The red hot Red Sox seem to have cooled off, falling to the Blue Jays for the second straight night Wednesday despite getting out to an early lead.
I feel like I've mentioned Boston's almost artistic ability to lose a dozen times this season, and today's defeat is as good an exhibition of that talent as we've seen all year. Here are the Red Sox, winners of as many as eight out of nine games depending on where you draw the line, all the momentum in the world, all threatening to come to an end if the Blue Jays can deal them their second straight loss.
So what do the Red Sox do? They score three runs in the first. Strike that--they score three runs before producing a single out, with Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia singling to set up David Ortiz who has gotten every bit as hot as he said he would, launching a three-run shot that bounced off Roberto Alomar's over the second deck in right. A 3-0 lead, and with it, all the momentum in the world.
All abruptly brought to an end as Clay Buchholz allowed the first three Blue Jays to reach, scoring one run, then surrendered a two-out double to Josh Thole to tie the game. Just like that, momentum gone.
The first inning ended with the Sox and Jays even...but if you put any stock in the universe's penchant for symbolism, the game was over the second Buchholz allowed that double. There was only one way for this story to end.
The Red Sox would actually score the next run, with Daniel Nava and Xander Bogaerts hitting back-to-back doubles in the fifth to put a fourth run up on R.A. Dickey. But the bottom of the sixth would see Josh Thole reach base again via a walk, then score on Ryan Goins' triple to erase Boston's go-ahead run. Two batters later and it was the threat of Jose Reyes' speed pressuring Xander Bogaerts to rush a throw to first. What would have been out number three was instead a run-scoring error that left the Sox behind 5-4. Jose Bautista finished off the Jays' attack in the seventh, rubbing salt in the wound by going deep to left field for a solo shot.
Say what you will about the Red Sox and their ability (or lack thereof) to win baseball games. But you can't deny that they've got a certain flare about them. Even in something as ordinary and mundane as a 6-4 loss in Toronto they've managed to provide a little bit of terrible, terrible poetry.