Over the last three weeks, a troubling trend has emerged in the Red Sox dugout: They don’t protect leads. Not in the traditional sense. The bullpen, with the obvious exception of last night, has actually been pretty solid. Instead, the source of the failure is coming from their bats, which curdle like a glass of milk left out in the sun too long as the game progresses.
In just the last five games encompassing this road trip, the Red Sox have jumped out to leads of 3-0, 6-0, 9-0, 7-0, and 6-0, and they’ve only won three of them.