Jones: Another Embarrassing Loss For Red Sox
BOSTON (CBS) -- Thursday afternoon at Fenway was disastrous for the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox had a late-game meltdown, letting a 4-0 lead evaporate in embarrassing fashion. Boston had three errors in the game, leading to three unearned runs, and made some horrible decisions on the base paths.
98.5 The Sports Hub's Adam Jones broke down all the miscues Boston made, feeling bad for fans of the team.
"We owe it to any Red Sox fans who left Fenway early -- and I wouldn't blame you if you left Fenway the way things are going," he said.
The Red Sox got off to a good start, and had a 4-0 lead up until the Twins scored their first three runs off a homer by Torii Hunter in the fifth. The Twins tied things in the sixth thanks to Pablo Sandoval air-mailing a throw to first with two outs, but the wheels really came off in the bottom of the seventh.
The Sox were looking good after Hanley Ramirez singled to start the inning. A David Ortiz ground out advanced him to second, but he didn't stay on the base for long. Mike Napoli grounded to third, and for some reason Ramirez decided to try to advance to the very base the ball was hit to. He was easily tagged out, leaving Boston with two outs and a runner on first, rather than a runner in scoring position.
Xander Bogaerts delivered with a blooper into right-center, but Napoli tried to score all the way from first. He was gunned down by a good 10 feet, ending the threat.
"Hanley Ramirez falls asleep, shockingly, on a ground ball to the third baseman. My guess is he thought there were two outs," Jones said of the first of two baserunning blunders for the Sox. "The next hitter comes up with Mike Napoli on first, looking to come around and score on a [bloop] to [right-center]. Butterfield is all the way down the line, three-quarters of the way to home plate. He was basically all the way down to home plate. Napoli couldn't locate him, and Butterfield waves him in for some unknown reason.
"He's regarded by the team as the best base runner they have," Jones said of Napoli. "That wasn't a very smart play."
However, the collapse wasn't over yet.
Minnesota took a 5-4 lead in the ninth when Joe Mauer dropped down a bunt, hoping to advance Brian Dozier and Torii Hunter. Blake Swihart delivered a low throw to Sandoval at third that went through his legs and into left field, scoring Dozier.
The Twins scored four runs in the inning, and won the game 8-4, dropping Boston to 24-31 on the season.
Jones says any faith fans had in the team after they took the first two games of the series is quickly fading.
"With all the good feelings we had [Thursday afternoon], just compare it to where they are [now]. People were starting to say they were playing good baseball and turning a corner, but that's not really the case. They're right back to where they were, and we're getting later into the season and they continue to, I guess, treading water," said Jones. "It's hard to fathom because this is a team I though could win the division before the year got going. A team I thought would have one of the top offenes in the AL, and now they're sitting here on their way to being seven games under .500 -- yet again."
The most concerning part is even after John Henry came out Monday and said everyone was safe, it appears there is still no sense of urgency in the Sox clubhouse.
"It's nice to know there is no urgency from anyone over there," said Jones. "They're not playing very good baseball; I wonder if they recognize that."
