The embattled starter did nothing to help restore his reputation Thursday night, getting booed off the field in the third inning of Boston’s 8-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians.
It was Boston’s 11th loss in its last 12 home games and it happened to come a day after word surfaced that Beckett was playing golf last week a day after he was scratched from his scheduled start with a sore lat muscle in his back.
That angered Red Sox fans, who got in plenty of taunts before Beckett was pulled after 2.1 innings with Cleveland leading 7-1.
“I think it was directed at me,” Beckett said. “Smart fans.”
Beckett was unrepentant about his golf outing, saying what he does on his day off is his business. But what he failed to understand, it seemed, was that fans were upset about him golfing when he was supposedly too sore to pitch rather than about him simply hitting the links on a normal off day.
Jack Hannahan hit a two-run homer and Jason Kipnis had a solo shot off Beckett (2-4), who gave up seven runs on seven hits and walked two.
“You never want to get booed at your home stadium,” said Indians left fielder Johnny Damon, a former Red Sox star very familiar with being booed at Fenway Park. “He’s a great pitcher. Had a bad night. He helped bring another championship here, but as we all know that can get lost in time.”
Michael Brantley went 4 for 5 with two RBIs for the Indians.
Derek Lowe (5-1) pitched six effective innings against his former team, allowing two runs and nine hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff homer in the seventh, cutting Cleveland’s lead to 7-3. But that did little to lift the somber mood at Fenway Park. Boston, last in the AL East at 12-19, has dropped eight of nine overall.
Beckett, who has a 5.97 ERA, was booed just a few hours after manager Bobby Valentine downplayed the uproar over the pitcher’s golf outing.
In his postgame interview, Beckett grew more terse each time his golf outing was mentioned.
“We get 18 off days a year,” he said. “I think we deserve a little bit of time to ourselves.”
The first homer was Hannahan’s two-run shot into the Boston bullpen, where a few relievers got up and started stretching their arms as it became apparent Beckett would not be out there for long.
It got worse in the fourth when Kipnis led off with a homer, Asdrubal Cabrera singled and Travis Hafner walked.
Brantley was up next and one fan yelled “FORE!” when he lined a foul ball down the right-field line, but all the chuckles quickly subsided when Brantley doubled to leftcenter. It was the second straight double for the Indians, ending Beckett’s night.
Fans cheered when Valentine came out of the dugout and immediately signaled to the bullpen for lefty Andrew Miller.
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