Like many of us, the Boston Red Sox have Labor Day off.
It wasn’t a holiday for them, just an open day on their schedule. They didn’t get a long weekend, just a day to try to recover from an eight-game road trip that wrapped up Sunday in Anaheim.
It was a successful trip, the Red Sox winning six of eight away from home. In most seasons, the team would be praised for winning three straight road series.
But this season isn’t like most, and we’re left thinking about the one that got away.
Boston’s bullpen had been one of the best in baseball during August. So Manager Alex Cora was feeling good about things when he handed the ball to closer Brandon Workman with a two-run lead in the ninth inning of Friday’s game.
The closer had converted five of his previous six save opportunities, finally giving the Red Sox the stability they had lacked at the back end of the bullpen. The Sox finally had a traditional closer.
Workman has the lowest batting average against of any reliever in baseball. Trouble is, he has walked 39 batters in 61 1/3 innings, a walk rate of 5.7 per nine innings — the highest in baseball.
He walked the first two batters Friday night. He gave up two runs to blow the save. The Red Sox ultimately won in 15 innings, but the bullpen had to throw 11 innings.
Not an ideal situation heading into Saturday’s “bullpen game.” Cora had no starting pitcher, so needed nine more innings from his relievers. He got seven before Ryan Brasier allowed six earned runs in the eighth as the Sox suffered their AL-leading 27th blown save of the year.
In a season filled with frustration, Saturday’s loss may have been the most discouraging of the year. The Indians and A’s had already lost, and the Sox could’ve moved within 4 1/2 games of the wild card race. Instead, it was a complete meltdown.
“I wish I could have an answer,” said Cora, “but you roll with the guys that you have. They’re doing their best. It just happened that certain days it’s not happening for us.”
The Red Sox have lost nine games in which they led after seven innings. By simply going 4-5 in those games – still a losing record – they would’ve ended the road trip just a game out of a playoff spot.
Instead, they are clinging to flickering hopes of a September miracle.
The embers are still glowing, barely, after the trip. Now comes the hard part. On Tuesday night the Sox open up a seven-game home stand against the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins. Then it’s four games with the Yankees, who have beaten the Sox in 11 of 15 meetings this season.
Boston will have to play its best baseball against some of the best teams in baseball. They’ll have to put together a full month of success. They haven’t done it yet, faltering every time they approach a level of consistency.
In many ways, they are the exact opposite of the team that won it all in 2018.
“It was a good team that played good baseball,” said Cora of the ’18 champs. “They had challenges and they showed up every day. We were very consistent at being consistent.
“This year, the topic has been we’re consistent at being inconsistent.”
Is it too late to change that topic? We’re about to find out.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
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