With the Red Sox in an unusual sell mode, they took on the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at Fenway Park. Clay Buchholz needed only six pitches to put the Red Sox in a 2-0 hole. Melky Cabrera homered into the bullpen area to the right of the triangle in center field to drive home Jose Reyes, who had walked to open the game. R.A. Dickey cruised through the first two innings. Stephen Drew doubled to the right field corner to open the third inning, but the Red Sox could not drive him in.
Red Sox fans might like to believe that this is the pitcher who went 12-1 last year, but that Buchholz is gone in 2014. He is an under-.500 pitcher with a losing record. Predictably, after the Red Sox squandered an opportunity to chip away, the Blue Jays added to their lead in the fourth inning. The nearly unwalkable Cody Rasmus (only 19 coming into the game, in 254 plate appearances) drew a walk then Munenori Kawasaki dropped a single into left field. Josh Thole’s sacrifice moved them to second and third. Ryan Goins made manager John Gibbons strategy pay off when he lined a 3-0 pitch past a diving Dustin Pedroia to make the lead 4-0, which might as well be ten against this anemic Red Sox offense.
Three times the Blue Jays worked a leadoff walk from Buchholz and three times that hitter scored. Kawasaki led off the sixth with a walk and Thole singled off the Monster to send him to third. Goins knocked in his third run of the night with his own pelting of the Monster, this time for a double. Buchholz is becoming predictable enough in his incompetence that these last two rallies hadn’t occurred when the words were written here, but they were sadly easy to anticipate. Perhaps Buchholz isn’t hurt; perhaps he is just a lousy pitcher right now. Felix Doubront came on in relief and quickly added fuel to the fire, allowing eight batters to reach via hit, walk, or fielder’s choice before he was mercifully removed with the score 13-0.
Dickey cruised throughout the whole game, baffling the Red Sox with his dancing knuckleball, striking out ten batters over seven innings while allowing a run on three hits. The Red Sox managed a run in the sixth when David Ortiz knocked in David Ross from second.
There isn’t much more to say about this game. It is just another embarrassment in a long season of them. Remarkably, the Blue Jays did to the Red Sox what the Red Sox did to them one week ago tonight when the Red Sox still had hope. The only question now is who will be on the roster Friday morning.
The Red Sox and Blue Jays face each other again tomorrow night at Fenway.