Sox fall back in WC race: 'We have to keep going'

BOSTON -- Could the Red Sox still be in the thick of the postseason race if they had found a way to be more competitive against the Blue Jays this season?

It was a reasonable thing to wonder on Tuesday night, as Toronto kicked off its third visit to Fenway Park this season by again battering Boston, this time by a final score of 9-3.

The Sox are now 3-11 against the Blue Jays this season and 57-52 against all other opponents. The Jays are 66-55 overall, but a much less impressive 55-52 against all opponents besides Boston.

The aggregate score of the 14 head-to-head games -- admittedly skewed by that 28-5 Jays romp on July 22 -- is 91-45 in favor of Toronto.

“They’re putting good innings against us, big innings,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “It’s quick numbers whenever they score. They aren’t striking out too much against us. We had some OK games against them. But most of the time, they’ve been hitting us the whole season.”

In other words, the Red Sox can’t be sad that they have just five more games left against Toronto this season.

However, Cora’s team can’t be worried much about who the opponent is these days. They need to start stacking up wins -- and a lot of them -- for their postseason chances to move from remote to realistic.

With 39 games left, the Red Sox are seven games behind the Mariners and Blue Jays for the third American League Wild Card spot. Boston trails Tampa Bay by 7 1/2.

The issue on Tuesday was one really tough top of the third inning, when Toronto struck for eight runs against starter Josh Winckowski and reliever Austin Davis.

Winckowski is far from the first Boston starter who couldn’t stop the bleeding this season against the Jays.

“They're just really deep,” said Winckowski. “If you take a hitter off or whatnot, they're going to make you pay for it. And then obviously the middle -- two through whatever, four or five -- is up there in the league, one of the best in the league. So just one through nine, they're really good.”

Perhaps the most frustrating part of that game-turning top of the third is that Winckowski was just one strike away from getting out of the inning unharmed, with Boston leading 1-0.

But Lourdes Gurriel Jr. smashed Winckowski’s 1-2 slider for an RBI double and things unraveled swiftly from there.

“I think I kind of left it middle. And then it wasn’t a conscious thought, but maybe I started nibbling a little bit,” Winckowski said. “Walked a couple of guys in there and then fell behind to Teoscar [Hernández], and then obviously he put the ball hard in play. I think that's something I've struggled with a little bit up here, kind of not being able to slow down the snowball. It's obviously something to work on.”

This was supposed to be Nathan Eovaldi’s start. But the veteran was scratched for the second straight turn in the rotation and was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation.

That created another chance for Winckowski, who was optioned to Triple-A Worcester following his last start, when he was shelled for six runs on seven hits in an 8-2 loss in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Winckowski. “Every chance you get up here is a huge opportunity and not taking advantage of them obviously never feels good.”

You know it wasn’t a good night when Cora had to call on backup catcher Reese McGuire to pitch the top of the ninth. McGuire did surprisingly well, getting a 1-2-3 inning while throwing just seven pitches (six strikes). He topped out at 72.3 mph.

The defeat dropped Boston to 16-33 in the division. Of the 39 games the Red Sox have left, 30 of them are against teams they are trying to catch in the Wild Card standings.

Making the path more challenging is that injuries continue to besiege Boston on a near nightly basis. Tommy Pham and Xander Bogaerts both exited Tuesday's game with back issues and won’t play Wednesday.

“We have to keep going. There’s no excuses,” said Cora. “There are a lot of teams out there playing hurt and they’re playing good baseball, so it really doesn’t matter, to be honest with you. We have to do a good job this week and this weekend to gain ground. It doesn't look too promising, of course. But we just have to play good baseball. That’s it.”