Kluber labors through relief outing, Sox reset bullpen ahead of NY series

CLEVELAND – Corey Kluber was back home, pitching off the mound where he experienced the finest moments of his career.

But the comforts of Progressive Field did nothing to help the veteran righty escape the struggles of what has been a nightmarish first season with the Red Sox.

Taken out of the starting rotation a couple of weeks ago, the second inning of Kluber’s third bullpen appearance was a low point in his career. It was an equally forgettable night for the Red Sox, who lost 10-3 Thursday in the rubber match of a three-game series with the Guardians.

When the sixth inning started, Boston was down by just one run at 3-2, and the hope was that Kluber could keep his team in the game.

It wasn’t that big of a surprise when José Ramírez opened the game-breaking frame by hammering a solo shot to right -- his third home run of the night.

What was surprising is that the Guardians shellacked Kluber so emphatically thereafter. They opened the inning with eight straight hits, four of them for extra bases.

“It’s very tough,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Not only him, but with anybody that we have out there. We were talking about it, they hit the ball hard, they hit it off the end, check swings. It was like he couldn’t buy a break. But he gave us enough. We were able to kind of reset our bullpen and let’s be ready for tomorrow.”

Giving up eight consecutive knocks was a career-first for Kluber, who was Boston’s Opening Day starter this season and a two-time Cy Young Award winner in his days with Cleveland.

Those glory days had to feel like a long time ago for Kluber, who faced 10 batters in that sixth inning, allowing five runs.

In all, Kluber gave up 11 hits and seven runs over 3 1/3 innings, as his ERA swelled to 7.11. At this point, it is fair to wonder how much longer Kluber will hold a roster spot for Boston.

It was a rough development in what has been a shaky couple of weeks for the Red Sox, who have lost five of their last six and are 5-12 since May 21. That rut has dropped Boston below .500 (31-32) for the first time since April 28.

The Red Sox would have preferred to be in better shape as they go to Yankee Stadium for their first rivalry match of the season on Friday.

“At the end of the day, we have to move forward,” said Cora. “That’s what we’re planning on doing. We have to play better baseball. I think that’s the most important thing, at the end of the day. We have to cancel the noise and start playing good baseball.”

Ramírez canceled Boston’s hopes of a happy flight by putting on a display of sheer power. The switch-hitting third baseman had been having an ordinary season leading up to this breakout game.

In a strange way, the prolific performance provided hope to the Red Sox that Rafael Devers, who is performing below expectations (slash line of .243/.298/.472), will soon have his breakout game, week or month.

“You look at [Ramírez’s] numbers and at one point he’s going to get hot, kind of like the way we see Raffy,” said Cora. “He didn’t look too good early on, José, and he had a huge night like this. So hopefully we can have that from our big boy at one point this season.”

As they head to the Bronx, the Red Sox will try to turn their backs on their recent woes and capture the way they were playing for the first three weeks of May.

“It’s not the type of baseball we wanted to play but here we are,” said Cora. “We’re going to New York. We have three games over there. We better play well. They’re a good team, just like these guys and the teams we’ve been playing. Hopefully we can pick it up and start playing well.”