Mazz: The careless mistakes that doomed the Red Sox against Toronto

Please, no whining about the cold weather. Last night, plainly and simply, the Red Sox were done in by their own careless mistakes against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park.

As Sox manager Alex Cora noted after the game, nobody complains about the cold during the October postseason ... so don't whine now. The Red Sox and Blue Jays were locked in a scoreless tie in the sixth inning when the Sox self-destructed, the biggest mistakes coming from three players who have been among the Sox' best performers early in the 2025 season.

The first culprit? Garrett Crochet, whom Cora credited as doing "more than enough" to win the game. We disagree. Given the conditions, from the very start, the game felt like it was going to be a low-scoring affair decided by a handful of critical plays - or mistakes. The Sox obliged with the latter, starting with the following pitch from Crochet to Red Sox killer George Springer, who has a career average of .328 with eight home runs 32 RBI, 28 runs scored and 51 hits in 40 career games at Fenway Park. His OPS is .946.

Now that the Sox have put former Fenway attacker Alex Bregman in their uniform, maybe Springer should be next on their list.

Just to clarify: this had the feel of a 1-0 game with the way Jays lefty Easton Lucas was dealing during an impressive performance. If Crochet is going to be a legitimate ace, he can't throw meatballs like this one to a guy who is as hot as any player in the game right now:

Speaking of Bregman, now feels like a good time to mention that his defense, while historically good, has been something short of advertised in the early part of his career. While Bregman has certainly shown flashes of the ability that made him the American League Gold Glove winner at third base last year, he also has made three errors. For all the talk about Rafael Devers problems at the position, the Sox currently rank 23rd in the majors in defensive runs saved and 23rd in outs above average. Bregman is on pace for 41 errors; Devers made just 12 last year and has never made more than 24 in season (2018, his first full season).

This play could have (and should have) ended the sixth inning last night. Instead, it kept the inning alive and helped allow the Jays to scored three more runs in the inning to make it 4-0.

Here's the play:

So, should Bregman be playing second and Devers be at third? Not necessarily. While Crochet also further contributed to the inning with a pair of walks, they were sandwiched around another play that could have ended the inning. Kristian Campbell also had a chance to keep the game at 1-0 and made a nice play to snag a grounder by Davis Schneider, but inexperience likely led to this rushed throw. (Schneider is a slow runner than a rushing Campbell seemed to recognize.) The result was a wild throw that scored one run and, after the second walk, opened the door for a two-run single by Bo Bichette that made it 4-0.

In the end, the biggest reason for the Red Sox' defeat last night wasn't the weather ... it was the Red Sox. Crochet's pitching mistake. The throw by Bregman. The throw by Campbell. Cold weather baseball - in April or October - is often won by the team that pitches better and makes fewer mistakes.

For the first two games in this series, that team has been the Toronto Blue Jays.

And by a fairly sizable margin.