Red Sox offense fails to capitalize vs. Dylan Cease, and Blue Jays get to Payton Tolle, bullpen in series opener
There were a few minutes of optimism at Fenway Park on Tuesday night when the Red Sox brought the tying run to the plate against the Blue Jays in the eighth inning.
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It lasted four pitches as Louis Varland struck out Mickey Gasper to end the threat. The Blue Jays went on to win 6-1, further defining this lost season for the Sox.
With two runners on and two outs, Sox interim manager Chad Tracy used Gasper to pinch hit. Gasper is a useful player, but had two home runs in 197 major league at-bats. Toronto manager John Schneider countered with Varland, one of the best relievers in baseball.
Gasper went down swinging at a 99.7-m.p.h. fastball. The Blue Jays then put the game away when George Springer belted a two-run homer in the ninth inning.
At 29-41, the Red Sox are on a pace to lose 95 games for the first time since they finished 62-100 in 1965. They are 12-23 at Fenway and have dropped six of eight overall to fall 14½ games behind the Yankees.
The Sox had eight hits and drew six walks, but were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base against Dylan Cease (4-3) and four relievers.
The Blue Jays had a shutout until Jarren Duran homered to center field off Tommy Nance with one out in the eighth.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa then singled with two outs before Marcelo Mayer drew a walk. The crowd perked when Tracy went to Gasper, but that at-bat ended quickly.
“We gave ourselves chances,” Tracy said. “We’re one big hit away . . . one or two hits away from taking a lead and we just couldn’t.”
Varland finished the game for his 13th save. He has allowed four earned runs over 39 innings and struck out 52.
Both starters had laborious outings. Payton Tolle needed 90 pitches (62 strikes) to get through five innings, and Cease 108 (66). But Cease didn’t allow any runs despite piling up so many pitches, and Tolle gave up three.
Andrés Giménez doubled leading off the third inning for the Blue Jays. He advanced to third on a deep fly ball to right field by Myles Straw on the 14th pitch of the at-bat. Springer’s sacrifice fly scored Giménez.
“Long at-bat with Straw. Just didn’t execute,” said Tolle, who didn’t get his fastball at the top of the strike zone for a strikeout as Straw fouled off eight two-strike pitches.
“There were a couple of foul balls that hit my glove. Wish I had held on to one of them,” catcher Connor Wong said.
Davis Schneider and Giménez led off the fifth inning with solo home runs. Schneider drilled a center-cut changeup over everything in left field. Giménez then jumped on a cutter that stayed up and over the plate and drove it into the Red Sox bullpen.
Tolle (3-4) allowed seven runs over 11 innings in his last two starts, raising his ERA from 2.28 to 2.93. He has faced Toronto twice and allowed six runs over 9⅔ innings.
“It’s frustrating,” he said with a loud sigh.
Cease offered the Red Sox plenty of opportunities, allowing four hits and walking four. But the Sox were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position against him.
The only hit was an infield single by Duran that loaded the bases in the first inning. Caleb Durbin followed with a floater to center field that Straw made a sliding catch on.
Ceddanne Rafaela led off the third inning with a double and never advanced. Mayer drew a two-out walk in the fourth before Wong singled. Masataka Yoshida followed with one of his traditional grounders to second base.
Wilyer Abreu walked and stole second in the fifth inning and was stranded when Willson Contreras struck out, and Duran was retired on a fly ball to center.
“Cease can lose the zone at times but he did a pretty good job,” Tracy said.
The Blue Jays made it 4-0 against reliever Tommy Kahnle in the sixth inning when Schneider doubled in a run. Springer’s clinching homer was the 300th of his career.
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