Tampa Bay 3, Red Sox 1

 

What can you even say anymore? The Red Sox lost. They lost. Again. Because that's what they do. Lose again and again and again. Thirty-seven times already this season and we're not even halfway through.

It was bad enough when young Connelly Early, despite striking out six, gave up a go-ahead RBI single in the fifth. But then the Sox brought in someone named Alec Gamboa to pitch in the 8th in only his second-ever MLB appearance and he gives up a sacrifice fly to give the Rays an insurance run and the final score of 3-1.

The Sox got the tying run on base in the top of the ninth, and Marcelo Mayer hit a solo home run in the third, but that was about it for Boston offense. They even had to put in Andruw Monasterio to pick-hit for Mayer in the eighth, and he struck out looking.

The Sox fall to 11½ games back and the Rays maintain their tenuous .003-percent lead over New York. 

At this point, I'm supposed to say something like "but hope springs eternal" or some other jack-assey thing, but it doesn't. Tonight, the Sox will put in their best starter, Payton Tolle (3-2, 2.28), but they'll still lose. Tolle gave up three runs, including a first-inning solo homer, in his last start against Tampa Bay back on May 10. He'll be opposed by the Rays' Nick Martinez (5-2, 2.29), his opponent in that same May 10th game, who gave up seven hits but only one run to the Sox over 5⅔ innings. 

It says something about the Sox that today's two pitchers have near-identical ERAs, the same number of walks, and Tolle even leads in K's (51-42), but Martinez has more wins. Boston has no offense - it was what lost the game on May 10 and it hasn't been fixed so it will lose the game for us tonight, too.