The Red Sox saw their losing streak extend to three games -- tying their season-high -- with a 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians.
The Indians broke open a scoreless game in the fourth with two runs off Nathan Eovaldi and added two more in the sixth before tacking on another run off Brandon Workman in the seventh.
The Sox finally snapped to life in the seventh, scoring three times on a double by Xander Bogaerts, a sacrifice fly from Mitch Moreland and a groundout from Ian Kinsler.
But immediately thereafter, the Indians got a run back off Tyler Thornburg when Yan Gomes golfed a pitch out to left and the Sox never got any closer.
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS
9:30 Tonight represents something of a mirror image of Monday's opener -- this time, it's the Indians who scored first, and the Red Sox are trying to come back. One thing to take into account -- this Cleveland bullpen is a lot better than it was a few weeks ago, with the addition of Adam Cimber and Brad Hand, to say nothing of a healthy Andrew Miller.
9:13 Red Sox not getting much relief help from the bullpen tonight. First, Joe Kelly allowed an inherited run to score, and now, Brandon Workman gives up another run in the sixth, as Cleveland keeps adding on, 5-0.
8:39 Melky Cabrera has certainly been a nice addition for the Indians. He homered Sunday at home, homered Monday night in the series opener and just homered again -- into the Red Sox bullpen -- to stretch the Cleveland lead to 3-0. Cabrera also has a double and a single tonight.
8:08 Eovaldi struggling some with the bottom half of the Cleveland order. The top 3 -- Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley and Jose Ramirez -- are a combined 0-for-6. But the bottom four spots in the order are a combined 5-for-8, producing both Cleveland runs.
7:37 Strong glove work at first by Mitch Moreland, who deftly backhands a hard-hit ball on an in-between hop, comes up with it cleanly and fires to the plate to cut down Yandy Diaz attempting to score from third.
7:32 Nathan Eovaldi looks sharp early on, with good velocity -- he's touched 100 mph a few times with his four-seamer -- and he's thrown his cutter as high as 95-96 mph. He's also pounding the strike zone, with 17 of his first 22 pitches for strikes.
WHO: Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox have lost two in a row for the first time since the final week of July — not exactly a major losing streak, but still, unusual for this team, given the pace they've been setting for the first (almost) five months of the season. Still, the Sox have a comfortable lead atop the American League East, leading the Yankees by a full nine games. The Indians won the opener of this four-game set Monday night and are 14-4 in the month of August, during which they've compiled a 2.40 ERA.
STARTING PITCHERS: Nathan Eovaldi (5-4, 3.62) vs. RHP Shane Bieber (6-2, 3.47).
TV/RADIO: NESN/MLB Network; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Betts RF
Benintendi LF
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Moreland 1B
Kinsler 2B
Nunez 3B
Leon C
Bradley CF
INDIANS
Lindor SS
Brantley LF
Ramirez 3B
Diaz DH
Alonso 1B
Cabrera RF
Kipnis 1B
Gomes C
Allen CF
NEWS AND NOTES:
- A day after Alex Cora expressed his preference for J.D. Martinez to hit cleanup and not third in the Red Sox batting order, Cora switched up and moved Martinez to third for Tuesday night. The reason? The Indians have three qualities lefties in their bullpen (Andrew Miller, Brad Hand and Oliver Perez) and Cora wanted to split up Red Sox lefty hitter Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland to make it more difficult for the Indians to get some late-inning matchups.
- Eduardo Rodriguez bounced back well after his four-inning rehab assignment for Double-A Portland Monday and for now, is scheduled to make one more appearance before being activated off the DL.
- Steven Wright will throw live BP Friday in Tampa Bay against some minor leaguers brought up from Fort Myers, in advance of going out on a rehab assignment.