Red Sox bats silenced by Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios

Between the chilly mist and teeth rattling degree temperatures Monday was not exactly a pleasant evening at the ballpark for the Fenway Faithful It didn t get any better for those who braved the elements as the meeting went on either Coming in with the hottest offense in the sport the Red Sox were shut down by Toronto Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios who held the lineup to one run over seven dominant innings in Monday s - defeat The loss also snapped Boston s five-game win streak and squandered an opportunity for the Red Sox to take over sole possession of first place in the AL East Connecticut native George Springer also caused the Red Sox all kinds of problems going for with three RBI singles Despite concern that the competition might not be played due to persistent rain throughout the day the tarp came off and things began on schedule Those who were in their seats by p m were forthwith treated to one of the defensive highlights of the season On the very first pitch of the encounter Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette hit a ball to deep right center field that looked ticketed for the gap According to Statcast the ball had an expected batting average of but Ceddanne Rafaela came from out of nowhere and stole an extra-base hit from Bichette by making an incredible sliding catch along the bullpen door MLB com s Ian Browne published that the ball had a catch probability of and that Rafaela covered feet of ground in seconds That catch provided a big lift for Red Sox starter Richard Fitts who struggled with his command throughout the evening but was able to keep the Blue Jays offense in check Fitts allowed four walks and six hits but limited the Blue Jays to three runs over six innings Toronto scored twice in the third on an Andres Gimenez sacrifice fly and a Springer RBI single and again in the fifth on Springer s second run-scoring knock But Fitts was able to limit the Blue Jays otherwise thanks to specific timely pitches four strikeouts and a pair of double plays drawn in the fifth and sixth innings The latter of those was initially ruled a fielders choice after Blue Jays left fielder Alan Roden beat out the throw at first but upon review the umpires determined that lead runner Nathan Lukes had interfered with Trevor Story at second Fitts wrapped up his outing by drawing a flyout from Bichette finishing with pitches a new MLB career high The rookie has now posted a ERA in six career starts dating back to last September Unfortunately for Fitts the right-hander didn t enjoy nearly the same level of run promotion as fellow rookie Hunter Dobbins did on Sunday night That was largely thanks to Berrios who shut down the red hot Red Sox offense and limited the club to just one run over seven innings on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts The only run Boston could manage against the Blue Jays right-hander was a sacrifice fly from Rafael Devers in the bottom of the third Starting with that flyout Berrios retired straight batters and when Alex Bregman conclusively broke that streak with a hit down the line in the sixth inning he was ruled out on review after trying to stretch the single into a double ending the inning Toronto then tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh on Springer s third RBI single and an RBI knock by Will Wagner stretching the lead to - Boston ultimately got pressure on Berrios in the seventh when Triston Casas drew a leadoff walk and Trevor Story singled to put two men on with no outs But the Red Sox couldn t capitalize with Berrios drawing a pair of flyouts before striking out David Hamilton to end his outing The Red Sox got a run back in the eighth on an RBI single by Triston Casas off reliever Yimi Garcia but stranded runners at first and third and never threatened again Toronto scored its last run in the ninth on an RBI single by Lukes One notable bright spot for the Red Sox was the return of right-hander Robert Stock who was called up earlier in the day and made his first MLB appearance in four years Stock previously played for the Red Sox in and since then has pitched in Korea Mexico and the independent leagues The -year-old entered the event in the eighth inning and allowed one run over two innings of relief The Red Sox fall to - with the loss and will look to bounce back in the second battle of the four-game set on Tuesday Boston is expected to send ace Garrett Crochet - to the mound while Toronto will start left-hander Easton Lucas - Wong leaves with bruise Connor Wong was removed from Monday s meeting with a left hand contusion after being hit on his glove by a George Springer swing Wong was called for catcher s interference on the play in the top of the first and remained in the event for the next batter but when the Red Sox were back on defense in the top of the second shortly afterwards he d been replaced by Carlos Narvaez