Red Sox Series Recap: Trevor Story delivers with bases loaded in extras, Walker Buehler with best start of season

The Red Sox got an excellent start from Walker Buehler in the series finale against the Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon.

In his best outing as a member of the Red Sox, Buehler tossed 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball after he gave up nine runs in 9 1/3 innings in his first two starts.

Buehler was sharp on the mound, he threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of the 24 batters he faced, overall he walked just one batter while striking out seven. The Sox’ righty got stronger throughout his outing, retiring 14 of the final 16 batters he faced. He had eight swing and misses, the most he’s had in his three starts.

“This is as good as I’ve felt,” Buehler said. “We put in a ton of work this week with everyone in the building about what we’re seeing and what we’re feeling, and it paid off.”

Defensive miscues haunted Buehler in his outing, spoiling his best start with the Red Sox. 

LATE GAME HEROICS
The Red Sox offense was as chilly as the persistent weather in Boston over the past few days. After scoring 36 runs in three games against the Cardinals, Alex Cora saw his team strike out 30 times over the first three games of the series and told his players he needed them to “put the ball in play” on Thursday.

“You look at the game [Wednesday], we struck out 10 times on four-seamers,” Cora said, referring to a 2-1 loss in 11 innings during which the Red Sox were held to four hits and struck out 14 times.

“We’ve got to spray it out a little more. That’s the bottom line. We can take the strikeouts. I get it. But there’s certain situations, we have to move the ball forward.

“We cannot fall into this pattern of striking out 12 times, 10 times, 12 times. We’re better than that. And the group knows it.”

Jarren Duran belted a game-tying single to lead off, beginning the rally against Jays reliever Nick Sandlin, bringing home automatic runner Blake Sabol. Duran was thrown out trying to steal second; Rafael Devers sparked the rally with a single. A pitch struck Alex Bregman, advancing the winning run into scoring position. Triston Casas followed getting hit by a pitch to load the bases.

It looked like the Red Sox finally got their skipper's message, 10 innings later to be exact. Trevor Story worked a 2-2 count and sent a soft dribbler towards the second baseman Andres Gimenez, who was unable to make a play at home or turn a double play.

Story would walk it off with his weak grounder, salvaging the final game of the series, with a 4-3 extra-innings win.

“You put it in play; something can happen,” Cora said. “He did a good job fouling off pitches, and we ended up winning the game.”

After that game, Story joked with reporters that his grounder in the 10th was one of the best of his career.

“For sure, just given the situation, a funky pitcher up on the mound and just trying to find a way to get it done,” Story said. “I felt like I didn’t the last couple of nights with runners on and just a grinder of an at bat, just trying to find a way to put it in play.”

Story is 12-for-38 with four runs, a double, two homers, five RBI, one walk, and two stolen bases over his last nine games after starting the season 2-for-15.

The Red Sox bats were silent all series, held in check by the Blue Jays starting pitching and bullpen. Cora was relieved his team was able to get the win, snapping their three-game losing streak.

“We needed this, to be honest with you,” said Cora. “We’re scuffling offensively, and we know it. It was good for us... It’s important (to win games like this sometimes).”

Boston managed just four runs in the victory, and cashing in with runners in scoring position remains a challenge for the Sox, going just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. If you exclude the series sweep against the Cardinals over the weekend, Boston has not been able to make opposing pitchers pay with situational hitting. They've also struck out 136 times which is the worst in the majors. 

Wilyer Abreu has started to come back down to earth after his torrid start to the season. He went 0-for-3 on Thursday afternoon and 0-for-11 on the series with Toronto.

Kristian Campbell has now reached base safely in 13 games with a walk on Thursday. He went 0-for-3 on the afternoon and snapped a three-game hitting streak.

MENANCE ON THE BASE PATHS

The Red Sox had gone 17-for-17 on stolen base attempts until Campbell was thrown out trying to steal second in the seventh inning. In the bottom of the 10th, Duran also failed to steal a base. Story stole his fourth bag of the season, swiping second early on in the game.

DEFENSIVE MISCUES

The defense has been pretty haphazard over the homestand, committing 11 errors, including six in the series with the Blue Jays. Boston has induced a league-leading 21 double plays this season, including one on Thursday. 

They had a chance to turn another late in the game after Campbell fielded a grounder but looked tentative in underhanding the throw to Story; the Sox forced the out at second, but Story airmailed his throw over first base, enabling the Jays to score the go-ahead run.

STARTING PITCHING RECAP FROM SERIES

Tanner Houck bounced back nicely from opening the season with two rough starts. He worked around traffic on the bases over his 6 2/3 innings of work on Wednesday night. He allowed just one run on five hits. Houck struck out just two batters but induced soft contact throughout the outing to keep the Toronto hitter off-balance. This was Houck’s first quality start since August 30.

Garrett Crochet braved the elements, pitching in 35-degree weather on Tuesday night. According to Baseball Reference, it was the third-coldest Sox home game ever.

Crochet threw a career-high 107 pitches after his eight-inning gem against the Orioles in his last start. The big lefty didn’t have his best command in the Sox’ 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Tuesday night. Crochet made it clear after the game he wasn’t going to let the cold be the reason he didn’t have his best stuff.

“Terrible,” Crochet said when asked how he’d rate his stuff. “There really hasn't been a start this year where I feel like I've had my best stuff. Hopefully that's because I'm building, and they're all going to come later in the year. But just not getting to the glove side very well with the four-seam or the cutter, a lot of over-correcting with the two and just yanking and not really driving it there.”

The southpaw has now made three starts for the Red Sox and has recorded a 1.45 ERA over that stretch.

Richard Fitts had a decent outing on Monday night to open the series with the Blue Jays. He went six innings and allowed just three runs. He became the third Red Sox pitcher in the last 18 seasons to pitch at least five innings in each of his first seven career starts.

He was snakebitten by two homers and issued four walks, forcing the righty to pitch with runners on base. Fitts helped his cause by forcing two double plays, but 10 Jays reached base over his six innings of work.

35-DEGREE WEATHER AT FROZEN FENWAY

Crochet mentioned his command was off during his outing but failed to blame the cold. 

"I went out to the mound twice and I felt it,“ said Cora. ”It was windy, too. In the dugout, it was OK, but you go out there and it’s rough. But I’ve always said we always complain about the weather in April. We don’t in October. It is what it is and we needed to play the game."

RED SOX ADD VETERAN CATCHER

The Red Sox need help behind the plate after Connor Wong broke his pinky during the series with the Blue Jays.

Boston signed 36-year-old catcher Yasmani Grandal to a minor league deal Thursday, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray. Grandal will report to Triple-A Worcester and provide depth with Seby Zavala and Nathan Hickey.

The veteran will earn a $1.35 million salary if he makes it to the majors this season, per MassLive’s Sean McAdam.

Wong suffered a broken pinky on Monday night, and the club is utilizing Carlos Narvaez and Blake Sabol as their tandem.

Grandal will need time to ramp up after not seeing time in spring training.