Terry Francona to be with John Farrell as he starts chemo

He had to answer why David Ortiz was still on second base with the Red Sox trailing by a run and the bases loaded in the ninth.

Francona struggled to find the words on Monday to describe his feelings for Farrell and his plight. Brantley tried to keep the positive vibes flowing by stealing 2nd himself, but after doing so Carlos Santana would strike out to end the inning. Oh, they’ve also been the only three earned runs (plus an unearned) that Danny Salazar has given up in those four games, spanning 28 and 1/3 innings. He finished the inning, throwing 102 pitches.

Vidal Nuno could not snap his winless streak, because the Mariners’ southpaw did not report a victory for a serious league-worst 18th straight begin.

Three a long time ago, he appeared to be preferrred against Tampa Bay within a 1-0 acquire at Safeco Field. Delgado is 4-3 with one save and a 2.79 ERA in 41 relief appearances.

It was an emotional roller coaster for the Boston Red Sox this weekend.

The 25-year-old Barnes made his first major-league start Monday.

The Red Sox lineup returns to its normal August state tonight, as both Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval are back.

The Red Sox are encouraged by the signs of maturity for Bradley at the plate (“perhaps the best development of a lost season for the Red Sox“, a scout said) and signs of refinement in Castillo’s unpolished game.

It is one thing for a visiting pitcher to face hot hitters in certain venues.

Nelson Cruz enjoys hitting in Fenway Park so much that he nearly wishes he could call it home.

Make no mistake: Salazar’s fastball/split-changeup/slider combination was plenty good. Despite his personal-best 21-game hitting streak ending Friday, Cruz had homers in two of three games in Boston. The changeup, in particular, did not feature its typical dive; it was more of a slide. However, at 118 games into the season, it’s reasonable to expect that a player earning $22 million would at least attempt to learn his new position. But then there’s a handful of people who are friends not just through baseball but outside of baseball. Rodriguez (LHP) will be on the hill against the Indians, who have a inferior 14-25 record against left-handed starting pitchers. Bauer went 3.1 innings, surrendering six runs, striking out one and walking two in an 8-6 defeat to the Yankees in his last outing. If Shaw was going to go deep again, or even if he was going to dump a single into left field, it wouldn’t come against a hanging changeup.