MILWAUKEE -- As American Family Field filled with fireworks and the roars of elated Brewers fans, slugger Rafael Devers could do nothing but stare from the Red Sox dugout in disbelief.
Milwaukee designated hitter Christian Yelich was rounding the bases after his walk-off grand slam lifted his team to a 5-1 win in 10 innings. It occurred on a night when Boston starter Richard Fitts and four relievers collectively strung together eight scoreless frames.
Yet, Boston's continued inability to defrost frozen bats forced the pitching staff to operate with a razor-thin margin for error. As a result, when Aroldis Chapman blew his first save of the season in the ninth and had that followed by reliever Liam Hendriks giving up the walk-off blast, Boston’s inability to score spoiled an otherwise stellar night on the mound.
“It’s not good,” Hendriks said. “We pitched a hell of a game, and to be on the end of that, letting the entire group down, that stings for me. A lot.
“We threw [eight] fantastic innings until I decided to go out there and ruin it.”
There was little unfamiliarity with the struggles Boston dealt with on Tuesday. A team that’s suddenly found it wildly difficult to score consistently left another eight runners on base. That it occurred on a night when the pitchers gave the team everything they possibly could only further twisted the knife.
Fitts kicked things off for the Red Sox by opening the game with three scoreless frames. The club’s No. 14 prospect was originally scheduled to throw his second rehab start with Triple-A Worcester as he recovered from a right pectoral strain. But when he found out Boston’s planned bullpen day lined up with his outing, he reached out to the team to ask if he could help.
Though the start was his first on a big league mound since April 12, he wasn’t about to let the stakes interfere with the willingness to aid his teammates.
“I was happy to do that just to take some pressure off the bullpen a little bit,” Fitts said. “I’ve been really eager for two months now, so I was really happy to be out there.”
Fitts, along with relievers Brennan Bernardino, Greg Weissert, Justin Wilson and Justin Slaten, combined to hold Milwaukee to just three hits and two walks over eight innings, striking out seven. Unfortunately for the staff, the issues that have been plaguing the Red Sox lineup lingered into Tuesday. Multiple opportunities to score runs were created, but only one was cashed in.
Boston put two runners on with one out in the second inning before a Trevor Story lineout and a flyout from Abraham Toro ended the frame. Rookie Marcelo Mayer's leadoff double in the fifth was nullified when he was thrown out trying to run to third on Story’s flyout to Gold Glover Sal Frelick.
Over 10 innings, Ceddanne Rafaela scampering home on a sixth-inning wild pitch was the only offense the Red Sox could muster.
“We’re always trying to bring the run in any time we have runners in scoring position,” Rafaela said. “It’s not like we don’t want to move them or bring them in. We do our best. Sometimes it happens, sometimes you don’t.”
Even after the Red Sox found themselves with runners at first and third and no outs in the 10th, Devers followed a pair of strikeouts from Rafaela and Jarren Duran with an inning-ending flyout to erase yet another threat.
“We’ve got to be better,” manager Alex Cora said. “The margin for error, it’s hard to win games 1-0. We didn’t do a good job with that. … We have to recognize what’s in front of us and do a better job.”
While Boston received the pitching it needed to snap its skid, Tuesday's loss put the club three games below .500 for the first time since March 31. But even as the frustrating defeats pile up, those in the clubhouse haven't lost faith in their ability to eventually put this skid to bed.
“We can keep saying it’s early and all that sort of stuff, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to figure some things out,” Hendriks said. “But, to the guys in here, it doesn’t shake our belief. One game doesn’t change anything for the rest of the season. It’s just making sure that we show up tomorrow with a clean slate and come to the field ready to win.”