Red Sox drop sixth straight game after pitching walks 8 batters in 9-0 blowout loss to Blue Jays

The Boston Red Sox might have hit rock bottom on Friday night.

After getting swept by the Angels in three games to end their road trip out west, the Sox dropped their sixth straight game, 9-0 to the Blue Jays.

The Fenway Faithful were treated to an anemic Red Sox offense, generating just four hits en route to Boston falling three games below .500 (40-43).

Since Craig Breslow traded Rafael Devers to the Giants on Father's Day, Boston's offense has been stagnant. The Red Sox have averaged 3.1 runs per game over their last nine games, which ranks fourth-worst in MLB, trailing only the Royals, Guardians, and Athletics during that period.

Poor defense, a punchless offense, and ineffective pitching are eroding any momentum the Red Sox may have built earlier this month.

“It’s been going on for a while; even before the road trip, we grinded some games, winning 2-0 and 3-1, and that’s part of the season; you’re going to do that,” Alex Cora said of the club’s recent struggles, pointing out his lackluster offense.

“But we have to be better.”

Blue Jays starter José Berríos gave up a first-inning ground-rule double to Roman Anthony, which was Boston's only extra-base hit of the game. In the fifth, Ceddanne Rafaela singled and reached second on David Hamilton’s walk. The Red Sox's bats were dead except for that.

Abraham Toro went 0-for-4 with one strikeout batting out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup. Toro is entrenched in a slump, hitting just .171 (6-for-35) with a .416 OPS in an 11-game span dating back to June 13. Boston has been utilizing a platoon of Toro and Romy Gonzalez since Triston Casas went down with a season-ending knee injury.

As the Red Sox continue to search for answers offensively, Kristian Campbell has been getting work at first base with the WooSox. Campbell has been a butcher in the field this season, so relying on him to play meaningful innings at first base could be a crapshoot.

Although Brayan Bello received credit for a quality outing, his start lacked anything noteworthy. He only allowed three earned runs off eight hits in six innings. Bello walked three and needed 104 pitches to get 18 outs. He needed 52 pitches to get through the first two innings of his outing.

Toronto began scoring at the top of the first, getting three straight baserunners to reach before George Springer drove in Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Guerrero was ruled out at first, but the call was overturned on review, putting Toronto up 1-0.

The Jays kept putting pressure on Bello after Bo Bichette extended the lead with an RBI single in the second inning. Ernie Clement tacked on an RBI single in the third inning.

The one bright spot for Bello in his outing was that he retired nine of the last 11 batters he faced. The Red Sox have lost seven of his last nine starts after winning each of his first four this season.

Boston has gone 25-17 in Bello’s starts since the beginning of 2024.

“Obviously I didn’t have my best stuff today; I was battling out there, fighting every single batter,” Bello said via translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “And I know the first couple of innings were long, but I was able to get quick outs the second half of the game.”

“I made the point after the outing. I said, 'Take a look at the scoreboard; one bad day, that should be you right there. You did a good job for us,” Cora said of Bello. “A lot of traffic, and it looked actually worse than it was, but it was six innings, three runs.”

Once Bello exited the game, the bullpen imploded. Luis Guerrero had another horrendous outing, allowing two runs on two hits while also issuing a walk and recording a single out in the seventh. He is a prime candidate to be optioned back to Triple-A Worcester to make room for Jordan Hicks. The hard-throwing reliever made another rehab appearance for the WooSox on the road versus Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Hicks hit 100.1 mph on the radar gun on Friday night, tossing one inning, giving up no runs, one hit, one walk, and two strikeouts.

Brennan Bernardino, who seemingly pitches every night for the Red Sox, also didn’t help his team’s cause. The southpaw walked four batters in relief of Guerrero and gave up four runs. His ERA jumped from 3.34 to 4.40 in his 36th outing of the season.

It was Bernardino’s second appearance with three or more walks this year. In total, Boston’s pitching staff issued eight walks and struck out just two batters. The Red Sox pitching staff has issued eight or more walks in three of their last seven games. They had done that once in their first 76 games this season.

“Not great. We preach first-pitch strikes and get ahead, stay ahead, and we haven’t done that,” Cora said. “At this level when we talk about defense, you give extra outs, you’re going to pay the price, and same thing with walks.”

Utility man Nate Eaton pitched a scoreless ninth inning. He needed just 14 pitches to retire the Blue Jays. It was the second time a Red Sox position player has tossed an inning this year. Toro also pitched for the Sox earlier this season in a blowout victory over the Orioles.

Fresh off his media tour over the last 24 hours, where he appeared on Underdog’s Section 10 podcast, Jarren Duran acknowledged that the Red Sox have been pressing.

“I feel like we’re putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to score a bunch of runs every single day, and when we’re at our best, we’re just stringing at-bats together and passing the baton,” Duran said. “And right now I feel like we’re looking for that one big hit, like a homer or something.

“It feels a little tense right now, but that’s just part of it,” he added later. “We’re grinding right now.”

The six-game losing streak is the Red Sox’s longest of the season and the club’s longest since 2022, when Boston lost six straight from Sept. 21-26. The Sox haven’t lost seven or more consecutive games since 2020, when the club lost nine straight from Aug. 10-18.

“I’m not too worried about this group,” Duran said. “We know what we can do, and we know how to bounce back.”

Boston will look to stop the bleeding on Saturday when it sends right-hander Lucas Giolito (3-1, 4.53 ERA) to the mound. He will face veteran Chris Bassitt (7-3, 3.61 ERA), who will pitch for the Blue Jays. The first pitch is at 4:10 p.m. ET.