All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Guardians, complete with BSJ analysis and insight
HEADLINES
Winckowski knocked around: Josh Winckowski provided the Red Sox with just three innings, and they weren't good, as he was charged with five runs on six hits. Worse, he wasn't fooling anyone with his stuff, getting exactly one swing-and-miss among his 73 pitches. Manager Alex Cora said Winckowski's stuff was running together, with little separation between his fastball and slider. Winckowski is perplexed by his struggles with his slider, and wasn't particularly happy with the quality of his sinker. With the injuries to the starting rotation, Winckowski has a chance to stake a more permanent spot in the rotation, but is in danger of squandering it with outings like the one had Tuesday night. With a depleted lineup, the last thing the Sox need to do is find themselves down by a large margin early, and yet, that's where Winckowski led them.
Bogaerts back on track: From the start, Bogaerts was the only reliable offensive performer the Sox had in a lineup that was missing regulars at a number of spots. Bogaerts doubled to center in the first, but was left stranded at second. In the third, he slashed a single to left, scoring the Sox' first run of the evening. He hit the ball hard to right on a lineout in the fifth, and then cracked another double to lead off the seventh, eventually coming around to score the final run of the night for Boston. The three-hit game was his 12th of the season, tops in the American League and second in MLB. But as Tuesday demonstraterd, Bogaerts can't do it alone. Still, for the Red Sox, it was a good sign to see Bogaerts driving fastballs and being able to pull the ball with power, something that has been absent from his game in recent weeks.
Ortiz honored: The Red Sox had a celebration for newly-minted Hall of Famer David Ortiz, who was inducted into Cooperstown Sunday afternoon. In a pregame ceremony, the Sox had family members, former managers -- including Cleveland's Tito Francona -- and teammates, along with other Hall of Famers Jim Rice, Pedro Martinez, Carl Yastrzemski and Vladimir Guerrero on hand. Ortiz spoke from the middle of the infield and thanked fans and the organization, and promised to always be loyal to Boston, while saluting the important role the fans had played in his remarkable career. Then, unfortunately, the game began.
TURNING POINT
In the bottom of the third inning, with the Red Sox already trailing 5-0, they rallied some and pushed two runs across the plate with RBI singles from Xander Bogaerts and Christian Vazauez, closing to within 5-2. The Sox had the bases loaded and one out when Kevin Plawecki hit a fly ball to relatively shallow right field. Bogaerts noticed that Cleveland right fielder Nolan Jones caught the ball flat-footed and took off for the plate. Jones made a strong throw home and catcher Austin Hedges did a nice job swiping a tag on Bogaerts, who was called out. The Sox challenged the play, but it was upheld. Instead of the game being 5-3 with two runners on base, the Sox still trailed 5-2 and were out of the inning.
TWO UP
Kaleb Ort: Long after it had been decided, Ort had an impressive inning of relief, retiring the Guardians in order in the ninth, two by strikeout.
Christian Vazquez: He had a run-scoring single, a walk and was robbed off a hit on a hard-hit ball to first in the eighth inning. He's hitting .333 since the start of the second half.
TWO DOWN
J.D. Martinez: Returning to the lineup for the first time in the second half, having missed the last four games with back spasms, Martinez looked rusty with his timing, fanning three times and being hit by a pitch.
Austin Davis: The lefty reliever has been slumping of late, and that was the case again Tuesday when he gave up twp runs on two hits in just one inning of work. The Sox needed someone to keep the score where it was and David, in relief of Josh Winckowski, failed to do so.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"It's hard to play from behind. It's very hard. It's hard when you have your big boys (healthy). We just have to make sure we keep the game in check in the first part of the game.'' Alex Cora.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The loss was the first this season for the Red Sox while wearing the City Connect uniforms. They had been 6-0.
* The Sox dropped to 3-8 in their last 11 home games.
* Christian Vazquez has four RBI in the last five games.
* For the fourth time this month, Hirokazu Sawamura pitched two scoreless innings.
* Xander Bogaerts has multiple hits in seven of his last 14 games.
UP NEXT: In the third game of the series, the Red Sox will send RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-3, 4.30) to the mound Wednesday at 7:10 p.m., opposed by RHP Cal Quantrill (7-5, 3.75) at 7:10 p.m.