BOSTON – There’s no debate about where the Boston Red Sox rank among major-league offences.
With MVP candidates Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez leading the way, they’ve outscored everyone else by a significant margin. They lead MLB in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. This lineup’s as good as it gets.
Under those circumstances, it was hardly a surprise when Ryan Borucki allowed seven runs the first time he pitched at Fenway Park earlier this summer. It was just the fourth appearance of Borucki’s big-league career, and to that point he hadn’t truly struggled.
On Tuesday, Borucki returned to Fenway for the first time since that July 13 start and pitched as well as the Blue Jays could have hoped. He was aggressive in the strike zone and ultimately effective against Boston’s deep lineup, pitching into the seventh inning while allowing just two runs.
“He was tremendous tonight, there’s no doubt,” manager John Gibbons said. “That’s probably as good as I’ve seen him throw. He was sticking it.”
It just wasn’t enough on a day the Blue Jays bullpen and offence faltered. Boston won 6-2 to officially clinch a playoff berth for the third consecutive season.
Borucki cruised through the first six innings, facing the minimum five times while keeping his pitch count low. The left-hander had lots of movement on his fastball and change-up, his two primary pitches, while also mixing in his slider to give the Red Sox a different look.
“I felt a lot more comfortable than I did last time,” Borucki said. “The Fenway anxiety wasn’t there as much as it was the first time I came here. I love competing against all these guys. They’re an unbelievable lineup.”
After recording one out in the seventh, Borucki walked Xander Bogaerts and allowed a triple to former teammate Steve Pearce. At that point, Gibbons went to his bullpen for Ryan Tepera, who struck out the first hitter he faced only to walk Eduardo Nunez and allow a pinch-hit, three-run home run to Brock Holt.
Three more runs against Jake Petricka in the eighth put the game that much further out of reach for the Blue Jays. Just like that, the deep Boston offence had done its job.
Still, there were plenty of encouraging developments from Borucki. The 24-year-old was around the strike zone all night, walking two while striking out five. Even when he fell behind Betts 3-0 in the sixth inning, he challenged him with consecutive strikes and induced a flyball out.
“You’ve got to stay aggressive,” Gibbons said. “They’ve got such a real good lineup that if you get too careful with too many, the next thing you know a couple guys are on and someone beats you deep.”
From behind the plate, catcher Danny Jansen was similarly impressed by Borucki’s aggressive approach within the strike zone.
“Ryan’s one of the most competitive guys I know,” Jansen said. “He’s an iron horse. He’s going to give you everything he has and even if his stuff’s not working (on a certain) night, he’s going to compete and he’s going to get through it.”
Borucki allowed just three hits on the evening, lowering his season ERA to 4.26 through 14 starts. Meanwhile, his battery-mate collected an opposite-field single while making his first-career start at Fenway Park.
[relatedlinks]
“As I was taking BP I was looking around and I was just astonished,” Jansen said. “The atmosphere here is incredible. Getting that hit in that kind of atmosphere was pretty cool, but I stayed focused on the game.”
The Blue Jays got the scoring started in the sixth inning when Devon Travis doubled off the Green Monster and advanced to third on a flyball to deep right. A Kendrys Morales walk put runners on the corners, at which point Jonathan Davis entered as a pinch runner to set up the first run of the game.
Davis broke for second, and once-catcher Sandy Leon threw to prevent the stolen base attempt, Travis broke from third toward home. The throw from Ian Kinsler was wild, allowing Travis to score, and Davis reached third on the play. Two batters later Kevin Pillar singled and the Blue Jays had a short-lived 2-0 lead.
Because that was all the offence the Blue Jays got, Borucki’s strong outing didn’t result in a win. Still, this game showed that he can handle baseball’s best lineup in a tough park for pitchers. You don’t pop champagne over that, but in the big picture it’s significant for the Blue Jays.
“He’s just learning on the job,” Gibbons said. “He’s a young kid and he’s done a tremendous job for us as a rookie call-up. That’s only going to make him better.”
