The Red Sox are falling into a familiar pattern on this road trip.
For the third straight game, the bullpen blew a lead.
After blowing leads in the eighth and ninth innings over their last two games in Toronto, the Sox showed up to Wrigley Field for the first time since 2012 and blew another one, giving up a one-run lead in the sixth inning to eventually fall to the lowly Cubs, 6-5.
Rich Hill departed early with a knee injury, then Tyler Danish, Hansel Robles and Jake Diekman combined to allow four runs to cough up the game.
Since June 17, Sox relievers have a 4.89 ERA, 25th in MLB. Overall, the Sox issued a season-high 10 walks on Friday.
“Today was a bad day from the pitching department,” manager Alex Cora told reporters in Chicago. “We walked a lot of people today. You keep giving them at-bats with men on, that’s going to happen. We didn’t throw enough strikes.”
The takeaways:
1. Duran makes his presence felt.
Jarren Duran missed the entire series in Toronto due to being unvaccinated against COVID-19, but returned to the team in Chicago and told reporters he would be getting vaccinated before the Sox return to Toronto again in September.
Cora plugged Duran back into the top of the lineup as the leadoff man and Duran wasted no time making his presence felt.
On the first pitch of the game by Cubs starter Adrian Sampson, Duran got a fastball down the middle and smoked it over the center-field wall for his first home run of the season to put the Sox ahead 1-0.
“I’ve been off a couple days and they probably know I’ve been off a couple days and are trying to take advantage of me not seeing anything live,” Duran told reporters in Chicago about the first-pitch homer.
Jackie Bradley Jr. snapped an 0-for-26 slump to score three with a double in the second inning, pushing the lead to 4-0, then Duran added an RBI single in the sixth to account for all the Sox’ scoring.
After hitting .215 with a .578 OPS in 33 games during his first stint in the bigs last year, Duran is now hitting .333 with a .931 OPS in 14 games this year.
2. Hill suffers injury.
Looking for his third straight win, the 42-year-old Hill was in a groove early on, but a defensive play in the third inning appeared to derail his day.
To start the third, Hill awkwardly jumped off the mound to field a grounder to the first base side and reached it in time to throw out Simmons at first, but he tripped while fielding it and his left knee appeared to give out.
Hill stayed in the game and looked fine until the fifth, when he lost command of everything. The fifth went like this: walk, triple, flyout, groundout, walk, single, hit by pitch. The Cubs scored two in the process.
After Hill again looked to hurt his knee, he was finally replaced by Tyler Danish, who walked in another run as the Cubs cut the lead to 4-3 entering the sixth inning.
The Red Sox announced that Hill suffered a left knee strain.
“It’s sore,” Hill told reporters in Chicago. “I feel stupid for staying in, to be honest with you.”
Hill said he didn’t hurt his knee until there were two outs in the fifth. He’s had MCL issues in the past. It sounds like he could miss some time.
“I was stubborn, put us in a really bad position unfortunately,” he told reporters. “That falls on me, stubbornness staying in, wanting to compete, not coming out. Thought it was going to be a little tweak and we’ll pitch through it, but we’ll find out the extent of what’s going on the next couple days.”
Hill finished 4 2/3 innings while allowing three runs on four walks and three hits. He has a 4.20 ERA.
3. Robles in a bad stretch.
Before getting injured, Robles was looking like one of Cora’s most trusted relievers. He had a 2.65 ERA over 16 appearances and had earned several opportunities in the ninth inning.
But after back spasms landed him on the injured list in May, Robles missed three weeks and hasn’t looked the same since.
He struggled to find the plate on Friday, entering in the sixth inning and throwing just 14 of 29 pitches for strikes. He allowed a two-run home run to Christopher Morel, then loaded the bases on two walks and a double before departing.
Diekman wasn’t much better behind him, as the lefty entered with the bases loaded and threw a wild pitch that allowed the eventual game-winning run to score.
In nine games since returning from the injury, Robles has allowed 10 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings.
“The slider isn’t good right now,” Cora told reporters. “It’s kind of like a short cutter. There’s no sweeping action …
“People have to step up. Not every day you’re going to (have a starter) go seven innings. … With 13 pitchers, people have to step up. You can’t only rely on certain guys.”
