BOSTON -- Dustin May was only able to chase the trouble away for so long on Saturday, as the visiting Pirates took advantage of his struggles to ride out a 10-3 victory at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox right-hander was able to avoid major damage early in his start, but when he loaded the bases for the second time of the game in the fifth inning with no outs, the visitors capitalized.
“I felt like I started off the game pretty good, but then just completely lost it,” May said. “Then the wheels fell off.”
The game started off inauspiciously for the hosts when Romy Gonzalez dropped a routine throw at first from third baseman Alex Bregman to allow leadoff hitter Jared Triolo to reach base.
May then gave up a single and a walk in succession before Tommy Pham brought the first run around on a fielder’s choice groundout.
May then seemed to find a comfort zone, escaping the jam after allowing the lone run before coming out with a head of steam in the second inning, when he struck out the side.
The next two frames saw him yield two singles and a walk, but none of those runners advanced past first base.
In the interim, May's offense backed him with a pair of runs, highlighted by Carlos Narváez’s 12th home run of the season, giving him a 2-1 lead to work with.
Then came the fifth inning, which opened with a single, a hit batter and a walk before Bryan Reynolds roped a two-run single to put Pittsburgh ahead, 3-2. Pham followed with an RBI single to extend the lead.
Despite the fifth inning results, manager Alex Cora rolled his starter out in the sixth. Oneil Cruz quickly greeted him with a Statcast-projected 426-foot solo home run to center field, his 19th of the season. May would persist, but so, too, did the Pirates, who forced Boston’s starter from the game as they plated five runs in the inning.
“He struggled with command and was inconsistent at the end,” Cora said. “There was a lot of traffic out there. They put the ball in play. We didn’t make plays. Just a tough one overall.”
“I get ahead of guys and then I completely lose them,” said May, who moved to 7-11 with a combined 5.01 ERA with the Red Sox and Dodgers this season. “It’s not a good place to be in. I know exactly what I need to do, and it’s not throw waste-pitches many times. It’s kind of been my thing the whole year. I need to fix it.”
The right-hander allowed seven runs, six of them earned, on eight hits and four walks. With the loss, he moved to 1-4 with a 5.68 ERA in his five starts since coming to Boston at the Trade Deadline. May has allowed at least three earned runs in three of those starts and he’s allowed nine walks over his past three efforts.
“You get traded over here to help the guys out, and I feel like the last few are just not even good at all,” May said, with Boston involved in both the AL East and Wild Card races. “It’s not the spot I thought I was going to be in at this point.”
“He’s been good. Obviously, the last two haven’t gone our way,” Cora said. “He’s a guy that we trust. He’s got good stuff. We’ve just got to make sure we get him back on track.”
In losing the first two games of the three-game set, the Sox suffered their first three-game series loss since their set at Houston on Aug. 11-13.
“Dropping the first two is not ideal,” said Trevor Story, who went 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and a stolen base in the loss. “We have another one tomorrow and we've got to win it.”
“It’s not a good feeling to let the guys down,” May said. “Just got to turn the page and look forward to the next one.”