Red Sox's Good Vibes Evaporating As Losing Streak Hits Four

Adley Rutschman's debut didn't fix things...

Aug 11, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Red Sox pitcher Patrick Sandoval (43) pitches to the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Can we still call the Boston Red Sox the hottest team in Major League Baseball? The historic run is quickly turning sour.

After winning an incredible 27 of 30 games, catapulting themselves back into playoff position, the Red Sox are now losers of four straight. The vibes hadn't been good since they blew a late lead against the Athletics on Sunday, and back-to-back clunkers in Toronto have confirmed that momentum is turning.

It's not just that they're on the other side of the good fortune they saw in so many of their recent wins. They're starting to play some ugly baseball, with several notable examples on Tuesday.

Red Sox drop another to Blue Jays in ugly fashion

Aug 11, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease (84) pitches to the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In a 5-3 defeat on Tuesday at Rogers Centre, the Red Sox saw a decent first few innings go by the wayside. They had a 3-1 lead after home runs from Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela, but then they started making the kinds of mistakes they made far too often from April through June -- and had stopped making over the past month and a half.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, with one on and no outs, Caleb Durbin botched a fairly routine ground ball that could have gone for a double play to kill the threat. Instead, the Blue Jays bunted two runners into scoring position, scored them both, and the game had to start over.

That led to Toronto taking the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Patrick Sandoval started the frame with a walk -- his third of the night. The Red Sox were previously 5-0 in games Sandoval started -- the lefty made his season debut in the middle of Boston's 15-game winning streak that began in late July.

And when the Jays got their fifth and final run, part of the blame had to go to interim manager Chad Tracy, who pulled all the right strings for so many weeks in a row, for putting Seth Martinez into the game. The 31-year-old was making his first major league appearance of the year after he had a 5.55 ERA in 60 innings in Triple-A -- not exactly the kind of guy you think to put in a one-run game against a divisional opponent.

And three-time All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, making his Red Sox debut after a massive trade last week from the Baltimore Orioles, made the final out of the game. Just to prove that things were truly no longer going Boston's way.

Though they're still in good shape at 64-55, the Red Sox need a quick wake-up call before this losing streak turns into something worse.