BSJ Game Report: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 4 - Reese McGuire's baserunning blunder ends Boston rally

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Reese McGuire's blunder costs Sox late rally: The Red Sox keep one-upping their miscues that, in the moment, appear bound to define the potential and failures of this season. After Adam Duvall singled in the 9th, McGuire moved him to third on a single with two strikes, and new arrival Luis Urías added an RBI single in a similar hole. McGuire raised one arm in the sky running home on a long fly ball off Connor Wong's bat to deep left center, where defensive replacement Kevin Kiermaier caught it against the wall. McGuire was already around third from second base when third base coach Carlos Febles, having a less-than-stellar season himself, tried to turn McGuire around while Santiago Espinal secured the double play at second. 

"It was a bad baseball play," Alex Cora said. "All around for us. We all thought it was gone." 

Rafael Devers squanders then saves the game: A pair of errors by Rafael Devers in the third inning led to another debacle for the Red Sox in the field behind Nick Pivetta's less accurate pitching. Brandon Belt homered in the third inning and George Springer's grounder to third should've ended the frame, but Devers tossed it past Triston Casas and Springer advanced to second. Connor Wong nearly tossed the ball over Devers' head trying to catch Springer stealing at third, then Alejandro Kirk doubled Springer in and later scored following two Jays singles, Matt Chapman's aided by Devers running overrunning a ground ball. Boston had six chances to end the inning with two outs, and instead fell behind 3-0 early for the second consecutive game. 

Devers made up for his miscue by tying the game in the fourth winning with another golf swing, smashing a pitch 430 feet to right field that fell to 0.90 feet off the ground, the second-lowest pitch hit out of a park all season. It followed singles by Masataka Yoshida and Justin Turner, but Jose Berríos and the Jays' staff recovered, retiring eight straight Sox and 15-of-18 until Boston's ninth-inning rally attempt. 

More poor pitching: John Schreiber began the game as the opener committing an error on a short Belt grounder and 21 Blue Jays followed to reach base after 18 did on Friday night. It's clear why the Jays don't win as many games as their powerful lineup suggests, piling up baserunners then squandering opportunities to extend their lead further on Saturday. With the Sox' bats still quiet and their arms pitching poorly enough, they got away with stranding 13 runners. Alejandro Kirk grounded into a double play in the fifth inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. did the same an inning later with the bases loaded to let Josh Wincowski and the Sox escape, then Santiago Espinal made the same mistake McGuire did with the bases loaded in the ninth, running off second base on a Paul DeJong fly out to Duvall in right field. Pivetta allowed eight runners and three runs, Brennan Bernadino put four on, Chris Martin put a pair on, then Joe Jacques nearly let the game get out of reach in the ninth. 

THREE UP

Luis Urías: Would've been a nice story if the Red Sox turned the game around, or even simply avoided some of the miscues above. The team's starting second baseman for now, especially with Justin Turner nursing a foot injury, hit 2-4, including an RBI single in the ninth that put Boston within 5-4 with one out. He also doubled in the third inning, recorded three outs and turned a double play. He's now hitting 3-7 with a walk in two games with the Sox. 

Rafael Devers: One of best tough-pitch hitters you'll see, injecting life into the team with his aggression and making up for his early mistakes with a big swing. He's one of the few reasons to watch the Sox night-to-night, and he shook off a stretch without a home run that carried throughout the west coast trip. He needs to play better, and last week's trade deadline became one of his more vocal moments, telling the Boston Globe that Boston should add at the trade deadline. Miscues like his in the field show how the players in the field can clean things up, but his ability to respond at the plate made this a game. Jays starter Jose Berríos later hit Devers in his left leg trying to pitch around him, and Duvall knocked Berríos out of the game on the next pitch. 

Josh Wincowski: Contributed an important 1.2 innings on a bad day for the bullpen, cleaning up the sixth-inning mess Brennan Bernadino created before pitching a relatively clean seventh. He's thrown scoreless outings in seven of his last eight appearances, with at least one strikeout in each, to improve his ERA to 2.82. 

THREE DOWN 

Carlos Febles: The McGuire miscue wasn't his first mistake. Cora blamed it on watching Urías running behind McGuire, who already darted home, but Febles, the Sox third base coach, visibly signaled home run as McGuire celebrated. The catcher will receive deserving flack for his lack of awareness in the moment, but Febles deserves a longer look after sending Jarren Duran home into an out against the Mets after New York threw the ball away last week. McGuire later took responsibility and said the hit resembled many he'd seen that went over or hit off the top of the wall. 

"There was no reason for me to round (third)," McGuire said. "I can't believe it didn't get to the wall at least ... that just tells me I got a bad read and tough break right there. We had the momentum ... we were putting together tough at-bats ... (Febles) was making a hand motion, but it's my job to keep my eye on the ball and it's definitely my read there. 

Nick Pivetta: Not good enough on a day where the Sox pivoted toward him as the bulk pitcher after Cora initially announced Chris Murphy would handle most of the Blue Jays' hitters. He threw fewer strikes, 61% compared to 68% in July, and his first mistake against Brandon Belt came in a righty-lefty matchup resulted in an early Jays lead. The long ball hurt Pivetta against Cal Raleigh in Seattle last week, Pivetta slamming taking the second of two home runs by the Mariners slugger hard. Pivetta ate innings like he did in that game, but for a team fading in the playoff race and relying on these opener alignments, Pivetta's pitches weren't accurate enough, even considering the bad fielding behind him. 

Yu Chang: It's becoming hard to imagine him remaining with the team after Boston DFA'd Christian Arroyo to acquire a middle infielder, setting up another roster decision when Trevor Story returns next week that'll almost certainly end Chang's time with the Sox. He hit 0-3 on Saturday, 1-3 on Friday and entered August hitting .174 since his return from injury, slightly stabilizing shortstop on defense, but not providing enough at the plate. 

NOTABLE

Alex Verdugo sat due to a manager's decision that had nothing to do with his benching earlier in the season for not running out a ground ball to first base, Cora said to reporters after the game. Cora would not reveal the reason for the late scratch, which happened roughly two hours before the game after Boston listed him in right field around noon. He alluded to the entire teaming needing to remain available, but said Verdugo arrived at Fenway Park ready to play and Cora chose not to put him in the lineup. He did not commit to playing Verdugo on Sunday. 

"This is one of my worst days here," Cora said. "I feel responsible, because I'm the leader of this team...very disappointed ... (Verdugo) was ready to play...I decided he wasn't going to play. We need 26 guys available."

Verdugo also spoke to reporters after the game, accepting Cora's decision and placing responsibility on himself to be better, but he also chose to keep the reason for the scratch in-house. Verdugo has been struggling at the plate since July began, hitting .157 over his last 23 appearances.  

"Manager's decision. He's the jefe," Verdugo said. "Whether it hurt the team or helped the team, we don't know, but I like to think I help the team in different aspects...today was a little bit hard to watch."

Sunday vs. Toronto at 1:35 p.m., RHP Chris Bassitt (10-6, 4.00) vs. TBD