kind of a weapon coming out of the bullpen, so his role is going to bigger and bigger.''
- The Sox intend to plug a sixth starter into the rotation Tuesday, but haven't determined who that will be. They can choose from Wright, Hector Velazquez and Brian Johnson. "We're going to talk about it (Saturday) morning,'' said Cora, who added a factor will be recent use.
- Sandy Leon was the starting catcher for the sixth time in the last 11 days, as the Sox ride his hot bat. In his last 11 games, he was hitting .400 (14-for-35) with two doubles, two homers and six RBI. Cora said he noticed Christian Vazquez appearing "frustrated'' with his at-bats in the final game of the homestand against Toronto. "He was down,'' said Cora, "and I talked to him and we've had him take a step back and get back to hitting early. Mostly likely, he'll play (Saturday). I think it's a combination of both giving Christian a breather for him to relax, and at the same time, Sandy's swinging the bat well and playing well.''
- Cora wasn't thrilled that Andrew Benintendi ran through a stop sign Thursday, even though he scored a run in the process, but noted that he gave the team permission to run more aggressively against Houston. "One thing I told them, against this team, sometimes you have to take chances,'' said Cora. "You have to be aggressive with them. I told them, 'Hey, if we run into a few outs, it's OK this weekend.' With the way, they pitch, it's hard to get three hits against their starting rotation, so we have to do other things. If you run into an out being aggressive and it's a close play, I'm OK.''