BOSTON – Usually when you grind a good pitcher down like the Red Sox did to Dylan Cease (108 pitches over five innings), there is a reward somewhere in sight.
But on Tuesday night, there was no prize. In a scene that has repeated itself frequently this season, Boston couldn’t come up with a clutch hit when needed in a 6-1 loss to Toronto at Fenway Park.
Willson Contreras, who has easily been the team’s master of clutch this season and came into the game red-hot, endured a rare cooldown in this one, striking out four times. His teammates couldn’t pick him up.
Meanwhile, Cease made it through with a scoreless outing, allowing four hits and four walks while punching out seven.
“I battled. I didn’t execute very well. Fortunately, it worked out,” said Cease. “It was just one of those games where I never really got comfortable and never got in a rhythm. I was falling behind.
“I don’t know the stats off the top of my head, but I felt like I was behind on everybody and 2-0 in a lot of counts. It’s not sustainable. I did battle and I had good stuff, but it definitely wasn’t pretty.”
Those aren’t the words you generally hear from the winning pitcher.
However, it was another frustration-filled night for a Boston team that is 29-41 through 70 games, something nobody would have predicted in March.
The Red Sox are 29th in the Majors in runs with 279. In this one, they went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position while leaving 13 on base.
“It’s tough,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “We had four or five blocks where we obviously drove the pitch count up and gave ourselves chances. I think we had a runner in scoring position in all five innings he pitched. We’re one big hit away. Some of those were one outs, so one or two hits away from taking the lead or multiple-run lead. We just couldn't break through.”
The other side of the ball wasn’t very uplifting, either.
For the second straight start, Payton Tolle wasn’t at his sharpest. The rookie lefty allowed four hits and three runs over five innings, walking two and striking out six. He also allowed back-to-back homers to Davis Schneider and Andrés Giménez leading off the fifth.
A 14-pitch at-bat against Myles Straw in the third inning, which ended with a flyout to right, prevented Tolle from going deeper into the game.
“I get [my swings and misses] at the top of the zone, and I never got a fastball up there,” said Tolle. “Every four-seam that I threw in that at-bat [against Straw] was down, or down and in.
“He’s a good hitter. He’s going to get to whatever, but I get my fastball with two strikes up top to get the strikeouts, and I never got it up there. And then after that, didn't get a curveball to the floor, didn't throw a competitive cutter, had a couple of two-seams that you know didn't quite get off enough.”
Batterymate Connor Wong tried his best to guide Tolle to a more efficient sequence against Straw.
“You're just like, 'Man, miss one already.' There's a couple he fouled off that hit my glove,” said Wong. “I wish I was able to hold onto one of them, not only get the punchout but also keep that guy there at second. But yeah, especially with Tolle's stuff, you're just like, 'Man, miss one already.'”
The back-to-back homers were surprising because Tolle had allowed only three homers in his first nine starts entering this one, and none in his previous four.
“I have always kind of thought about not compounding errors,” said Tolle. “If you give up one, reset, attack the next guy. I thought we did, but the cutter was just too much over the plate. It's frustrating, but especially with Giménez, just gave him too much plate, and I think I also fell behind a ton in the inning.”
Ultimately, however, it didn’t much matter what Tolle did, given Boston’s lack of hitting with runners on base.
“I thought we put together solid at-bats,” said Wong. “Couldn't really get anything going. [Cease] did a good job. He's got deception. He's got stuff. I thought we fought pretty well and just weren't able to scratch any [across].”