All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Whitlock's debut a rough one: Tuesday night marked the return to the mound for Garrett Whitlock, who was behind somewhat in spring training after undergoing hip surgery last September. Whitlock had been sharp in a couple of rehab starts in the minors, but that didn't translate here, especially against the hottest team in the game. The Rays scratched out single runs off him in the first and second before teeing off for three homers over the span of two innings. Whitlock's changeup and slider were more effective as kept both pitches down in the zone, but he had difficulty commanding his two-seam fastball. Too often, he failed to get that pitch up enough in the zone, leaving them over the heart of the plate and the Rays, predictably, did a lot of damage on those mistakes.
Offense looks lost: The Red Sox didn't collect their first until the fifth inning and had just two hits through seven. Of their six hits, half of them came in the ninth inning, long after the game had already been decided. In the first few innings, the Red Sox at least looked like they had a game plan, working three walks against Shane McClanahan. But after that, they became overly aggressive and tried -- with little success -- to ambush McClanahan early in the count. All that succeeded in doing was making the pitcher's job easier by cutting down on the number of pitches he needed to throw. Many of the swings were on pitches out of the zone as the Sox put themselves in bad counts on a regular basis.
Sox finally stop the steal: Entering the night, the Red Sox had allowed 15 stolen bases in 15 tries. That trend continued in the second inning when Josh Lowe swiped second, extending the Sox' futility to 16-for-16. But catcher Connor Wong proceeded to throw out two would-be base stealers over the next two innings. Many of the stolen bases this season have come because the pitching staff had not done a good job in holding runners at first, and coupled with the new rule limiting pickoff attempts, that made for open season on the Sox. Perhaps Wong's two assists may make teams start to think twice about running on the Sox.
TURNING POINT
In the fifth inning, the game was still somewhat manageable for the Red Sox, who trailed 3-0. But very quickly, the Rays capitalized on a couple of mistakes from Whitlock, getting back-to-back homers from Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe and suddenly, the rout was on for the home team at 5-0. It would only get worse.
TWO UP
Reese McGuire: There wasn't much in the way of offense from the lineup, but what little they had came off the bench in the person of McGuire. He delivered a pinch-hit double in the eighth, then added a sharp single in the ninth.
Bobby Dalbec: Getting the start at first base, Dalbec worked a walk in his first at-bat, then singled and swiped second base, reminding everyone of his surprising speed.
TWO DOWN
KikΓ© Hernandez: Talk about a guy who looks like he needs a day off -- Hernandez was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts out of the leadoff spot, and is now without a hit in his last 27 at-bats.
Kaleb Ort: The game was out of reach when Ort took over in the seventh, but tasked with keeping it close, Ort only added fuel to the fire, knocked around for two runs on two hits in his only inning of work.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"That's the thing -- they're capitalizing on mistakes and it's our bad for making them. They're swinging the bats really well right now and you tip your hat to them. But you also want to compete and be better than what I was.'' Garrett Whitlock.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The loss was the 11th in a row at Tropicana Field for the Red Sox.
* Though Garrett Whitlock wasn't sharp, he delivered the sixth straight outing from a Red Sox starter of five innings.
* The four homers allowed by the Red Sox represented a single-game high for the season.
* The Red Sox have allowed 19 homers as a staff. Only Oakland (23) and the Chicago White Sox (20) had allowed more.
* Of the Rays' seven runs scored, the first five all came after two were out.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will try to snap their streak of futility in St. Pete with the third game of the series Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. It will be LHP Chris Sale (1-0, 11.25) vs. rookie RJ Taj Bradley (0-0, 0.00) making his major league debut.