BOSTON -- If Friday night’s 13-10 debacle truly was rock bottom of a turbulent first half of the 2015 season for the Boston Red Sox, then Saturday afternoon’s extra-innings tilt with Toronto felt like a gut check.
But after a couple of golden chances late, this one turned into yet another gut punch in a season that has produced a flurry of them, a 5-4 decision in 11 innings that puts the Sox nine games under .500 for first time all season.
Matt Barnes set the stage for what could have been a dramatic walk-off win in the top of the 10th by ringing up Josh Donaldson on an 84-mph changeup that dove out of the zone, then inducing a lineout by Jose Bautista and flyout by Ezequiel Carrera. But after Hanley Ramirez nearly beat out a throw to first to start the bottom half of the frame, the Jays brought in lefty Aaron Loup, who struck out David Ortiz on high heat then induced a groundout from Xander Bogaerts.
Then in the 11th, Barnes led off by feeding Russell Martin a 2-0, 96-mph four-seamer right down the middle that Martin squared up for a solo home run high off the left-center light tower over the Green Monster.
Jeff Bianchi and Rusney Castillo sandwiched groundouts around an Alejandro De Aza strikeout to end it.
Sandoval leaves game: Third baseman Pablo Sandoval left the game before the start of the seventh inning with what the team announced as tightness in his right quad, ending what had been a productive day at the plate. Sandoval pulled a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth to score Bogaerts and Ortiz, cutting Toronto’s lead to 4-3. It was part of a 2-for-3 day at the plate.
Since returning to the lineup last Sunday in the series finale with Oakland, Sandoval has been productive at the plate, going 8-for-23 with six RBIs and a home run and mostly putting good swings on balls.
His defense, however, has remained pedestrian at best as of late. There were the two blunders in Friday night’s loss to Toronto. On Saturday, he was caught in a miscommunication with catcher Sandy Leon on a foul ball in third base territory, a ball that was dropped by Leon for an error.
Ortiz goes deep: Ortiz has hit in four straight games, and five of his last six. Saturday he went 1-for-4 with a solo home run over the bullpen in right, his eighth shot of the year, knotting the game at four in the sixth.
But he also came up short on a golden opportunity in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Ortiz swung through a 96-mph Liam Hendriks fastball on the outside of the plate. Hendriks then let out a roar from the mound as he followed up by mowing down Bogaerts to end the threat.
Still, Ortiz is 5 for his last 16, with two home runs and four RBIs.
Early hole for Buchholz: Clay Buchholz was off to a good start in June entering Saturday, (1-0, 12 K’s, 2.84 ERA) and his history with the Blue Jays has been a kind one. He turned in another adequate start, giving up four earned runs on eight hits in six innings of work, striking out seven and walking one, throwing strikes on two-thirds of his pitches (67 of 98). His best inning may have come in the fourth, when he got Martin on a foul tip, then followed up by ringing up Justin Smoak swinging.
