Egregious Red Sox errors, ridiculous ump show sum up series loss to Guardians

The Boston Red Sox have been their own worst enemy in multiple games this season and their April 18 loss to the Cleveland Guardians was no exception.

The Red Sox have an error problem worse than any other team in MLB. Boston has committed 20 errors in 20 games to put it on a staggering 162-error pace. The vast majority of those gaffes have come from the infield.

On April 18, neither team put on a defensive clinic. The Red Sox and the Guardians posted two errors each, but neither of Cleveland's mistakes resulted in runs. Both of Boston's did and it lost another winnable game, 5-4.

In the top of the third inning, Gabriel Arias was safe on a fielding error by David Hamilton, his fifth in his 11 games with the Red Sox. Arias later scored on a single by Andrés Giménez, but the inning ended on the same play due to a base running mistake by Giménez who tried to stretch the single into a double.

In the fifth inning, Ramón Laureano hit to Pablo Reyes at third base, who air-mailed the throw to first. Three batters later, Giménez struck again to score a runner who should've been an easy out. Without those two errors, the Red Sox could've easily won the game.

Even if Boston can't put its best lineup out every night, the level of defense it's been playing is unacceptable for any big-league club. The Red Sox have a 2-9 record in games where they commit errors and they're 8-1 when their defense is perfect.

The Red Sox's defense buried them again, umpires continue to stifle Triston Casas

The Red Sox also may have been externally hindered against the Guardians, though. Triston Casas took the plate in the bottom of the seventh frame and battled to a 3-2 count against Cade Smith. Home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez rung Casas up on a ball way outside the zone for the last out in a three-run inning for Boston.

Had Casas gotten on base, the Red Sox could have pulled off an impressive rally to win the ballgame — someone would've had to score Casas though, so it's also possible nothing may have come of a free pass. But the first baseman's eye is so good that he occasionally plays himself. Casas doesn't swing at borderline pitches, and it's come back to bite him a few times, through no fault of his own.

The Red Sox handed themselves their second series loss of the young season and, much like many of their other losses, it was preventable. Tanner Houck's standout start on April 17 was the only thing that kept Boston from being swept for the second time in their 10-game home stand.

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