BOSTON – Thursday certainly won’t go down as a good day for the Boston Red Sox.
After losing in the 13th inning in the early hours of the morning, the Red Sox had a lackluster showing in the afternoon, losing 11-0 to the Los Angeles Angels.
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Two losses on the same day, just a little over 12 hours apart.
Boston left a base uncovered that led to an easy double early for the Angels, managed three hits in the first six innings and fell behind 9-0 en route to its second shutout in five days.
Coming into the day, the pitching had been solid, but that wasn’t the case as John Lackey (2-4) gave up eight runs on 10 hits in four-plus innings.
Boston pitchers hadn’t allowed more than five runs in the previous 18 games, but the Angels racked up nine runs and 13 hits in the first five innings.
“I definitely think there’s a sense of me needing to pitch well to get some momentum going, for sure,” Lackey said. “If I would have pitched better early on, I think guys might have found a little more energy.”
Lackey had allowed two runs or less in his last three starts. He held the Angels scoreless over eight innings April 24 to help Boston complete a four-game sweep in Anaheim, Calif.
“We made a few mistakes. They just came out swinging, knowing that we had to throw strikes and go deep (to save our bullpen),” Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. “We just missed with some pitches.”
And they missed on the bases.
Trailing 9-0 in the fifth, David Ortiz, who went 3 for 3, tried to stretch a single and was out easily at second. That came after Peter Bourjos blooped a single to center and raced into second when the base was left uncovered in the top of the fifth. Bourjos raced to third on the play after colliding with third baseman Kevin Youkilis, who came to cover second and had the ball roll away.
The Red Sox looked as if they weren’t awake.
“It’s not ideal but both teams had to do it,” Saltalamacchia said. “We just forget about this one, turn the page and get on to tomorrow.”
Rookie Mark Trumbo hit his sixth homer of the season and the Angels salvaged a series split at Boston, racking up 18 hits.
Bobby Abreu, who won Wednesday’s game that ended at 2:45 a.m. Thursday with a two-run single, drove in three runs for Los Angeles, which was 0-6 against Boston entering the four-game series.
After ending the skid in a rain-delayed 5-3 win that lasted five hours with a 2 hour, 35 minute rain delay, the Angels chased Lackey in the fifth.
Joel Pineiro (1-0) got his first win of the season, holding Boston to three hits over 52/3 innings. Relievers Rich Thompson and Francisco Rodriguez preserved the shutout, and the Angels prevented the Red Sox from getting a runner past second.
The Angels put together three-run innings in the third, fourth and fifth, and became the fourth team to shut out Boston this season. The Red Sox fell to 3-4 during an 11-game homestand, which continues tonight against Minnesota.
For the second time since an 0-6 start, the Red Sox got within one win of .500 and lost the next two. Boston ran out of relief pitchers during the rain-delayed loss that stretched several hours into Thursday, then couldn’t hit when the afternoon game began.
The Angels came up just one short of their season high for hits set April 3 against Kansas City.
NOTES: Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia got his first day off, one day after going 0 for 6 and striking out four times. A fan was kicked out in the fifth inning for grabbing a live ball hit by Jed Lowrie to the deepest part of center field. The ball bounced and may have been a ground-rule double even without the interference. Boston put relievers Bobby Jenks (strained right biceps) and Dan Wheeler (strained left calf) on the 15-day DL, and called up Scott Atchison and left-hander Rich Hill from Pawtucket.
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