All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Brewers, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Whitlock off: Starter Garrett Whitlock was masterful in his previous start, limiting the Angels to a single run over seven innings, but it was a different Whitlock on the mound against the Brewers Saturday night. He missed too often in the middle of the plate and paid for it with some hard contact. And after going seven innings last time out, Whitlock failed to get an out in the fifth, loading the bases with no outs before being removed. "I just never gave the team a chance to win,'' said Whitlock. "I just wasn't getting swing-and-misses and they were putting the ball in play.'' The rotation continues to be inconsistent for the Red Sox, with only Tanner Houck providing quality outings each time.
McGuire survives a scare: Catcher Reese McGuire, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, took a foul ball off his bare right hand and struggled mightily. Without another catcher -- Connor Wong had started, but was lifted for McGuire -- the Red Sox didn't have any other options behind the plate. With his hand throbbing, McGuire overthrew the pitcher several times on simple throws back to the mound. The fear was that he may have suffered some sort of broken bone in his hand, but he underwent x-rays after the game and they proved negative. "As a catcher, you're kind of used to getting (hit by) baseballs all over,'' he said. "It's one of those things that you kind of shake off at first, but that one kind of stung and I looked down and it started to swell up.'' It seems likely that Wong will start behind the plate Sunday to give McGuire another day to recover, but at least he won't require an IL trip.
Verdugo has only bad luck: If you looked at the box score and saw that Alex Verdugo was 0-for-4, you might surmise that he had a rough night at the plate. Actually, he had three terrific at-bats and could have easily come away with three extra-base hits. In the third, he lined a rocket, but directly at Milwaukee right fielder Blake Perkins. Then, the real robberies started. In the fifth, he smoked a ball well over 100 mph to straightaway center, but Brewers center fielder Joey Wiemer leaped in front of the wall, and before losing his balance, came down with the ball. And still, Wiemer wasn't done -- in the eighth, Verdugo led off by driving another ball to the warning track that Wiemer made a circus catch on. Three balls smoked, and yet, not a single hit to show.
TURNING POINT
Trailing by a run in the eighth, the Red Sox got a one-out double from Justin Turner to put the tying run in scoring position and for a time, it seemed another comeback victory seemed within their reach. But the Brewers went to their bullpen for lefty Hoby Milner, who promptly struck out Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers, stranding Turner at second.
TWO UP
Yu Chang: Chang cranked a two-run homer to account for the first two runs, and made a number of nice plays at shortstop.
Rafael Devers: In addition to a hard-hit, opposite-field double in the first inning, Devers crushed a two-run homer in the sixth for his eighth homer of the year. He's also averaging nearly an RBI per game.
ONE DOWN
Kiké Hernandez: Hernandez was 0-for-4, and on a run-scoring double from Christian Yelich in the fifth, appeared to get a late jump on a ball that was hit over his head.
QUOTE OF NOTE:
"It's one start at a time, and this one, I didn't do good.'' Garrett Whitlock.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* Yu Chang has four hits this season and three have them gone for home runs.
* The Red Sox fell to 1-4 in interleague play this season with the loss.
* The Boston bullpen has not been scored on over 7.1 relief innings in the two games to date in the series.
* Kiké Hernandez saw his eight-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-4 night.
UP NEXT
The teams close out their series with the third meeting Sunday at 2:10 p.m., with RHP Brayan Bello (0-1, 16.88) vs. RHP Corbin Burnes (2-1, 4.76).