All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Phillies, complete with BSJ insight and analysis
HEADLINES
Bullpen springs a massive leak: For most of this season, the Red Sox bullpen has been superb. They went into Saturday's action ranked fourth in the American League and eighth overall in Major League Baseball. But every good bullpen has its down moments, and for the Red Sox that came in the eighth inning. With the Sox trailing 3-2, the Phillies erupted for eight runs against three Red Sox relievers. It wasn't until the ninth man of the inning came to the plate before the Sox could record the first out. Most surprising was the meltdown by lefty Josh Taylor, who had strung together 26 consecutive scoreless appearances, dating back to April 24. He fell one shy of tying the team record held by Koji Uehara, and he fell in a big way. Taylor faced four hitters and allowed two hits, a walk and a hit batsman. Brandon Workman took over and was no better, facing three hitters, retiring none and issuing two walks. By the time the inning was over, 13 hitters had come to the plate and the game had gone from a one-run affair to a blowout. "One bad inning,'' shrugged Alex Cora. But oh, what a bad one, indeed.
Offense takes the day off: In their previous nine games at home -- all of them wins -- the Red Sox were averaging more than seven runs per game, seemingly scoring at will, including, as recently as Friday night in the series opener, 11 runs. But that offense was nowhere to be found Saturday as journeyman Matt Moore and the Phillies bullpen limited the Sox to just four hits. The Sox got a solo homer from Xander Bogaerts in the second and the only other run came in the third when an errant throw by J.T. Realmuto enabled Christian Vazquez to score. That was it. On the few occasions when the Red Sox had some chances after that, they were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. In fact, after the third inning, the Red Sox managed just two hits the rest of the way -- both singles.
TURNING POINT
Although it was the eighth inning in which the game got away from the Red Sox, they had Phillies start Matt Moore on the ropes in the third inning. Thanks to a hit batsman and two walks, the Sox had the bases loaded and trailed by a run. One big hit would have produced multiple runs for the Sox and changed the game. Instead, Moore got Rafael Devers to fly out to left, leaving the bases full. Over the next four innings, the Sox collected exactly one hit and never threatened again until after the Phils erupted for their eight-run inning.
TWO UP
Hirokazu Sawamura: Not every Red Sox reliever experienced a bad day. Sawamura came on in the fourth inning and got the final out before retiring the Phillies in order the following inning.
Alex Verdugo: On an afternoon in which the Red Sox had just four hits, Verdugo had two of them with singles in the fifth and eighth innings.
TWO DOWN
Bobby Dalbec: It was a tough day for the rookie slugger, who had four at-bats with three ending in a strikeout and the other a weak popup in the infield.
Rafael Devers: Devers had a rare cool day at the plate, going 0-for-4 and stranding six baserunners in the process.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I could care less about a streak. I mean, it's cool, but I still have a job to do, to go out and get the outs I need and today, I didn't do that.'' Josh Taylor, who saw his streak of 26 consecutive scoreless appearances end.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The game featured the second-biggest losing margin of the season for the Red Sox. The biggest came vs. TOR on June 13 (18-4)
* The homer by Xander Bogaerts snapped a 20-game homerless streak, covering 82 at-bats.
* Hirokazu Sawamura has stranded 19 of 22 inherited runners this season.
* J,.D. Martinez extended his on-base streak to a career-best 26 games.
* Garrett Whitlock turned in his 15th scoreless outing longer than one inning, tying him for most in the majors this season.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox wrap up the first half of their season with one more game against the Phillies Sunday at 1:10 p.m. It will be RHP Nick Pivetta (7-3, 4.09) vs. RHP Aaron Nola (6-5, 4.53).