TORONTO -- The bats couldn’t back another quality start by starter Sonny Gray as the Red Sox fell, 2-1, to the Blue Jays on Monday night at Rogers Centre in the opener of a four-game series.
The loss, Boston’s third in a row after back-to-back weekend losses to the Athletics, marks the first time the Red Sox have lost three consecutive games since June 16-18, when they were swept by the Blue Jays at Fenway Park.
Despite allowing just two runs over six innings of work, Gray wasn’t satisfied with his performance.
“I thought it was OK,” Gray said postgame. “I would’ve been more pleased if I could’ve got the last out in the sixth and kept it to one [run]. I was a little frustrated that I wasn't able to keep it to one there in the sixth.”
Charles McAdoo took an 88 mph cutter over the wall in right field to open the scoring in the bottom of the fifth.
The sixth began well, with Gray getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to fly out to start the inning. George Springer then singled and stole second before Andrés Giménez came through with an RBI single to score him for the Blue Jays’ second run.
The outing was Gray’s second straight quality start, as he held the White Sox scoreless over six innings in a 4-0 victory last Wednesday.
He had previously been on a roll of nine straight quality starts from May 30 to July 19. The streak was halted by the Blue Jays on July 25, when he was tagged for 10 hits and five runs in five innings.
That was a learning experience Gray carried into Monday’s rematch.
“I thought I did a decent job of making adjustments from that last one,” he said. “Just not enough.”
Interim manager Chad Tracy was impressed with his ace’s start, like he has been so many times this season.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Tracy said. “I thought he was really, really good. He had his spin. Obviously gave up the solo shot and then a two-out hit, but overall I thought he was good.”
Ultimately, it was the offense that did the Red Sox in on this night. Collectively, the lineup managed just six hits and couldn’t come through when needed, including with a runner on third and one out in the top of the ninth against Blue Jays closer Louis Varland.
“We struggled,” Tracy said. “I thought we did a pretty decent job in some cases of getting ourselves into good counts. We got some hittable balls in good counts and we just didn’t square up today. We had a fair amount of popouts and flyouts on hittable pitches. We were searching for the big knock and just didn’t get it tonight.”