Boston Red Sox first baseman: ‘I’ve got to put the blame on me’

The Red Sox offense was rallying in the fifth inning when Abraham Toro singled and Jarren Duran walked with no outs.

But Boston failed to score after Toro made a baserunning mistake. The Cubs won 4-1 on Friday to end the Red Sox’ 10-game winning streak.

Toro got doubled off second base on Alex Bregman’s 324-foot lineout to center field for the first and second outs of the inning.

Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong caught the ball after taking only a few steps toward left field. He fired to second baseman Nico Hoerner for the second out.

“I’ve gotta put the blame on me,” Toro said. “Being thrown out, a double play, that kills rallies.”

Toro’s error proved costly as Roman Anthony, the next hitter, walked. Had Toro remained on base, the Red Sox would have had the bases loaded down 3-1 with just one out.

“Just a bad read,” Toro said. “(Bregman) hit the ball pretty good. I should have just froze there. I took a couple steps and the next thing you know it was too late to come back.”

Bregman’s liner went 106.2 mph off the bat.

“I just made my decision too quick,” Toro said. “I had time to read (it), especially at second. So that’s what happened.”

Toro said he needs to “learn from it” and move on to the next game.

The Red Sox got down 3-0 in the first inning when starter Lucas Giolito walked the first two batters and gave up a 389-foot three-run homer to Seiya Suzuki.

“I think we had chances and then we made that baserunning mistake,” manager Alex Cora said. “First and second, no outs. Alex hit the ball hard and Abraham had the bad read. And we got doubled up. But we put pressure on them. Not enough. The first inning, two walks. We can talk about the swing, the homer, but the two walks before put us in a bad spot.”