For the second night in a row, the Red Sox tanked a quality start on the mound.
Tanner Houck shoved on Monday, tossing six innings as he struck out eight and allowed one run and three hits. Boston lost, 2-1, managing just four hits (two from one player, Masataka Yoshida) and two at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Brayan Bello had his deepest outing of the season in Tuesday's 4-0 loss, hurling seven innings with six strikeouts, two home runs, six hits and zero walks. Solo homers shouldn't be terribly costly early in games, but as the Sox managed a mere two hits and one at-bat with runners in scoring position, Boston fell into a seemingly insurmountable deficit.
It was the first time Bello had gone seven deep in his career. The youngster is 3-1 in his last five starts with a 2.57 ERA, 29 K, 9 BB and an opponent average of .243 in 28.0 innings of work. He could easily be 4-0 if not for Tuesday's cockamamie effort at the plate from his supporting cast.
Boston's offense has gone ice-cold, seemingly left outside during the last few cool spring nights at home in Massachusetts, while the Sox have soaked up the sunshine in SoCal.
It continued somewhat of an emerging trend from the past week-plus that saw the Sox sully James Paxton's strong debut after blowing a lead in the ninth two Fridays ago against the Cardinals. The following day featured an almost-vintage Chris Sale, but Boston saw that win slip away in the ninth as well. Add in the last two games and lack of run support for Houck and Bello.
The Red Sox were undisciplined at the plate against Griffin Canning on Tuesday, who entered the night with a 6.14 ERA. The Sox worked three walks off Canning (four total) after zero on Monday. He had given up 20 earned runs in 29.1 innings this season. Reese McGuire had a representative pair of ugly strikeouts that saw him chase on pitches well out of the zone.
In the seventh inning, Boston only worked five pitches, even with a Triston Casas single. Jarren Duran was the only of the four batters in that half-inning to see more than a single pitch in his at-bat. He grounded out on the second, in fact.
It was the first time since September 2020 that Canning had allowed less than three hits in an outing. Boston managed a pair, both singles. In the one opportunity they had with a runner in scoring position, McGuire fanned on a fastball well above the zone, taking all the "high cheese" off of Dennis Eckersley's charcuterie board.
Yoshida grounded into a double play in the eighth to stop any shot the Sox had at getting back into it before the Angels took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth, which then felt like 14-0. A sharp 387-foot, 104.5 mph flyout from Justin Turner in the top of the ninth was the loudest contact Boston has had all series.
"We didn't hit the ball in the air," Alex Cora said. "Seems like we didn't make adjustments throughout. We didn't put pressure on them. There were a few walks here and there, but I think the last three days, obviously we haven't done much."
It was another troubling result against a right-handed pitcher. Entering Tuesday, the Red Sox had a .266 average against righties (.265 vs. lefties) with a .328 OBP (.350), a .447 slugging (.424) and .775 OPS (.774). Even with the comparable numbers, Boston is 14-18 against right-handed pitching, as opposed to 12-5 against lefties.
“[Canning] changed speeds, got ahead and then expanded,” Cora told reporters. “We saw it [Monday], we saw it with Michael [Wacha] in San Diego. And obviously, this is not us, but we have to make adjustments. It’s different tomorrow with a lefty. People, they watch and they see and they make adjustments. I think we’re going to a point in the league where sample matters, and they know what you’ve been doing the first 40 games. It's not what you've done in the past. They see our numbers and what we’ve done and they’re going to start making adjustments.”
The Red Sox had one of the top offenses in the sport entering the series, and they still do, whether it is sustainable or not. The season is long, and Boston's larger sample size has alluded to a more productive squad. But as the starting pitching has begun to line up, the offense has taken a discouraging turn, putting up one run and one extra-base hit in its last 32 innings. They had 31 runs and 19 extra-base hits in the previous 34 innings.
The heart of the order has been unproductive in this recent stretch. Yoshida (0-for-4), Turner (0-for-3, 1 BB), Rafael Devers (0-for4), Jarren Duran (0-for-4, 2 K) and Kiké Hernández (0-for-2, 1 BB) were all hitless on Tuesday. Only four batters have hits in the series.
It's even more crippling when the Angels' biggest threats have been kept mostly silent. Shohei Ohtani is 1-for-7 with three strikeouts and a walk. Mike Trout is 1-for-7 with three strikeouts. His first hit of the series was a two-run shot in the eighth inning to make it 4-0 and essentially put the game on ice with the Sox' bats. Hunter Renfroe and Jared Walsh are also both 1-for-7.
Boston avoiding Ohtani on the mound in this series appears increasingly merciful after the latest display at the plate.
“Now it’s time for us to kind of like slow it down and break it down,” Cora said. “I think using the other side of the field, it helps. I think there’s a lot of pulled ground balls lately. A lot of empty at-bats. First time I’ve said it this season, there’s a lot of empty at-bats. [Tomorrow] we got a lefty, so it’s a different lineup, but when there’s a righty, we have to make adjustments."