BOSTON – This, surely, must be rock-bottom for Ricky Romero in what’s been a strange season of steady struggle amid limited success.
The Toronto Blue Jays left-hander’s pitching line in Wednesday’s 10-4 smacking from the Boston Red Sox was pretty close to the ugliest of his career — three innings, seven hits, nine runs, eight earned, six walks, one strikeout — but it was the way it went down that made things that much worse.
Staked to a 1-0 lead, he allowed the first five batters in the bottom of the first to reach, the final one on an Edwin Encarnacion error, en route to surrendering six runs in a 43-pitch frame, throwing first-pitch strikes to just three of the inning’s 10 batters.
His team already buried, he dropped them another run deeper in the hole during a second in which a base-running gaffe gifted him an out that helped limit the damage, and after a clean third, he allowed his first two batters of the fourth to reach before manager John Farrell mercifully ended his afternoon.
"Everything," Romero replied solemnly when asked what wasn’t working. "I didn’t hit my spots, I was missing bad. … I’m embarrassed in myself more than anything. I felt like I let the team down. Definitely not the type of outing I was looking for."
That part was an understatement, as for the first time since July 9, 2010, Romero (8-2) didn’t record an out in the fourth inning, on that day throwing just 2.1 innings in his shortest big-league outing while surrendering the career-high nine runs he matched Wednesday, only five earned in what ended as a 14-3 loss to the Red Sox.
The only other time he gave up eight earned runs was the start before that one, when he went 2.2 innings in an 11-3 loss to the New York Yankees on July 3, 2010.
Given Romero’s development into a staff ace since that low point and how much the Blue Jays need him to lead the way with their rotation decimated by injury, this may very well be a valley unlike any other he’s experience in the big-leagues.
"At the end of the day, it’s one thing, and that’s just not being consistent in the zone," Romero said. "That’s something I was good at last year and early on in the year. Right now, it seems like when I’m missing, I’m missing bad. I’m not even coming close. I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s just disappointing."
While Romero was at a loss to explain his struggles — he plans to "dissect" himself on video Thursday and talk things over with pitching coach Bruce Walton and bullpen coach Pete Walker — Farrell feels it’s "a matter of having conviction, trust and overall belief in the abilities and the stuff that he possesses."
"I think he’s referred to you all a couple of times where it’s been a grind for him," Farrell added. "When things aren’t going easy or consistent, that’s where that inconsistent mental approach comes in at times. We’ve got to continue to work and fight through this."
There are no physical issues to speak of and the Blue Jays haven’t identified any mechanical issues at play, either.
"But when the mind interrupts the movement of body parts and a consistent delivery, that’s where you get inconsistent release points and inconsistent stuff overall," said Farrell, who believes a lack of confidence is a factor, too. "Those are all inter-related, no doubt about it.
"We’ve seen many times, when he or other guys have been in a good place mentally things flow more naturally and the consistency is there. Right now, that’s been an ongoing process for him."
Compounding things is after seemingly figuring out the Red Sox — he’d beaten them in three consecutive starts and in four of his last six times out — Romero reverted to past form against a long-time nemesis. His career earned-run average jumped from 6.45 to 7.12 in 15 career starts versus Boston.
Romero’s overall ERA also climbed for the seventh time in nine outings, from 4.34 to 4.94, slightly more than two runs above the 2.92 he finished with during an all-star 2011. And while the Blue Jays are still 11-5 in his 16 starts this season, that’s in some part the result of their generous run support for him, averaging 7.06 runs in games he takes the mound.
"I think I’m trusting my stuff," said Romero. "At times I’ve been wild, at times I’ve gotten hit. Today that was a combination of both and that’s a bad combo to have. It just wasn’t my day."
While his walks per nine have shot up a full base on balls per nine innings to 4.3, none of his other numbers suggest a definitive issue in need of resolving. Fastball command has troubled him, but control of his changeup and the crispness of his cutter have come and gone as well.
That’s far from comforting, but at least there very well may be nowhere to go but up from here.
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THE BIG PICTURE: The loss before a Fenway Park crowd of 37,744 meant the Blue Jays (38-37) finished their five-game road trip at 4-5 while dropping them two games back of the Red Sox (40-35) for fourth in the American League East. Things won’t get any easier for Toronto with Los Angeles Angels in town Thursday for the start of a four-game set. The Kansas City Royals come in soon after for another four-gamer before the Blue Jays travel to Chicago for three games before the all-star break.
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THE BATS: There were few positives to speak of here for the Blue Jays although Jose Bautista’s solo blast that dented the roof of a black SUV parked in the lot off Lansdowne Street behind the Green Monster is a home run people won’t soon forget.
Bautista’s 25th of the season to open the fourth sailed over an ad hanging above the left-field stands and made it 7-2. It was also his 13th in June, establishing a new club mark for the most homers in a single month.
Encarnacion also sent one beyond the Monster, a two-run shot in the sixth that made it 10-4.
Adding insult to injury, pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson was robbed of a home run when Darnell McDonald made a leaping grab over the wall in right in the ninth.
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THE ARMS: The damage in the first against Romero went like this: walk to Daniel Nava, RBI double for Dustin Pedroia, walk to David Ortiz, RBI single for Cody Ross, fielder’s choice RBI for Adrian Gonzalez with another run crossing on Encarnacion’s error, RBI groundout for Will Middlebrooks, RBI single for Mike Aviles, and RBI single for Darnell McDonald before groundouts from Kelly Shoppach and Nava ended the inning.
It was game over from there, with Romero getting his team to the fourth before handing the reins to Jesse Chavez.
Just bumped back to the bullpen, Chavez allowed his two inherited runners to come home on a single by Gonzalez and a double by Aviles, and allowed one run of his own on Ortiz’s solo shot in the fifth over three innings of work.
Luis Perez delivered two clean innings of relief to close things out.
Jon Lester, meanwhile, allowed four runs over seven innings in improving to 5-5.
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ALVAREZ ON TRACK: Henderson Alvarez rejoined the Blue Jays after undergoing an MRI in Florida on Tuesday and proceeded to go through his throwing program without issue.
"He felt fine, he’ll throw some long-toss and get on the mound just for probably 10-12 pitches (Thursday), just to get the angle of the mound back underneath him," said Farrell. "We’re working toward him starting on Saturday."
