All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 5-4 loss to the Angels, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Cashner delivers another dud: The sole meaningful trade acquisition for the Red Sox in July delivered his worst start in Boston to date, lasting just five outs while giving up five walks and three hits to the Angels over the first two innings. Josh Taylor rescued Cashner to limit the damage to just three earned runs but the performance helped drop the Sox to 1-5 in Cashner's starts. He is now sporting an 8.01 ERA and 1.91 WHIP over 30.1 innings of action with Boston and has delivered just one quality start in that span. The former Oriole nearly has piled up as many walks (17) as strikeouts (21) since coming to Boston. Alex Cora said after the game that his staff would be meeting to discuss the rotation on Monday and with an off day upcoming, it would not be a shock to see the Red Sox skip over Cashner who has not been able to find his rhythm in Boston at all.
Angels’ bullpen quiet Sox bats: The Red Sox dug out of Cashner’s slow start with four runs off Angels starter Patrick Sandoval in the first five innings. The trio of Ty Buttery, Cam Bedrosian and Hector Robles put the clamps on Boston’s lineup for the final 5.1 innings however, giving up zero runs and just two hits over the second half of the contest to keep the Sox reeling at Fenway. Boston split the four-game series with the sub .500 Angels, who had dropped eight straight games prior to Saturday’s win at Fenway. The hosts are now 30-32 at home on the year and are a full seven games behind the Rays for the final wildcard spot in the AL with 52 games to play.
Sox bullpen falters late: Matt Barnes has been one of the few reliable arms for Cora most of the year, but the manager leaned a little too heavily on the right-hander as he tried to navigate an overtaxed bullpen on Sunday. Barnes allowed a game-tying home run to Kole Calhoun in the eighth inning to even up the game at 4. While Brandon Workman delivered a clean ninth, Ryan Weber (Boston’s seventh pitcher of the day) could not keep the Angels off the scoreboard in extras, allowing an RBI single to Anthony Bemboom in the top of the 10th. It was the 21st blown save of the year for Boston.
TURNING POINT
Calhoun’s game-tying home run in the eighth turned the tide in this one, spoiling five straight innings of good work by the Sox bullpen. The Red Sox had a couple of baserunners in the bottom of the eighth thanks to walks but failed to capitalize on them thanks to some questionable decision making by Christian Vasquez (popped up a bunt) and Cora, along with some ugly situational hitting.
SECOND GUESS
Mookie Betts got the day off but when Cora decided to insert one of his best hitters into the game, he failed to use his bat. Instead, Cora elected to pinch run Betts for Mitch Moreland at first base in the bottom of the eighth inning. Betts was caught stealing two batters later while Brock Holt was batting. Declining to use Betts as a pinch hitter instead of Holt was a puzzling decision, to say the least.
TWO UP
Josh Taylor: The left-handed reliever struck out a career-high five Angels over a career-high 2.1 innings pitched. It was his fourth consecutive scoreless appearance and Taylor has not allowed a hit against his last 15 batters.
Andrew Benintendi: The left fielder collected a pair of hits and a walk in five plate appearances. He’s now hitting .386 over his last 20 games with 15 extra-base hits over that span.
THREE DOWN
Cashner: The Red Sox dropped to 1-5 in games he has started. He has just one quality start in that span despite starting five of his games at Fenway Park since being acquired.
Chris Owings: The pregame callup from Pawtucket got a big opportunity leading off in his first appearance with the Sox. He failed to take advantage of the big stage though, going 0-of-5 with three strikeouts.
Cora: It looked like Vazquez bunted on his own in the eighth inning with the leadoff batter on but some puzzling decisions here by the manager with his bench choices at a critical spot in the game.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"We did a few things trying to make it happen. Sometimes when you do that, it doesn't happen…you got to let the game come to you…we did a few things, as a group, that we don't do." — Cora
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The Red Sox are 6-5 in extra innings games this season, including 4-2 at home. They dropped to 53-8 on the year when leading after seven innings.
- Christian Vazquez hit a 2-run HR in the fourth, which added to his new-career high total of 18 home runs and 52 RBIs.
- Marcus Walden has not allowed a hit to his last 30 batters faced dating back to July 28th against the Yankees
- JD Martinez extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single. He also has an on-base streak of 20 straight games.