Terry Francona’s reunion with the Red Sox was hardly memorable as far as the Indians were concerned. In the manager’s first meeting with his former team, Cleveland was swept away seemingly with ease by a red-hot Boston club.
On Thursday, the Tribe’s offense remained cold and starter Zach McAllister struggled with efficiency, contributing to a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox in the finale of a three-game set at Progressive Field. Boston never trailed in the series, pushing Cleveland’s losing streak to four games.
“I didn’t enjoy the series much,” Francona said. “But I’ll never get tired of seeing people I care about.”
Francona, who managed Boston from 2004-11 and led the team to a pair of World Series titles, was managing against the Red Sox for the first time since 2000, when he was at the helm of the Phillies. The manager said earlier this week that, while this was more than a typical matchup, he knew his trip to Fenway Park in May would likely stir up more emotions than this early-season series.
This series certainly did not go as Cleveland would have scripted, especially with a 10-game, 11-day trek through Houston, Chicago and Kansas City next on the schedule.
“They did pretty much what they wanted to with us this series,” Francona said. “So now we need to go on the road and try to find ways to win games. Their starting pitching, if they pitch like that, they’re going to give a lot of people trouble.”
In the series finale, it was Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester who quieted the Indians’ bats. Lester improved to 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA on the year with a solid seven-inning performance. The southpaw scattered four hits, allowed two runs and finished his showing with five strikeouts and one walk.
Both of Cleveland’s runs against Lester came via groundouts — first from Mike Aviles in the second and then from Drew Stubbs in the fifth. The Indians ended the night 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, lowering the team’s showing to 7-for-47 (.149) with RISP over the past eight games and 2-for-19 in the three-game brooming at the hands of Boston.
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