Red Sox recap: Richard Fitts leaves game with injury, bats remain quiet, White Sox with walkoff victory in the ninth

Red Sox right-handed pitcher Richard Fitts was cruising along in his outing, working on a shutout Saturday afternoon when he threw a wild sweeper to Miguel Vargas and immediately motioned to the dugout with his fingers.

As Fitts rubbed what seemed to be his pec muscle on the NESN broadcast, Alex Cora and the trainer went to the mound. He was removed from the game with what the team is calling right shoulder pain.

Once Fitts came out of the game, the wheels quickly came off for the Red Sox.

Zack Kelly was summoned from the bullpen and walked Vargas and struck out Nick Maton but left a fastball over the plate, and Luis Robert Jr. crushed it for a two-run opposite-field homer that tied the game.

Before Fitts left the game with the injury, he was putting together a stellar outing, allowing just three baserunners on one walk and two hits while striking out five over five shutout innings. The young righty had looked solid over his first two starts, including coming off a decent outing against the Blue Jays on Monday night at Fenway Park.

“The gameplan was really good. I took a step up, I think, in preparing for the game and even moving on from the last outing, too,” he said. “I really felt strong and comfortable and confident with every pitch. Even through the last pitch, I felt like I could get anybody out with any pitch.”

If the Red Sox lose Fitts, it’ll be a blow to their pitching depth, even though Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello are making strides to return off the injured list. Fitts has been putting together a nice little start to his big league career, recording a career 2.39 ERA over his first seven starts dating back to September.

The Sox weren’t able to provide a ton of specifics regarding Fitts’ injury, but Cora is concerned, saying that the righty will fly back to Boston on Sunday and undergo an MRI on Monday. 

“Whenever you have to come out of the game and talk about MRIs, you always get concerned,” said Cora. “He really wanted to keep going, and my job is to take care of my players. Hopefully, we stopped at the right time, and he didn’t miss too much time.”

Cora said that Fitts felt a sensation in his shoulder before he threw the sweeper that ultimately went wild and resulted in him coming out of the game.

“Something different that I haven’t felt before,” Fitts said. “I felt like I was in a groove, then wasn’t able to throw my best pitches. I had to call them out there.”

Fitts said the pain is close to his shoulder but will wait for the test results to let him know what exactly is wrong. 

“It’s close to the shoulder, but we’re going to figure out exactly what’s going on and kind of go from there. We’ve got a good staff, and we’ll figure out what’s going on.”

The uncertainty around his injury, Fitts, who has been the club’s second-best starter behind Garrett Crochet, could be facing a long absence on the mound.

“Hopefully, nothing’s going on,” Fitts said. “I’ve never missed a start in my professional career, and I take a lot of pride in my health.

“It’s really disappointing for it to happen, especially in the game we were having today. But I feel confident in our staff and our team, too, that we’re going to make the right decisions and find out what’s going on.”

CEDDANNE RAFAELA PROVIDED A SPARK

The game was scoreless over the first five frames until catcher Carlos Narváez singled and later came around to score when Ceddanne Rafaela rocketed an RBI triple in left field. It was Rafaela’s first extra-base hit of the season.

The very next batter, Romy Gonzalez, who was penciled into the leadoff spot to give slumping Jarren Duran the day off, connected for a base hit that scored Rafaela from third to make it a 2-0 Sox lead.

Boston's bottom lineup produced, and Rafaela, who is trying to get out of a slump, went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI in the fifth.

POWER OUTAGE

The Sox haven't homered in six games. Their last long ball came in Game 2 of the doubleheader from Alex Bregman on Sunday against the Cardinals. Boston has hit only 11 home runs this season, ranking them in the bottom third in all of baseball.

Chicago’s pitching has kept the Red Sox out of sync the entire series. BC High alumni Mike Vasil faced his childhood team for the first time and helped Boston scoreless for two innings, including stranding a runner in scoring position in each inning he worked on Saturday despite allowing two walks and a hit.

White Sox relievers Jordan Leisure and Tyler Gilbert worked the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, and continued to keep the Sox off the board.

“They’re always tough (losses) but we didn’t score. At the end of the day, we’re going to start hitting. We know that,” said Cora.

“We’ve had like 33% of our at-bats with runners in scoring position. We just have not cashed in. We’re swinging a lot. We’re chasing a lot. I think today was a little bit better.”

The Sox have lost five of their last six games and have scored just 11 runs over that span. To make matters worse, the offense is just 6-for-58 (.103) with runners in scoring position. The offense is inept right now, and something needs to give.

AROLDIS CHAPMAN SADDLED WITH THE LOSS

Cora elected to use his closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth to keep the game tied and send it to extra innings.

Instead, the hard-throwing left-hander walked Robert Jr. on six pitches, and then he immediately stole second base without a throw down to the bag. With the winning run in scoring position, White Sox skipper Will Venable called back Joshua Palacios for pinch-hitter Brooks Baldwin, who singled down the left field line, scoring Robert Jr. for the walk-off win.

“Leadoff walks, it doesn’t matter if it’s the ninth or the first inning,” said Cora. “Robert did a good job stealing second. Then, the kid put a good swing on the fastball.”

Chapman, who won the closer job in spring training, has been excellent to begin the season. He has two wins and two saves in six scoreless innings, prior to Baldwin’s walk-off hit into left field.

The Sox closer has been plagued by walking batters over the course of his career and issued a poorly timed free pass to Robert Jr. that set the wheels in motion for the White Sox' second straight win.

“The plan was just to attack him with fastballs,” Chapman said through translator Daveson Perez. “If needed, mix in a split.

“It hurts all the same, every single loss we have. We’ve had some tough losses here of late. This time, I took the L. But they all hurt just the same.”

Boston’s bullpen has been good, entering the game with a 3.86 ERA that ranked in the top half of baseball. Kelly and Chapman weren’t able to do their jobs, and it cost Boston their ninth loss of the season.

“It’s very hard,” said Cora of Kelly having to warm up on the mound versus in the bullpen following Fitts’ injury. “They’re used to warming up in the bullpen. You’re like in the middle of the island, everybody watching you warming up. He’s not making any excuses.”

RED SOX TURN TO THEIR ACE

Crochet (1-1, 1.45 ERA) will face off against his former team with his current team in desperate need of a win. The lefty has done that once already this season, with his team coming off losing three of four to the Rangers in the opening series; he dominated the Orioles over eight scoreless innings in Baltimore.

The Sox new southpaw isn’t fazed about facing his new team; he’s ready to take the ball and help his new club win.

“For me, it was not very hard to move on, honestly,“ Crochet said to reporters in the visitors dugout on Friday. ”Especially with going to the Red Sox, such a storied franchise. I was excited, quite frankly, and I still am for what this team could accomplish this season."