McAdam: Letting the numbers do the talking after a long, long Red Sox loss

Words fail me.

Just like the 2020 Red Sox often fail at baseball, I don't have the words to describe to adequately describe what transpired at Fenway Park Sunday in the Sox' 10-8 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

So if you'll indulge me, I'm going to let the numbers do (most) of the talking. Warning: this could be ugly.

10 - The number of walks issued by Red Sox pitchers. To be fair, the last three pitchers didn't issue any at all, but that might have been the result of Blue Jays hitters becoming bored by all the free passes earned through the first six innings and deciding to speed things up by swinging away.

179 - The number of walks issued by Red Sox pitchers in 2020. That leads all of baseball. The next closest? The Arizona Diamondbacks, who entered Sunday with 164.

7  -   The number of Red Sox pitchers utilized. There are currently 14 pitchers on the 28-man roster, so, incredibly, this represents only half of the staff. It just seemed like more.

2 - The number of pitchers who were used Sunday who were with the Red Sox when last season ended.

4 - The number of baserunners Red Sox relievers inherited Sunday.

4 - The number of inherited baserunners who came around to score.

225 - The number of pitches thrown by Red Sox pitchers. Since 1988, according to BaseballReference.com, that's the second-most pitches through in a nine-game by Red Sox pitchers. The only time they threw more was June 30, 2019, and that came in the two-game series in London. So, on second thought, this one is a record - for Red Sox games held in North America.



54 - The number of pitches thrown by Matt Hall in an inning and two-thirds. Greg Maddux once threw a 77-pitch complete game. Hall threw 23 fewer and recorded just five outs.

25 - The number of strikes thrown by Hall.

3  -  The number of Red Sox pitchers who finished the game with ERAs in double figures: Matt Hall (19.89), Robinson Leyer (13.50) and Marcus Walden (10.13). Andrew Triggs, who started the game and went three innings, just missed making it four with an ERA of 9.95. Two of the other three, meanwhile, finished with ERAs over 6.00 -- Austin Brice (6.38) and Jeffrey Springs (7.36).

3:08 - The average length (in hours and minutes) for a Major League Baseball game going into Sunday's action.

3:22 - The average length of Red Sox games this year.

4:23 - The actual length of Sunday's game, the longest nine-inning game in MLB this season.

3 - The number of nine-inning games the Red Sox played this season exceeding four hours.

5 - The number of games the Red Sox have scored seven or more runs this season and still lost. Think about that: scoring seven or more runs in a game, and still not having enough offense to collect a win.

14 - The number of baserunners the Blue Jays stranded, a reflection of how bad this one could have been had the visitors come up with a few more well-timed hits.

13 - The number of different Red Sox pitchers who have started games this season. In, it should be noted, just 42 games. By contrast, no other team has used more than 11.

2  - The number of innings in which the Blue Jays managed to bat around.

11 - The number of homers Toronto first baseman/DH Rowdy Tellez has in 25 career games against the Red Sox.

22 - The number of homers Tellez has against every other team he's faced in 142 games.

28 - The number of losses for the Red Sox, most of any team in either the American League or National League.

8-17 - The Red Sox record at Fenway Park this season.

2 - The number of home series the Red Sox have won this season.

.333 - The Red Sox winning percentage this season.

18 - The number of games remaining on the Red Sox schedule. And yes, I'm counting.