All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Phillies, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Sox hit bump on way to close of first half: For just the second time all season, the Red Sox have now lost consecutive series and ended the first half by dropping four of the last five games on their schedule -- all against .500 teams (Angels, Phillies). On Saturday, it was the bullpen's fault, with a ghastly eight-run eighth inning. On Sunday, the bullpen was stellar, contributing five scoreless innings. But it was more about the starting pitching and the lineup. In particular, the lineup wasted one scoring chance after another, finishing 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. But there was also some sloppiness on the part of the defense, which committed three errors, with one leading to an unearned run. Finally, there was some poor baserunning decisions, led by Christian Vazquez, who took too wide a turn at first in the sixth and ended up getting tagged out as part of a rundown. Instead of having first-and-third with one out, the Sox had a baserunner at third with two outs. There was no evidence to suggest that the team got cocky in its final two series, but still, dropping four of the last five when they could have built on their slim first-place lead is not a way to go into the All-Star break.
Starters slipping: The Sox have set up their rotation for the start of the second half with an eye toward providing the starters with some rest and recovery time and it seemed like in the final week of the first half, that rest couldn't come too soon. On their last turn through the rotation, no starter completed six innings; in fact, three of them gave up at least five earned runs and two of them didn't even get into the fifth inning. Nick Pivetta wilted in the fourth Sunday. After getting two quick outs in that inning, he allowed a double, a walk and a three-run homer to the light-hitting Ronald Torreyes that spotted the Phils a 5-1 lead., which the Sox were unable to overcome. It's great that the starters have been so durable, with four of the five making every start and a fifth (Eduardo Rodriguez) missing only his first because of a spring training setback. But it sure seems like the workload is starting to take its toll on the rotation.
TURNING POINT
Eating away at the Phillies' dwindling lead all afternoon, it appeared as though the Red Sox were poised for one of their patented late-inning comeback wins in the eighth. They loaded the bases on a single and two walks against Phils reliever Ranger Suarez, with Alex Verdugo at the plate. But Verdugo got a little aggressive, swinging at the first pitch he saw and rolled over to second, stranding three baserunners.
TWO UP
Kike Hernandez: Hernandez turned in two more incredible catches in center field -- one with a five percent probability and the other with 10 percent, according to Statcast.
Christian Arroyo: Hitting ninth, Arroyo had a big day at the plate with a single, two doubles and a walk -- reaching base in every one of his four plate appearances.
ONE DOWN
Nick Pivetta: Matched against his former team, Pivetta lasted just four innings and gave up a big three-run homer to Ronald Torreyes. He's failed to get through five in two of his last three starts.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"We're in first place, but we need to keep pushing and play hard every day and give it all you've got. We need to keep pushing, keep pushing as a group. I think we need to get better at that in the second half.'' Christian Vazquez.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The outfield assist by Kike Hernandez in the 5th was the 29th outfield assist for the Sox this season.
* Adam Ottavino has a 1.89 ERA in his last 35 games.
* J.D. Martinez extended his on-base streak to career-high 28 games.
* Bobby Dalbec has 30 RBI in his last 46 games after collecting just six RBI in his first 26 games.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will be off for the next three days as part of the All-Star break before beginning the second half of the season starts 7:08 p.m. Thursday in New York with LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (6-5, 5.52) getting the start.