BOSTON — The Red Sox Friday attempted to plug one hole in their starting rotation with the promotion of rookie lefty Payton Tolle.
Now, they have another spot to worry about it.
On the heels of a tough outing in New York last weekend, Dustin May stumbled badly again Saturday, chased in the sixth inning and charged with seven runs — six of them earned — in a 10-3 shellacking by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“Pretty inexcusable,” said May in assessing his performance. “I feel like I started off the game pretty good. First four (innings) were solid and then I just completely lost it. The wheels fell off. I got traded over here to help the guys out and I feel like the last few have just not been remotely good at all. It’s not the spot I thought I was going to be in at this point.”
May nicely limited the damage in the first after the Pirate loaded the bases with no outs, allowing just one run to score. But in the fifth, he wasn’t as fortunate as the Pirates again filled the bases and this time came away with three.
It got worse in the sixth as three of the first four hitters reached against him and he was lifted in what turned out to be a six-run inning.
“Fastball command was inconsistent again,” assessed Cora. “There was a lot of traffic out there.”
After recording just one out in the sixth, May forced the bullpen to work again, leaving them with 11 outs to get.
May agreed that the ability to spot his fastball where he wants it has been a failing point of late.
“In the first four, I thought I was getting ahead and putting guys away,” said May. “I felt like I was in a good spot and, like I said, then the wheels fell off. It’s not a good feeling to be letting the guys down. Like I said, I got traded over here to help and I’ve done the opposite. I’m just going to turn the page and look forward to the next one.”
The most frustrating aspect for May is that he knows what has to be done to correct his issues. He just hasn’t been able to incorporate those adjustments.
“It’s all execution-wise,” he said. “I get ahead of guys and then I just completely lose it. It’s not a good place to be in. I know exactly what I need to do. (But) I need to fix it.”
May’s spot in the rotation would otherwise potentially be in jeopardy, but the Red Sox don’t have a lot of options. Richard Fitts is sidelined with a biceps issue and Cooper Criswell was last week placed on the IL at Worcester became of elbow inflammation.
Hunter Dobbins is done for the year following recent knee surgery, further depleting the organization’s pitching depth.
For the time being, then, the Sox are out of alternatives and have to hope that May can do a better job at self-correcting.
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