BOSTON — The Red Sox have added a veteran starting pitcher (James Paxton) and a right-handed bat at catcher (Danny Jansen) so far and still have more than 48 hours before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline. Saturday night’s loss, which looked all too familiar to those who have been watching the team for the last week, reinforced, yet again, where Craig Breslow’s focus should be next.
The Red Sox bullpen blew multiple late leads — again — and lost, 11-8, despite Kenley Jansen having the Yankees down to their last strike with light-hitting outfielder Trent Grisham at the plate in the ninth. Boston has now blown eight late game leads in eight games since the All-Star break and is 2-6 in those games. The Sox’ offense has scored more than five runs in seven straight games but the pitching staff has allowed 53 runs (7.57 per game) in that span. While the bullpen put together a strong first half, the house of cards has fallen due to two key injuries (Chris Martin and Justin Slaten) and Boston’s starters, like Kutter Crawford, who logged just 4 ⅔ innings Saturday, not going deep into games recently.
