BSJ Game Report: Orioles 13, Red Sox 12 - Boston leaves tying run on third after bad Chris Sale start

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 13-12 loss to the Orioles, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Chris Sale takes a step back: Chris Sale took a step forward after gutting through five innings in Kansas City where velocity and control issues threatened him late, striking out 3-of-4 Orioles he saw following a nearly two-hour rain delay. A massive step backward followed, Aaron Hicks cutting into Boston's 2-0 lead by scoring on Trevor Story's error after Justin Turner handed Sale with a double and run. Then, Sale walked Jorge Mateo and Adley Rutschman to begin the third, Mateo scoring on Anthony Santander's double to tie the game. Sale nearly escaped the inning after downing Rutschman between third and home on a ground ball, but Hicks caught Sale's slider for a two-out, three-run blast that vaulted Baltimore ahead 5-2. 

The Orioles added two more in the fourth, Jordan Westburg and James McCann unloading on two of the first three slow-breaking balls Sale threw for a double and home run, making it 7-2. Boston pitching allowed three more home runs, Zack Weiss yielding back-to-back solo shots in the sixth, then Mauricio Llovera made the comeback push more difficult by giving up a three-run blast to Gunnar Henderson in the seventh. 

"You know what's in there, you're just scrounging around the bottom of the barrel trying to find it," Sale said. "It's just tough. There's no other way to put it, we were a starting pitcher away from winning this game, we scored 12 f***ing runs, it's like, what's going on? It's just frustrating. Very disappointing ... I'm just not getting it done, I've gotta find a way to find a way. I'm supposed to be something on this team and I'm not." 

Offensive rally falls short: The Sox generated 12 runs on 23 hits and rallied throughout after Sale surrendered the lead in the third. Connor Wong and Alex Verdugo recorded 2 RBI trailing 7-2 after Wilyer Abreu and Enmanuel Valdez reached to start the fourth inning. Justin Turner fired a ground ball that bounced off Henderson and allowed Wong to race home, but a pair of ground outs that followed maintained Baltimore's 7-6 lead. Valdez, Wong and Verdugo left two runners in scoring position in the fifth, Shintaro Fujinami briefly slowing the Sox offense with five straight outs into the sixth, Boston's only 1-2-3 inning. 

Boston got back on the comeback trail in the seventh, Abreu sending Yoshida and Story home to pull within 12-8. Rafael Devers hit Abreu home with a single, but Casas left the bases loaded two at-bats later with a flyout down 12-9. Yoshida hit a fly ball just left of the monster that could've tied the game with the bases loaded in the ninth after Joe Jacques surrendered an insurance run in the ninth, but grounded out before Story sent two runs home with a fast-slicing double to right that nearly escaped for a ground slam of his own. Story stayed at third on Abreu's ensuing RBI single, before Enmanuel Valdez flew out to end the game. 

"We kept playing, that's the most important thing," Alex Cora said. "We just kept putting good at-bats, grinding at-bats and we had a chance, with one swing, to win that game. Love the effort, love the at-bats, but not enough, obviously ... we haven't played good defense throughout the season, pitching has been on-and-off. It's tough." 

THREE UP

Wilyer Abreu: Reached base in all six at-bats, including providing three hits over the final three innings as Boston charged back from down 12-6, finishing 5-5 with a double, 2 RBI and a walk in a spot start in center field in place of Adam Duvall. Abreu, who arrived last year in the Christian Vazquez trade, became only the 13th MLB player since 1901 and first Red Sox to record multiple 4+ hit games within their first 12 career games. Kyle Schwarber pulled off that feat last in 2015. Abreu singled in the second, walked to lead off the four-run fourth, singled in the fifth; then he doubled home two runs and scored in the seventh, singled in the eighth and nearly drove home the game-tying run with an RBI single in the ninth. He's now 12-34 with the big league Sox this season. 

"I just try to do what I know how to do," Abreu said through the team's translator. "I try to get a good pitch to hit and try to not do anything that I'm not able to ... that keeps me calm."  

Rafael Devers: Finished 4-6, singling and scoring in the first and third innings. He loaded the bases with a two-out single in the seventh after the Sox pulled within three, then doubled into the gap to set up the ninth-inning rally. The breakout followed his 8-30 start to September and 0-4 night in Friday's loss where Ryan McKenna robbed his late home run to right field. Devers remains without a homer since Aug. 20, but getting on base provides Boston enough hitting in front of Justin Turner (2-5, HR, 2 RBI) and Triston Casas. He's now hitting .333 in September, in line with Devers' best seasons.

"He's been taking better swings since the last home game," Cora said. "We've made some adjustments, it seems like he's more direct to the baseball now and being able to use the whole field. When you start doing that, good things happen ... it seems like he's giving himself room now to work and being able to stay to the middle of the field is very important." 

Trevor Story: Entered Friday hitting 5-42 (.119) over his previous 12 games and recorded outs to end the first and third innings before he singled and stole third to begin the fifth with the Sox trailing 7-6. Abreu and Story stayed stranded to end the inning, but he singled and scored on Abreu's RBI double in the seventh inning to reach back within 12-9. With two outs in the ninth, trailing 13-9, he hit a two-run double just short of the right field fence after fouling off two pitches that would've become a game-tying grand slam. That power eludes Story, but Saturday marked the kind of night Boston has lacked through his massive drought. Story held up at third on Abreu's ensuing RBI single as the tying run, and Cora said he would've ran into an out if he tried.

"Everybody wanted him to go, it was right there," Cora said. "(But Hays) plays catch with the catcher and get the guy out.”

"He played a good game," he continued. "It's just getting at-bats ... his swings are better, now his plate discipline is getting close to usual. Obviously, that last ball, when he hit it, I was like man, hopefully it'll bounce and go around and we can see him running, but he put good at-bats. We've gotta keep working hard, we knew it wasn't going to be easy. These are the big leagues. When you miss so much time and to find it here, it's hard, but he's a hard worker, the group is doing an amazing job with him." 

THREE DOWN 

Chris Sale: Allowed seven runs, six earned, with two walks and five strikeouts, picking up his fourth loss and ballooning his ERA to 4.88. Sale followed a familiar refrain post-game, placing the entirety of the blame on himself and flashing his frustration he couldn't give Boston anything after the second inning. His control wavered, it took him 29 pitches to escape the third, he reached 80 by the end of the fourth and, most concerning, his fastball fell below 90 miles per hour while his 78 mile-per-hour slider allowed Baltimore's decisive three-run homer. Sale's continued decline will become a major topic to address this offseason. 

"He had good stuff early on, then there was a slider there for a double," Cora said. "The one Santander (hit) was a changeup over the middle of the plate. Early on, he was able to expand with the slider, then after that ... good hitters, you want it down, ripping through in the strike zone, and it stayed down and in a good spot for hitters to put a good swing. Tough one, of course ... he's grinding, obviously it's something coming (back) from the injury ... but he wants to pitch, that's the most important thing, some good ones, some bad ones, but it's not lack of effort. He can execute a little better in certain spots, but overall, we've gotta just keep pushing him to find it." 

The bullpen: The Red Sox could've survived a seven-run start on a night where the offense hit 23-50. Instead, Zack Weiss allowed back-to-back solo shots in the sixth, Mauricio Llovera put two runners on base who scored on Henderson's three-run jack and Joe Jacques gave up a decisive double and RBI single to Austin Hays and Jordan Westburg in the ninth. Jacques has now allowed runs to cross against him in three straight appearances.

Triston Casas: Was 0-5 and left the bases loaded on a seventh-inning flyout trailing 12-9. Hardly to blame for the loss when the rest of the offense slumped, he walked and scored in the ninth to redeem himself, but his golden opportunity could've tilted the game in the other direction. He struck out three times and hit an RBI ground out in the fourth. He's now 0-9 in this series since his 13-game hitting streak ended. 

NOTABLE 

Boston tied a season high in runs allowed (4x, last 9/1 at KC) and HR (also: 8/6 vs. TOR)...had seven batters record multiple hits, most in a loss by any MLB team this season...the last team to do so was CWS on 9/17/19 vs. MIN (also 7 batters). 

LHP Chris Sale is 1-2 in his six starts following his return from the IL on 8/11...over that span, he has a 5.53 ERA with 35 SO (17 ER/27.2 IP)...he fell to 0-3 in 3 starts vs. BAL this year, allowing 16 ER over 12.0 IP (12.00 ERA). 

IF Justin Turner leads the AL with 73 RBI since 6/1...IF/OF Ceddanne Rafaela, who pinch ran for Turner in the seventh inning, reached on an infield single and scored in the ninth inning following a successful Red Sox challenge. He scored on Story's 2 RBI double and is now hitting 8-17 (.471) since his call-up in August. 

IF Pablo Reyes (elbow), expected to replace Rafaela on the big league roster upon completion of his rehab with Triple-A Worcester, hit 0-4 in his second game. RHP Corey Kluber pitched a 1-2-3 first inning and struck out one batter in his first rehab appearance since going down in June with a shoulder injury. 

UP NEXT 

Saturday vs. Orioles at 1:35 p.m., RHP Grayson Rodriguez (5-3, 4.91 ERA) vs. RHP Bryan Bello (11-8, 3.61 ERA)