Miley, Red Sox fall flat after Martinez ceremony

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BOSTON - Everything was hunky-dory in Red Sox Nation on Tuesday as Pedro Martinez's No. 45 was retired.

It was a time to look back on fond memories of one of the game's greatest pitchers, and the games in which he shut down the city - and the opposition.

Then Tuesday's game started . . . and fans were quickly reminded of the disaster that is the 2015 season.

Before anyone could even put their cell phone cameras away, the Sox were already trailing the White Sox 5-0 in the first inning.

And though Martinez had disappeared under the Fenway Park stands, the hope was that he'd resurface in the Sox bullpen and turn things around.

If only.

Instead, the Sox were forced to stick with Wade Miley, who started Tuesday's game on a sour note that the Sox could not hit themselves out of.

"Not a lot of command in the 1st inning," Miley said. "Lot of fastballs in the middle of the plate and really just not a good effort of me making adjustments in that first inning. I just kind of let it keep going. Probably had a couple of opportunities to minimize the damage and didn't do a very good job of it."

Miley allowed a walk, two singles, and three doubles in the 1st inning. He'd settle down to pitch scoreless innings from the 2nd inning to the 5th inning.

"Once again they came out swinging the bat hot," Farrell said of the White Sox. "They score the five. I thought [Miley] gave us everything he had to settle things down. He puts up four consecutive zeros, he's into the 6th inning when we needed to get a starter to go a little bit deeper with an overworked bullpen . . . Wade gave us everything he had here tonight."

It looked like Miley would escape the 6th inning without allowing a run, too, but not so fast.

With two outs, what was originally ruled out No. 3 turned out to be a two-run home run by Jose Abreu, as Mookie Betts' catch took him over the wall in right-center field. Had Betts held on, it would have been an out. But the ball popped out of his glove on impact with the hard ground.

That made it 7-2 White Sox, and Miley's night was done.

Miley is winless in his last five starts, and the Sox haven't won in his last four starts. But that doesn't tell the whole story. In fact, prior to Tuesday night, Miley had only allowed one run on five hits over his last two starts (13.0 IP) since the All-Star Break, both of which he did not factor into the decision.

It's just another case of the Sox pitching not being there when the hitting is, and vice versa.

"It's been like that all year," Miley said. "It's kind of the way it's been going now. Have to put this one behind us, come back tomorrow and try again."

Only tomorrow, Sox fans won't have Martinez around to take away some of the sting.

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