BSJ Game Report: Nationals 10, Red Sox 7 - Boston home runs too late after pitching collapse

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 10-7 loss to the Nationals, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Chris Sale takes a step back: Sale worked around a double in the first two innings and struck out three Nationals before walking Jeter Downs, who stole second and advanced to third on a Connor Wong throwing error in the third. Rafael Devers lost a ground ball as Downs scored a play later, then Sale walked two more Nationals to begin a five-run fifth inning. Two runs went chargers to Sale, who only threw 58% of his pitches for strikes in 4.1 innings. Josh Wincowski allowed 3 of his own before Chris Murphy allowed three more runs in the sixth on three hits and a walk. Mauricio Llovera gave up a Washington insurance run in the ninth, after Boston’s offense pulled the Sox within 9-7 in the eighth. Sox pitchers allowed 10 runs, 10 hits, five walks and a hit batsman. 

Hitting arrives too late: Luis Uría and Devers thrust the Sox back into the game with two home runs, the first a grand slam, across three at-bats in the seventh inning with Boston behind 9-1. Adam Duvall, Pablo Reyes and Triston Casas set up Urías with a pair of singles and a walk on Robert Garcia, Boston starting 4-22 (.182) against left-handed starter Patrick Corbin. Casas hit his 20th home run to start the third inning off Corbin, another step against lefties, but overall those matchups continue to challenge the Sox' offense and land Jarren Duran, Alex Verdugo and previously Casas on the bench for those games. Justin Turner's heel injury, which left him off the field on Thursday as well. A hit in the eighth and two more in the ninth couldn't narrow the lead further against Washington relievers Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan. 

“We didn’t give up, which is the most important thing,” Alex Cora said. “The effort was great, but obviously the result was not the one we wanted. We put better at-bats (together) in the second part of the game. … If there’s a positive, that was the positive from today.”

THREE UP

Luis Urias: Hit 1-14 (0.071) against Kansas City and Detroit before landing on the bench in favor of Pablo Reyes for the first two games in Washington. He should've tracked down Keibert Ruiz' single toward him in the fifth inning for the second out before the Nationals added three runs and went ahead 6-1 into the sixth. Two big hits later outweighed what scorers called a Ruiz hit though, and Urías' 401-foot grand slam to center field pulled Boston within 9-5 before Devers hit a slider 453 feet to right field off the lefty reliever after Rob Refsnyder walked to make it 9-7. Devers' early error takes him off this list. 

Triston Casas: Only hit his second home run against lefties in the Sox' win over the Tigers last Friday, and entered Thursday hitting .188 in those matchups. His third gave Boston an early lead before errors by Connor Wong and Devers pushed Jeter Downs across the plate to tie the game soon after. Boston needs him to hit every night now with Justin Turner focusing on DH opportunities and Pablo Reyes the only backup first baseman. 

Masataka Yoshida: Cora saw Yoshida hitting in front of the ball and grounding out often before giving him two off days to begin the series. A late deficit on Wednesday pulled him into action late as a pinch hitter, when he hit 0-2, then Cora inserted him back into the lineup over Jarren Duran against Corbin. Yoshida hit 2-4 to get back to .300 this season, hitting .280 against lefties entering today. He should remain a steady option daily for Cora, despite the fatigue of the MLB schedule catching up to him in spots. 

THREE DOWN

Chris Sale: Both his control and ability to miss bats took steps back compared to his seven-strikeout return last week. The Nationals caught up to his fastball, which fell closer to 90 miles per hour, in the first two innings for doubles. His slider remained an out pitch until it hit Ruiz, something Sale did against Detroit as well. He worked a 1-2-3 fourth inning before a pair of walks, the first a wild one, and the second closer to potential strikes, haunted him in the fifth. Better fielding early and a stronger relief effort behind him could've turned Sale's afternoon into a solid no-decision, but old control issues returning probably rendered this a deserved loss. 

"Ball wasn't jumping out of the hand like I wanted it to but, was able to for the most part make pitches when I needed to," Sale said. 

Josh Wincowski: Couldn't have pitched worse in the fifth after Sale exited. Wincowski allowed four hits and five runs to cross home in 0.2 innings of work, two charged to Sale after his walks scored on a Joey Meneses double. The next three Washington hitters reached before he managed two outs with Boston behind 6-1 and already struggling to hit. Urías could've hauled in Ruiz' single, the first of those three, but unlike Sale, Wincowski couldn't blame poor Sox fielding. 

Chris Murphy: Pitched the sixth after Wincowski faltered and allowed three more runs on three hits and a walk. His wild pitch moved Downs to second before Lane Thomas walked, then Meneses doubled again, scoring two, before he scored on a Stone Garrett sacrifice fly. Murphy capped arguably Boston's worst pitching game all season, and that's saying something given some of the other debacles on the mound from earlier in the year. Mauricio Llovera allowed another run in the eighth inning, which Washington nearly needed when Boston threatened with two runners in scoring position down 10-7 in the ninth. The offense, although late, did its job today. 

NOTABLE 

OF Jarren Duran, out of the lineup for a second consecutive game against a left-handed starter, revealed he's suffering from mental health issues. Cora said the team is aware and they'll keep conversations regarding Duran private. Duran pinch-hit and hit a double in the ninth inning. 

RHP Tanner Houck continued his rehab stint with Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing one hit and no runs while striking out four against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. MassLive spoke to Houck ahead of his expected return on Monday in Houston for the Astros series as a starter. He said he's feeling no trepidation after suffering a facial fracture on a line drive while pitching against the Yankees, which has sidelined him since. He tossed 3.0 scoreless innings in Game 1 of last Friday’s doubleheader vs. BUF (H, 3 SO, 34 pitches) and also started 8/5 at SYR (1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 46 pitches).

Sale’s second strikeout of the day was his 900th with Boston, passing Clay Buchholz for 11th-most in Red Sox history. 

Casas became just the third Red Sox ever to reach 25 home runs in 135 games or fewer before his 24th birthday, joining Tony Conigliaro (1964-65) and Ted Williams (1939), per Red Sox statistician J.P. Long.

UP NEXT 

Saturday at New York at 7:10 p.m., TBD vs. RHP Bryan Bello (8-7, 3.81 ERA)