Red Sox - 8, Blue Jays - 10 : A Ray of Hope; Hall Fails Red Sox

In full disclosure, I was looking forward to tonight’s game a lot. Not because I particularly like watching Andrew Triggs pitch, or because I felt like it would be a fun game, but because it afforded us a rare opportunity to see how Robbie Ray would pitch at Fenway Park.

This is notable, because Ray is a free agent at the end of the season, and the Red Sox have a dire need for starting pitching, especially beyond the top 3 in the rotation. With how poorly Ray has been performing, it could be a great stealth pick up by Chaim Bloom, if he feels that Ray only needs minor tweaking.

In the early parts of the game, I asked the people in our gamethread today whether they’d like the Red Sox to sign Ray, as part of an impromptu poll.

The Red Sox pounced on Ray early. Yairo Munoz, the hottest hitter on the planet right now, singled on a liner to left field. Unfortunately, Munoz was also hurt on the play, and ended up being removed in favor of Jonathan Arauz. Christian Vazquez struck out, and Xander Bogaerts followed this up with a single of his own to left field on an even sharper liner. J.D. Martinez, who has been ice cold most of the season, struck out again. With runners on first and second and two outs, Kevin Plawecki crushed a ball to center field for a three-run home-run.

Andrew Triggs for his part did well. He pitched three solid innings, with his sole blemish being a solo shot given up to Caleb Joseph in the 3rd inning. He wasn’t doing anything otherworldly, but he managed to miss the Blue Jays bats enough to get through 3 innings, having only allowed 1 run. He gave up 3 base hits and 2 walks over said innings, and struck out 4.

Bobby Dalbec hit his third home run of the season as well, a solo shot off of Robbie Ray in the fourth inning. He now has three homers in seven major league baseball games. He also has struck out twelve times, but you knew what you were getting with Dalbec. If he can ever strike out less than 50% of the time (or more ideally, 40% of the time), the Red Sox may just have something special on their hands.

The Blue Jays threatened against Matt Hall, pitching his second inning of work. After a quick groundout by Jonathan Villar, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drew a walk. Then legendary Red Sox destroyer Rowdy Tellez laced a single to right field, to move Guerrero to third base. Then Matt Hall lost all control of the strike zone and walked Travis Shaw too. With the bases loaded, and one out, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. looming, the Red Sox called for a mound visit. It did not help. Gurriel blooped a hit to center field, which scored a run and re-loaded the bases. Joe Panik hit a broken bat bloop to right field, which scored two more runs. The game was thus tied. Woops.

Hall was able to strike out Caleb Joseph, but gave up a weak single to Derek Fisher, allowing yet another run to score. Robinson Leyer came in to finally reliever Matt Hall of a complete disaster of an inning, but the disaster continued for the Red Sox, as he allowed Cavan Biggio to spank a double that scored two more runs. The book was closed on Matt Hall, who went 1.2 innings, gave up 4 base hits and 4 walks, and gave up 6 earned runs. Leyer walked Villar as well, but the bleeding finally stopped as he forced Guerrero to pop out to end the inning. 7-4, Blue Jays lead through the midpoint of the game.

Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

Have I mentioned that Rowdy Tellez kills the Red Sox? Because he kills the Red Sox. He hit a massive solo shot to center field, and it feels like the fiftieth time in his career that I’ve written that exact sentence, but I know that can’t possibly be true. My research tells me that’s his 11th HR in 25 games against the Red Sox. The team he tortures the second most is a tie between the Orioles and the Rays, who he has hit 4 dingers against a piece.

You might think it can’t get much worse, but you would be very wrong. Shaw and Gurriel both hit singles, and the Red Sox got tired of using Leyer. They brought in Jeffrey Springs and as you might suspect, Springs is another not very good Red Sox pitcher. He walked Panik, and got a force out that allowed a runner to score on the next play. Fisher hit another single, and another run scored. For those keeping score, it was now 10-4, with no help on the way.

The Red Sox decided to fight back a little in the 6th inning, to try and get the team back into it. Michael Chavis singled to start the inning, and Jackie Bradley Jr. followed with a dribbler of his own that put a runner on first and second with nobody out. Bobby Dalbec... drew a walk! The bases were loaded for Jose Peraza, who hit a sac fly to bring in Chavis, making the score 10-5. Wilmer Font walked Arauz, and that was the end of Font’s outing, as he left with the bases loaded and only one out. Christian Vazquez struck out swinging, and Xander Bogaerts tapped one to the shortstop, ending the threat before significant damage could be done.

The next couple innings were business as usual, a total stalemate. Leading off the bottom of the 8th, Jose Peraza hit a ball into the Monster seats for a home run, to make it 10-6. This wouldn’t be the only home run hit in the 8th, however. Arauz walked, and then Bogaerts crushed his 10th home run of the season, to make it 10-8.

The Red Sox failed to make any sort of rally happen in the 9th inning, and that was that, another Red Sox loss. They fall to 14-28, and will face the Phillies starting on Tuesday. They have decided to be merciful and give us a day off.

The Good

• There were a lot of Red Sox dingers.
• Andrew Triggs was alright.
• The game didn’t last 10 hours, even though it felt like it.

The Bad

• The Blue Jays scored way more runs.
• Matt Hall was not great.
• The game lasted four and a half hours and every second was pure unadulterated misery.

Roll Call