In retrospect, maybe starting Brennan Bernardino in this game after he pitched an inning of relief the night before wasn't the best of ideas. Bernie only lasted ⅔ of an inning and 17 pitches before he had to be pulled, exhausting the bullpen and eventually requiring starter Dustin May to come in and pitch three innings of relief.
Cleveland scored six runs in the second inning alone, while Bregman, Story, and Rafaela all went hitless the entire game. The Guardians won, 8-1.
Worse, it was confirmed that rookie phenom Roman Anthony will be out for four to six weeks (i.e., the rest of the regular season) with a left oblique strain. Anthony's midseason debut in the majors seemed to be the spark that lifted the Sox out of the .500 doldrums they were in and into playoff contention.
Toronto won last night, so Boston is now 3½ games back from first place. The only "good" news, "good" only because it isn't "bad," is the Yankees lost to Houston, so at least we didn't fall back any further behind them (we trail New York by a mere .001 percent in the standings). We probably never had a realistic shot at winning the division anyway, but we're still very much in the running for a Wild Card playoff spot.
The "bad" news, "bad" because it isn't "good," is that Boston lost an opportunity to take full advantage of the Yankees' tough schedule. The Sox are off today, but New York still has one more game against Houston (77-63). An Astros win tonight would put the Red Sox into second place in the AL East, and a half game ahead on New York in the Wild Card standings.
Starting tomorrow, the Yanks have three against Toronto (81-59), and then three against Detroit (81-60), all at home, while we play Arizona (70-71) and the A's (64-77) on the road. Despite their home field advantage, we still have the easier schedule for the next week. We need to capitalize on that advantage.
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