BOSTON — After a lackluster West Coast trip, the Red Sox were more than ready to celebrate last season’s World Series championship at Tuesday’s home opener. But when the dust settled on a pregame ceremony that featured Boston’s champions, it was the Toronto Blue Jays who were ready to play ball.
A three-run Blue Jays rally in the top of the fourth and another tough outing for Chris Sale doomed the Red Sox to a 7-5 loss at Fenway Park.
“We have to play better,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I’ve been saying it all along. We just have to play better. Better defense, better offense, pitch better.”
Mitch Moreland’s (1-for-4, RBI) solo home run in the bottom of the first gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. Dustin Pedroia (1-for-4), reactivated from the 10-day disabled list prior to Tuesday’s game, plated Xander Bogaerts (1-for-2, RBI) on a fielder’s choice in the second inning.
Sale cruised through the first two innings but ran into trouble in the third. He surrendered an RBI single to Freddy Galvis and sacrifice fly to Teoscar Hernandez, knotting the score at 2. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI single in the fourth gave the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead. After Danny Jansen scored on a passed ball, Gurriel Jr. stole home and lifted Toronto’s lead to 5-2.
“They’re aggressive,” Cora said. “They’re going to try to do that, we knew that. They haven’t had much traffic (on the bases) in the season but (Tuesday) they put pressure on us and we weren’t good at it.
“We scored two, they scored two in the third inning. Then they had that three-run inning. We scored, they scored again. We haven’t shutdown innings in I think two weeks. That’s very important. We haven’t had a chance to add on. That’s very important to our offense or any offense at the big league level. We just have to get better.”
That was all she wrote for Sale, who lasted just four innings and allowed five earned runs on seven hits.
“He wasn’t getting guys out,” Cora said. “Velocity was at 91, 92. He showed some flashes of 94, 95 at the end. As far as the offspeed, his slider, really inconsistent. He made some good ones against righties and he left a few in the zone. They did a good job for a team that’s been striking out a lot. They did a good job with two strikes, putting the ball in play.
“I think they did a good job staying back (on Sale’s slider),” Cora said. “They saw what happened in Oakland, the way we pitched. With two strikes they kept fouling pitches and putting them in play. It wasn’t a home run day. It was a lot of singles and putting balls in play. There weren’t too many swings and misses.”
Boston cut its deficit to 5-4 in the sixth when Mookie Betts (1-for-5, RBI) homered and Bogaerts scored on a Hernadez error in right field.
Toronto added an insurance run on Ronald Girchuk’s RBI single in the seventh. Bogaerts’ RBI double brought J.D. Martinez (1-for-4) home in the eighth but Toronto put it away in the ninth on Galvis’ RBI double to right field.
With two outs and two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth, Blue Jays closer Ken Giles fanned Betts to seal Toronto’s 7-5 win.
Before Tuesday’s game, the Red Sox received their championship rings and raised their 2018 World Series banner. On hand to celebrate were past catalysts of Red Sox championship teams, including World Series MVPs Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez, and members of this past season’s Patriots Super Bowl champion team.
“To be back home, (Monday’s) off day was tremendous,” Cora said. “I spent it with the family and settled down. The ceremony was beautiful. That’s how we do it here. They do an outstanding job.”
