BOSTON — Instant reactions to a poor Red Sox (14-12) performance, an 8-5 loss to the Mariners that was, in reality, much more lopsided than the score suggested:
1) Perhaps the worst night of the year for Boston’s pitching staff, which allowed 13 hits, walked five batters, committed two errors and gave up constant hits when it mattered as Seattle was 6-for-14 when runners in scoring position. Boston was lucky to only give up eight runs in a game that was largely a blowout. The Mariners left 10 on base.
2) Sean Newcomb has been a nice story early in the season and the Red Sox have largely treaded water behind him. But the amount of hard contact against him has simply not been major league quality. His weird outing Wednesday included eight Mariners hits, which means he has allowed 32 hits in 22 ⅓ innings so far.
With Lucas Giolito due back next week, that might be it for Newcomb in the rotation. Boston has gone 2-3 in his starts. A decision will need to be made whether to move on or carry him as a long relief option.
3) Newcomb did strike out eight batters, marking his highest total since 2018. But he simply played with fire too many times. After getting a double play and strikeout to escape a bases loaded, no-out jam in the second (and allowing just one run despite traffic in the first three innings), he hit the wall in the fourth when, after back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, he allowed a three-run homer to J.P. Crawford that widened the Mariners lead to 4-0.
4) Triston Casas’ bat is showing some life, at least. He hit his second three-run homer in as many nights in the eighth to cut a six-run deficit in half. He has more RBIs (6) in the last two days than he did in his first 21 games (4).
5) With the deficit down to two runs, Brennan Bernardino gifted Seattle a run with the rare double-error play in the sixth. With two outs and a man on first, he tried — unsuccessfully – to field a two-foot chopper by Dylan Moore. He then threw the ball away, allowing a run to cross the plate. Bernardino was charged with a fielding error and a throwing error on a play that extended the inning and led to another Mariners run on Julio Rodríguez’s RBI single.
6) Josh Winckowski exceeded expectations to the tune of a 3.12 ERA (and 3.26 FIP) in his first five outings of the year. But his 43-pitch seventh inning — which included four singles, a walk and a steal — was not ideal, to say the least. He put the bullpen in a better spot for Thursday’s series finale by pitching through the ninth, though, and struck out the side in order in the eighth. He tossed 80 pitches and might be replaced on the active roster as a result.
7) Alex Cora wants to find ways to get Romy Gonzalez into the lineup and it was clear why in the fourth, when the utility man made sure back-to-back two-out walks didn’t go to waste. He lined an Emerson Hancock pitch the other way to plate Boston’s first run of the night.
8) Hancock’s 12.71 ERA was a bit deceiving. In a stacked group of Mariners pitchers, it’s easy to forget about the 25-year-old, who was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft. But the upside is still there and he showed some of it at Fenway.
9) Over the course of a season, ball-strike calls even out. But Rafael Devers had a case to be miffed when Lance Barrett rang him up on a Hancock fastball that was well inside to end the third. Ditto Trevor Story on a Casey Legumina sweeper in the eighth, though the game had largely been decided by then.
10) The Red Sox will have their ace on the mound in Thursday’s rubber game with Garrett Crochet (2-1, 1.13 ERA) pitching. Righty Bryan Woo (2-1, 3.12 ERA) will pitch for Seattle. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m. ET.
Boston will then hit the road again after the game for a six-game, seven-day trip to Cleveland and Toronto.
