Donnelly: In a night full of positives, one negative looms large over the Red Sox

A lot went right for the Red Sox on Thursday. 

After days, weeks even, of being seemingly unable to get out of their own way, remaining one swing away, one defensive play away, one strong pitching outing away, Boston managed to check enough boxes to return to the win column in Thursday's 8-2 win over the Reds to avoid a sweep. 

"Overall, a good W. We needed that one, especially with what happened the first two games," Alex Cora said. "We've been talking about, you know, when we lose, we lose big, right? To get this one, it was a good one."

They got their one defensive play and a couple more to go along with it. After a rough Wednesday night in the field, the Sox were error-free. Kike Hernández (two errors Wednesday) and Rafael Devers (one) were at the forefront of a rather large double play to lift Chris Martin out of a jam in the eighth inning. Hernández and Devers added another putout, each. There was Alex Verdugo gunning down Spencer Steer at home as he tried to tag up in the fourth.

They got their strong pitching outing in the bullpen. Justin Garza came on cold in a tough spot early on, but made it through 1.1 innings almost stress-free, efficiently working through four batters on 19 pitches (12 strikes). Josh Winckowski picked himself up off the mat after a rough Wednesday with a good enough inning of work, and Nick Pivetta maintained his strong form out off the bullpen, striking out the side in the seventh for a third consecutive scoreless day at the office.

“There were some good things despite how negative it’s been the last few days,” Cora said. “Like I said, just show up tomorrow and play good baseball.”

They got their hitting, and then some in the eighth inning. Cincinnati youngster Hunter Greene was stellar to start, allowing one run on two hits with eight strikeouts in six innings. He's the real deal. The Reds' bullpen, however, is not. 

Boston once again got to the relievers, Kevin Herget in particular. Devers capped off arguably his best night at the plate in a while (2-for-3, R, 2 2B, RBI, BB) with an RBI double in the eighth. Hernández put a rough May (.218, 1 HR) behind him with a home run in the seventh before his RBI single in the eighth blew the doors off the game. Connor Wong stayed hot with the bat (hits in five straight, eight of last nine). His laser into the Monster seats was the cherry on top.

“It was big," Hernández said. "Obviously last night, getting pinch-hit for, it's part of the game. We have a deep team now. ... Leading off the seventh inning, I was just trying to find a way to get on base. ... In the eighth, I was late on two straight heaters, and then he balked, which brought the infield in. From that point on, it wasn’t about you know, putting the ball in the air, it was about just putting it in play. I figured after being late on two straight heaters, he was going to throw me another one.”

It was a night where the Sox didn't need absolutely everything to come together seamlessly, a rarity these days.

The only thing missing? A strong start.

The win is certainly a breath of fresh air after a three-game skid and losses in seven of nine, but it certainly won't be dominating the headlines.

That crisp, refreshing puff did, after all, come after the Sox drove through a cloud of exhaust in the fourth inning when Chris Sale exited the game with left shoulder soreness. The stench lingered in their nostrils postgame. 

“It’s a sore shoulder. He’ll have an MRI  and we’ll hope for the best," Cora said, seeming unsure of his own hope. "It obviously didn’t look great. The velocity went down. ... It went from 95 to 90. Let’s wait and see. ... The way he was moving on the mound and obviously people noticed it. I can look at the velo, and it’s not at 95, so like I said, we’ll check tomorrow and see where we’re at.”

Sale started exceptionally, poised for another quality start. 

After surrendering a game-opening single, the returning-to-form ace mowed down the Reds, retiring seven straight batters, six by way of a strikeout. He was well on his way to another quality start after finishing May 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four appearances.

The trouble started in the third when the Reds got on the board, thanks to two-straight doubles. The southpaw escaped. Not the end of the world. Another set of back-to-back doubles raised eyebrows once more. Cora checked in on Sale after he fell behind 3-1 to Nick Senzel. Two pitches later, Senzel walked, and Cora pulled the plug. 

"I cannot be irresponsible," the skipper said. "We’ve been through this for a while, and we know each other. It’s not easy because of what he’s gone through, but at the end of the day I've gotta take care of him. I know he tried to take care of us, but it doesn’t work that way from my end. In the end, it’s Chris Sale over the Red Sox, I know he wanted to finish it but I can’t be responsible.”

Hernández said, "It's tough, but at the same time, I'm proud of him for not being Chris and fighting to stay in the game. You know, obviously, we're hoping for good news tomorrow. It's tough because he's been building it up great. The last four or five starts have been really, really good. The beginning of the game, he was looking sharp again, and it's tough to see him come out of the game."

Sale finished with just 3.2 innings of work, giving up five hits a run and a walk on top of his six K's. It was why Garza came straight into the game in the aforementioned tough spot with runners on first and second. 

It's rough timing for Boston, who appeared to be in the clear from the carousel of questions in the starting rotation with everyone healthy and Nick Pivetta and Corey Kluber banished to the bullpen. Now it's just another wrench in the plans, a dark cloud hanging over the brightest day at Fenway in two weeks.