Another quality start out of Chris Sale waisted as the Boston Red Sox failed score any runs in a 3-0 shutout loss to the New York Yankees Thursday night.
Sale has looked nothing short of spectacular posting a 1.19 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 37.2 innings. He struck out 10 last night in 9 innings of work.
The lack of run support is evident, as the Sox have average 2 runs per game when Sale is on the bump. It is not just Sale whose lacking run support, the Sox have only scored 78 runs this season tying the Toronto Blue Jays for the second-lowest total in the MLB.
Even with the offense struggling, Sale still takes the blame after last night’s loss. “No, the only frustration would be toward myself,” Sale said to reporters after the game. “I know what I need to do, and I just need to be better at it.”
The Yankees pestered across their first run in the fourth, only after Sandy Leon was crossed up on a pitch, allowing a past ball and Aaron Hicks to score. The Sox’s offense couldn’t extinguish the one run deficit.
Xander Bogaerts remains confident in his team that they can turn it around, but he honestly admitted that David Ortiz has been sorely missed in the heart of the Sox line-up. “We’re trying to put up good at-bats, trying to get guys on base. But having that [No.] 34 in the lineup is something that opposing pitchers were definitely afraid of,” Bogaerts told reporters after the game.
On the other hand, you cannot take away from the New York Yankee’s ace, Masahiro Tanaka. He threw a complete game shut-out with three strikeouts, only allowing 3 sparse base hits and no walks. The Yankees didn’t produce any runs of their own runs until the 9th inning, when Matt Holiday and Starlin Castro each drove in a run with a pair of singles.
The Sox have a chance for redemption and to regain some confidence tonight as they face-off against the defending World Champions, the Chicago Cubs. The first pitch will be thrown at Fenway at 7:10 P.M.
