All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Braves, complere with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Morton stymies Sox: In the offseason, the Red Sox were aggressive in their pursuit of veteran starter Charlie Morton. Morton was a free agent and had formed a close bond with Alex Cora when Cora was the Astros' bench coach in 2017. Ultimately, Morton chose the Braves, in part because of geography. Morton liked the idea of being a short flight away from his home on Florida's Gulf Coast, while also being able to spend more time at home in spring training for six weeks (the Braves train about 20 miles away). Perhaps the Red Sox should have just tried harder, because Morton completely dominated them Tuesday night, limiting them to an unearned run over seven innings while holding them to just three hits. When they failed to get to him early, Morton appeared to find himself and got better as the night went along.
Richards off just enough: Red Sox starter Garrett Richards certainly kept the Sox in the game, pitching into the sixth inning and allowing two runs (a third was charged to him after he left). But by his own admission, Richards was not his usual self on this night. The Braves squared up a lot of hard-hit balls against him and the righty didn't help himself with four walks, one which led directly to one run and another which contributed to a second. "As soon as I stop walking people, I feel like I'm going to take the next step,'' said Richards. "That just kind of something I'm dealing with right now. Tonight was just an off night; didn't really have great stuff.'' Indeed, Richards has walked 11 in his last three starts. The first two times, it didn't matter because of the run support he got and the fact that he minimized the damage. That wasn't the case against the Braves.
TURNING POINT
It was bad enough that the Red Sox didn't get more than one run with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning. But things got compounded in the second when the Sox got a leadoff triple from Danny Santana, followed by a walk to Hunter Renfroe. Surely, the Sox would take better advantage with this scoring chance, right? Right? Turns out, no. Bobby Dalbec went down swinging and Kike Hernandez hit into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. Unable to break through against Morton, the Sox seemed to fold their tents. They collected one (1) more baserunner the rest of the way - a two-out single by Xander Bogaerts in the third inning that resulted in -- you guessed it -- nothing.
TWO UP
Garrett Whitlock: The rookie, who has struggled some in May, rebounded with two strong innings, allowing only ine hit while fanning two.
Kike Hernandez: Hernandez singled and scored the only Boston run of the night and also had a heads-up play in which he cut down a baserunner at third base.,
TWO DOWN
J.D. Martinez: It was an uneventful night at the plate for the DH, who, after reaching on an error in the first, didn't reach base again with strikeouts along the way.
Christian Vazquez: After lining into a rally-killing double play in the first, it got worse for the catcher with three strikeouts in his next three plate appearances.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"We had Charlie on the ropes in the first two innings and we only scored one. We had our chances early on and we didn't cash in.'' - Alex Cora on Charlie Morton.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* This game marked the eighth time the Red Sox were limited to one or no runs.
* The three hits tied a season low, established two previous times.
* Kike Hernandez has scored 20 runs in his last 24 games.
* All three of Danny Santana's hits since joining the club have been for extra-bases -- two homers and a triple.
UP NEXT
This quick two-game interleague series finishes up at 7:07 p.m. Wednesday night, with Nick Pivetta (5-0, 3.59) vs. LHP Drew Smyly (.2-2, 5.11)