Red Sox waste opportunities, stumble late in 3-2 loss to Guardians

The Red Sox have already punched their ticket to October. Now the challenge is making sure they’re playing their best baseball when they get there.

Tuesday night offered little evidence of that, as Boston’s offense squandered opportunities and Erik Miller’s September struggles continued at the worst possible time, as the Red Sox opened their final homestand of the regular season with a 3-2 loss to the Guardians at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox (84-73) have now lost eight of their last 12 games and dropped below .500 in September at 9-10. The loss won’t jeopardize their postseason berth, which they clinched Sunday, but Boston has only five games remaining to straighten some things out before the Wild Card Series begins Sept. 29.

For Cleveland, the stakes were considerably higher. The Guardians remained atop the AL Central while continuing to battle the White Sox for the division.

For much of Tuesday, Boston’s biggest priority was getting Payton Tolle through his final tuneup before October.

After nine days between starts, the rookie left-hander wasn’t particularly sharp, but he battled through 5 2/3 innings despite allowing eight hits and two walks. 

Tolle has allowed two runs or fewer in 16 starts this season, including each of his last three. He’s just the seventh pitcher in Red Sox history, age 23 or younger, to record at least 16 such starts in a season and the first since Dennis Eckersley had 18 in 1978.

He threw 91 pitches and surrendered two runs while pitching with traffic throughout the night. Cleveland put at least one runner aboard in all six innings he appeared in.

Most of the damage came in the second when Angel Martínez opened the frame with a double and scored when David Fry hit a grounder that deflected off Tolle and rolled into right-center. Travis Bazzana followed with a single and Austin Hedges walked to load the bases before Brayan Rocchio’s double-play grounder brought home Fry for a 2-0 Cleveland lead.

Tolle kept the inning from getting worse and kept the Guardians off the board for the rest of his night.

With his next appearance expected in the postseason, newly minted Red Sox manager Chad Tracy, who officially received the job Tuesday morning, removed Tolle with two outs in the sixth, giving the Fenway crowd a chance to acknowledge an impressive rookie season.

Tolle finishes the regular season with a 3.03 ERA and 171 strikeouts across 148 2/3 innings and 26 starts. His next assignment appears likely to come on a much bigger stage at Yankee Stadium.

Boston’s offense, meanwhile, struggled to convert its opportunities against All-Star left-hander Parker Messick and Cleveland’s bullpen.

Adley Rutschman was one of the few exceptions, doubling in each of his first two plate appearances against Messick. He then hit a 99 mph flyout to center in the sixth before adding a single against Hunter Gaddis in the eighth. Before his final hit, nine of Rutschman’s previous 12 hits had gone for extra bases.

He’s hitting just .214 since joining the Red Sox, but there have been signs of the impact bat Boston hoped it was acquiring.