BOSTON — This was supposed to be the homestand where the Red Sox officially rebounded from their awful first month, cracked the .500 mark and felt even better about themselves heading into June.
But they failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity at Fenway Park.
After losing three out of five to the last-place Orioles, the Red Sox welcomed the lowly Cincinnati Reds – who are regarded as the worst team in baseball through the first two months – and lost again. The Sox had emerged from their sleepy first month to become the best offense in baseball, but ended the month with a thud, putting up one runs in their last two games after a 2-1 loss to the Reds on Tuesday night.
On an unseasonably cold night at Fenway, the Red Sox recorded just one hit in the first eight innings before rallying in the ninth. Kiké Hernández singled and Rafael Devers doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs, and it looked like the Sox could steal one with the heart of the order coming up.
But J.D. Martinez struck out and Xander Bogaerts popped out before Alex Verdugo’s hard grounder to first ate up Joey Votto and allowed Hernandez to score Boston’s first run in 18 innings. It gave them an extra life, but Trevor Story’s strikeout ended it.
The loss ensured a losing record on this homestand. The Red Sox (23-27) can only be as good as three games below .500 if they can beat the Reds on Wednesday night, after they entered the homestand flying high following four consecutive series victories.
On a night that the Red Sox had seemingly no room for error as starting pitchers Michael Wacha and Luis Castillo put up matching zeroes through the first five innings, Rafael Devers made a costly miscue in the sixth.
Wacha gave up back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with no outs, but the Red Sox nearly – and should have – escaped it. Devers fielded a hard grounder from Aristides Aquino and got Albert Almora Jr., who questionably attempted to run home, caught in a run down before Brandon Drury popped out.
Nick Senzel followed with another grounder to Devers, who fielded it cleanly but threw a wild, errant throw that came nowhere close to Franchy Cordero at first, allowing Matt Reynolds to score easily from second for the game’s first run. Devers had been looking much better defensively this season, but has now made four errors in his last eight games after just two in his first 41.
