All you need to know, in quickie form. about the Red Sox' loss to the Pirates, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Kluber shines, but outing cut short: Starter Corey Kluber was far better Wednesday than he was on Opening Day, when he issued four walks and couldn't get through the fourth inning. On Wednesday, Kluber allowed just one run over five innings, giving up just three hits and issuing just one walk, to keep the Red Sox in the game. The mystery was why he was lifted after just five, having thrown only 67 pitches. "The way I view it is, my job is to pitch as long as the manager says,'' said Kluber, "whether it's five innings, nine innings... There's a lot of things that go into those decisions that are beyond me, beyond the way I'm feeling or things like that. So I've always tried to approach it as, go out there and give my all for as long as they deem necessary and when they say it's enough, that's their call.'' Alex Cora said the Sox were taking the long view in his decision to lift him. "We felt like we were good right there,'' he said. "That was good enough for us.''
Offense is in deep freeze: Over the last two games, the Red Sox offense barely resembles the one that scored 33 runs over the first four games. For the second straight game, the Sox were limited to a single run. But while they hit the ball hard oon several occasions Tuesday night, the lineup on Wednesday didn't have the same quality at-bats. In fact, facing Pittsburgh's Mitch Keller, the Sox were limited to one hit through the first six innings. In that same span, they had just one baserunner in scoring position as Keller at one point retired 12 straight and 14 out of 15. Of the five hits the Sox had, two were of the infield variety and they finished the afternoon with just one extra-base hit. It wasn't until the seventh until the Sox scored a run, or, for that matter, more than one baserunner in the same inning.
TURNING POINT
For one moment in the seventh inning, it appeared as though the Red Sox had rallied all the way back to tie the game at 4-4. Senr up to pinch-hit for Yu Chang with the Sox trailing 4-1, Reese McGuire drove a ball into the right field seats. The ball was initially ruled fair for a game-tying, three-run homer. McGuire rounded the bases and the Red Sox dugout erupted. But very quickly, the umpires gathered on the field for a conference and ruled the ball was actually foul. The Red Sox challenged the call, but the replay backed the corrected call on the field. McGuire returned to the plate, and two pitches later, took a called third strike.
TWO UP
Christian Arroyo: Entering the game without a hit in his previous nine at-bats, Arroyo broke out some with a single in the second inning and another in the seventh.
Justin Turner: On a day in which the Red Sox could get very little started offensively, Turner at least managed to reach base with a walk and a single. He's reached base multiple times in five of the six games to date.
TWO DOWN
Masataka Yoshida: In addition to going 0-for-4 at the plate with a strikeout and a double play, Yoshida also badly misplayed a ball that hit off the Wall, and made the decision to throw home in the seventh when he should have thrown to second base.
Kaleb Ort: The bullpen has been outstanding since Opening Day, but Ort allowed two runs in the seventh that allows the Pirates to add to their lead and pull away.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"You make bad decisions, you put yourselves in a bad spot, and that's what happens.'' Alex Cora, on his team's poor fundamental play late in the game.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The three-game sweep was the first at Fenway for the Sox since last Aug. 23-25 when Toronto took three in a row.
* After averaging better than eight runs through the first four games, the Sox scored a grand total of two runs in the last two.
* Corey Kluber allowed a solo homer in the fourth to Carlos Santana, meaning Red Sox starters have allowed at least one homer in all six games this season.
* The Pirates executed a double steal in the ninth and opponents are 14-for-14 in stolen base attempts this year.
* The Red Sox have failed to score in 23 of their last 26 innings of play.
* Zack Kelly has had four outings this season and three of them have been scoreless.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox embark on their first road trip of the season, a seven-game trek that begins Thursday in Detroit, with LHP Chris Sale (0-1, 21.00) vs. RHP Spender Turnbull (0-1, 27.00) at 1:10 p.m.