Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo watches from the dugout on Saturday during Boston’s 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays. Verdugo was benched for disciplinary reasons, part of a day Manager Alex Cora called one of his worst days as manager of the Red Sox. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
For the second straight year, the low point of the Red Sox season came at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Last year it was a 28-5 loss at Fenway, the start of a three-game sweep by the Blue Jays, that started a 3-13 stretch that essentially knocked the Sox out of playoff contention for good.
This weekend’s Blue Jays sweep of the Sox at Fenway had a similar feel. The Red Sox weren’t just swept at home, they were pushed back into the AL East basement and are five games out for the final AL wild-card. It’s the furthest out they’ve been since June.
Boston was teeming with Blue Jays fans over the weekend, in full voice celebrating a long Civic Holiday weekend back home. Fans were right at home at Fenway, cheering loudly as their team outscored the Sox 25-8 and won its first three games over the Sox this season.
As if things weren’t bad enough on the field, the Sox were dealing with a disciplinary issue off the field. Outfielder Alex Verdugo reportedly arrived late for Saturday’s game and was benched by Manager Alex Cora. Cora called it a “manager’s decision,” the second time this year he was forced to bench Verdugo for a game.
With turmoil swirling, the Sox went out and suffered their worst loss of the season, 5-4, in a game that ended with Reese McGuire easily doubled off at second base as he ran toward home, celebrating what he thought was a walk-off homer from Connor Wong.
After the game, Cora was incensed. His anger was focused not on the loss, but on Verdugo.
“It’s disappointing,” said Cora, “because you feel like you’re doing everything possible for stuff like this not to happen, but he’s not perfect, I’m not perfect. I think our relationship is actually really good, but I’ll do my best to keep pushing him to be great, keep pushing him to be responsible and keep pushing him to be there for his teammates every single day.”
And that was before Sunday’s 13-1 loss to the Blue Jays, a loss that left them 1-3 to start August. It’s always interesting to see how teams perform in the weeks after the trade deadline. The Red Sox didn’t make any major moves – one way or the other – in the days leading up to the Aug. 1 deadline.
The Sox were moving in the wrong direction afterward.
Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom doesn’t think any August struggles will be because of what the front office did or didn’t do.
“If the moves are there, great, go ahead and make them” Bloom said on the TC & Company podcast, “if not, have confidence in the guys you have and believe in this group to go forward and that’s what we did.”
Losing 3 of 4 to begin the month put the Sox’s record in August over the last three seasons at 25-35. They don’t have a winning August under Bloom.
The Sox believe they will get help when Chris Sale, Trevor Story and others return from their rehab assignments in Worcester. Sale threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings on Sunday for the WooSox, striking out seven and giving up three singles. Story hit a two-run homer to raise his batting average to .290 with Worcester.
Cora called Saturday one of the worst days he’s had as manager of the Red Sox. He said it was a “step backwards” for the team.
There is still nearly a third of the season remaining, a lot of time to start moving forward. Yet a sloppy, undisciplined weekend on the field, and a quiet week in the front office, has the team on the brink of once again falling out of contention before Labor Day.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
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