Red Sox shut down by Kevin Gausman, lose 2-1 to Blue Jays in 11 innings

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Apr 9, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — No matter how many chances they got, the Red Sox just couldn’t get the big hit they needed.

After getting throttled by Toronto starter Kevin Gausman over eight dominant innings, the Red Sox forced extras but couldn’t keep the Blue Jays at bay any longer, losing 2-1 in 11 innings. Bo Bichette drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th off Josh Winckowski, and the Red Sox went quietly in the bottom of the frame, stranding the tying run at second.

The Red Sox have now lost three straight to fall back below .500, squandering an opportunity to move within a half-game of first place in the process.

Both teams had opportunities to do damage in the first inning. The Blue Jays got three consecutive singles against Tanner Houck to load the bases with one out, but only managed one run on a Will Wagner RBI groundout. The Red Sox, meanwhile, got a leadoff single from Jarren Duran, who stole second and took third on an error to put a man in scoring position right out of the chute.

But while Alex Bregman put a charge in one to the deepest part of the Green Monster, Blue Jays center fielder Nathan Lukes was able to make an incredible leaping catch, robbing Bregman of extra bases and limiting the Red Sox to a sacrifice fly that tied the game at 1-1.

After that, offense became hard to come by.

Houck pitched his best game of the season so far, retiring 15 of 17 batters from the first through the sixth. The only Blue Jays batters to reach during that stretch were immediately erased on double plays.

Andres Gimenez walked in the fourth but misread a subsequent Will Wagner line out and was easily doubled up. Then after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled in the sixth, Anthony Santander ripped a liner directly into first baseman Triston Casas’ glove, leaving Guerrero helpless as Casas took one step to the bag to complete the double play.

He began running out of gas in the seventh, allowing a single and a walk to start the inning, but finished strong after forcing Alejandro Kirk into a double play. Justin Wilson came on and drew a groundout to end the inning and strand the go-ahead run at third.

Houck finished with one run allowed over 6 2/3 innings with five hits, two walks and two strikeouts. He threw 90 pitches, 55 for strikes.

Meanwhile, Gausman completely dominated the ice cold Red Sox offense.

Long a thorn in Boston’s side, Gausman retired 23 of 26 batters after Duran’s leadoff single through the end of the eighth. The only Red Sox player who could do any damage against him was Rafael Devers, who doubled in consecutive plate appearances but was left stranded at second each time. Kristian Campbell also singled to start the eighth, but Gausman drew a flyout and a double play to finish his outing strong.

Gausman finished with 10 strikeouts, his 26th career outing with double-digit strikeouts and his third against Boston. He allowed one unearned run over eight innings on four hits and no walks while throwing 68 of his 93 pitches for strikes.

Justin Slaten threw a perfect eighth and Aroldis Chapman worked around a leadoff single by Guerrero (3 for 4) for a scoreless ninth, at one point blowing Anthony Santander away with a 102 mph fastball for a strikeout. But the Red Sox went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, going down on only seven pitches from Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman to bring up extra innings.

Once there Greg Weissert posted a scoreless 10th, but despite moving the extra-innings ghost runner to third with one out, the Red Sox couldn’t get him home, with Trevor Story and Kristian Campbell each striking out to end the threat.

Giolito takes mound for WooSox

Lucas Giolito made his first rehab start with the Worcester Red Sox on Wednesday night, allowing one run on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings. He threw 34 of his 64 pitches for strikes, and the lone run scored came on two doubles allowed during the top of the first.

Barring any setbacks, Giolito is expected to make another rehab start early next week.

Martinez’s family affected by disaster

Red Sox legend Pedro Martinez said on Tuesday night that members of his family were among those inside the Jet Set nightclub that collapsed earlier this week in the Dominican Republic and were still unaccounted for. At least 124 people were killed when the building’s roof collapsed, and among the victims were former big leaguers Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco, as well as Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the Dominican Republic’s Monte Cristi province and sister of MLB star Nelson Cruz.

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