The Boston Red Sox were 1 ½ games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, 9 ½ games ahead of the New York Yankees and 10 ½ games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays on July 26.
Eleven days later, the AL East standings look much different. The Red Sox now are 2 ½ games behind first-place Tampa and just three games ahead of New York and four games in front of Toronto.
Boston is in the midst of a major meltdown. The Sox lost 12-4 to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Friday to drop to 2-8 in their past 10 games.
“It’s not about a lack of effort, a lack of focus, a lack of work. It’s none of that,” Xander Bogaerts said after Friday’s loss. “Maybe we should try harder because apparently what we’re doing right now is not enough.”
The Red Sox were ahead 2-0 and starter Nathan Eovaldi was cruising. He threw 58 pitches through 4 scoreless innings.
Then came the meltdown.
The Blue Jays’ Nos. 7-9 hitters each doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning and tie it. That was the start of a nine-run, nine-hit fifth inning for Toronto that turned Boston’s 2-0 lead into a 9-2 deficit. Eovaldi allowed seven of the nine runs.
Bogaerts went 0-for-3 with a sac fly. He’s 10-for-50 (.200) in his past 15 games dating back to July 19.
“Coming from me, it really sucks not being able to produce and help the team,” Bogaerts said. “This game is about whoever’s putting up more runs. And it’s a really, really bad time to be playing bad right now. As I said, coming in tomorrow we’ve got two games. We’ve got to try harder and win.”
Boston — which will play a doubleheader against the Blue Jays on Saturday — is 1-6 since the trade deadline.
“I’m part of that,” Bogaerts said. “I haven’t been able to be productive. And that really sucks. It’s different if you give your pitcher a 1-0 lead as opposed to giving him a five-, six-, seven-run lead. We just haven’t been able to cash in in good opportunities. You can say whatever you want about the pitching staff, but if we’re not putting runs up to help them feel a bit relaxed, it also falls on us.”
Bogaerts said his wrist has felt fine for about a week.
“Once I had my wrist injury, I just changed so much mechanically,” Bogaerts said. “I’m fighting to get back to the right mechanics and get going again.
“We need me to step up, be more productive,” Bogaerts added. “I think it’s enough of playing bad baseball.”
Eovaldi couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead against the Rays in Tampa last Saturday and failed to hold a 2-0 lead vs. the Jays on Friday.
He has allowed 12 earned runs in 10 innings over his past two starts as his ERA has increased from 3.49 to 4.07.
Red Sox starters have an 8.40 ERA (45 innings, 42 earned runs) in their past 11 games.
“They’ve given me the lead and I feel like I’ve let the team down, so to speak,” Eovaldi said. “I’ve got to do a better job of managing the game.
“Giving up seven runs right there, it’s unacceptable,” he added. “I can’t allow that to happen. It’s just extremely frustrating on my end. I feel like I let the team down.”
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