Red Sox losing streak reaches four despite solid debut from Adley Rutschman

Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald on Aug 11, 2026

Published in Baseball

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Adley Rutschman reached base three times in his highly-anticipated Boston Red Sox debut Tuesday night in Toronto, but even the club’s biggest trade deadline addition couldn’t curtail what is becoming a concerning skid.

The Red Sox lost their fourth consecutive game, 5-3, after entering the losing streak without back-to-back losses since July 1 and without three or more straight losses since mid-June.

The last time the Boston batters saw Blue Jays All-Star starter Dylan Cease, he threw a complete-game shutout and held them to just one hit.

Cease made similarly easy work of the Red Sox in a 1-2-3 first inning that ended with a Rutschman strikeout, but Boston fared better against him overall. They only had to contend with him for five innings, and they tagged him for three earned runs on five hits, including a pair of homers. He issued four walks and struck out seven.

The Red Sox scored first and took two leads in the game, but both disappeared quickly. Ceddanne Rafaela’s sacrifice fly put Boston up 1-0 in the top of the third, only for rival center fielder Brett Bateman to tie the game with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning.

Wilyer Abreu’s 21st home run of the year and 10th since the All-Star break put the Red Sox back in front 2-1 in the top of the fourth, and Rafaela led off the fifth with his 16th homer.

The two-run lead evaporated in the bottom of the fifth when a rare Caleb Durbin defensive disaster created another game-tying opportunity. After shortstop Andres Giménez led off with a single, left-fielder Myles Straw grounded what appeared to be a tailor-made double play ball to Durbin, but it glanced off his glove and into shallow left. Red Sox starter Patrick Sandoval fielded right-fielder Nathan Lukes’ sacrifice bunt for the out at first base, but Giménez and Straw advanced. A sacrifice fly by third baseman Charles McAdoo scored Giménez, and Bateman’s RBI single to center brought Straw home to tie the game.

Toronto took its first lead of the night in the bottom of the sixth. Sandoval issued a leadoff walk to George Springer and gave up a single to catcher Alejandro Kirk, and Spring former scored on Ernie Clement’s force-out.

The outing still marked a step forward for Sandoval. The left-hander, 29, only pitched deep enough to record an out in the sixth for the first time since his 2024 elbow surgery, but completed six innings for the first time since June 4 of that year. He allowed four runs, but only two earned, on eight hits, walked three and struck out four, on 84 pitches (50 for strikes).

Boston’s best setup man, Garrett Whitlock, and recent Triple-A callup Seth Martinez both warmed in the visitors’ bullpen before the bottom of the eighth. Interim manager Chad Tracy went with Martinez, who last pitched in the majors with the Miami Marlins last Sept. 9.

The move backfired. Martinez gave up a leadoff single to Springer, then plunked Gimenez with two outs and gave up an RBI double to Straw.

If victory seemed out of reach when the Red Sox were down by one run, it looked impossible with a 5-3 Blue Jays lead.

But Boston had a chance in the top of the ninth. Right-hander Spencer Miles retired Nick Sogard, then gave up a one-out double to Masataka Yoshida. Rafaela grounded out on one pitch.

It all came down to Rutschman, who watched Strike 1 go by, fouled off the next pitch, took two balls in the dirt, and grounded out on a 99.2 mph sinker to end his Red Sox debut.

Fall is fast approaching, but the Red Sox look like their spring selves again in the worst way. They tallied seven hits – one apiece from every hitter in the lineup but Durbin and Willson Contreras – received seven walks and only struck out eight times, but went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left nine on base. Over this losing streak they are 3 for 36 RISP, with 38 men left on base.

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