Red Sox's Sale lets first-half struggles boil over

The top team in all of baseball a year ago, the Boston Red Sox are merely in third place in the American League East on the Fourth of July, and star pitcher Chris Sale has let his frustration boil over. Sale, who was a key component to last season's championship, and was even called out of the bullpen to record the final three outs of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now 3-8 on the season after the Red Sox were upended 6-3 by the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

After a game in which he gave up five runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings, including three Blue Jays home runs, a downtrodden Sale said he needs to be doing more. "I'm supposed to be a big part of this team, a big part of this pitching staff, and I've probably been the biggest crutch," Sale told reporters afterward. "That's another pretty crappy part. I know who I am and who I'm supposed to be for this team, and I haven't been anything close.

"I'm 3-8. That's absolutely embarrassing. That's not what I need to be and that's not who I need to be for this team. On a team like this, they need me to be better. I haven't been there for them." The sale also gave up three home runs on Opening Day to the Seattle Mariners, leaving his first start with a 21.00 ERA.

The left-hander looked more like his dominating self while posting a 2.09 ERA in nine starts from the start of May to June 15, but he has now given up five earned runs in each of his last two starts and 13 combined in his last three outings. The Red Sox have lost four of their past five games, including two to the rival New York Yankees in a high-profile series at London over the weekend. They have also lost six of their last nine games going back to June 22, with three of those defeats to the fourth-place Blue Jays.

"I'm standing before you as frustrated as I've ever been," Sale said.

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