The Red Sox fell to the Blue Jays Thursday 6-3, and split the midweek two game series with Toronto.

Richards, now 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA on the season, struggled in the outing. The right-hander went 4.2 innings, allowing four runs off of four hits, while walking six and striking out just two.

“I just think the delivery was off a little bit,” Richards said postgame. “I was kind of fighting it the whole night. And then obviously, couldn’t get my release point under control. Just kind of a combination of things. Nothing that can’t be fixed.”

Richards’ command was all over the place; six walks won’t do you any good. He relied on his fastball too much, as he threw 66 fastballs, which is 71% of his 92 pitches.

“The slider is not where we want it to be or where he wanted to be,” Cora said. “I do believe when the slider starts playing, he’s going to be dominant.”

The Blue Jays picked up all four runs in the first two innings, as Richards did pitch a solid 2.2 scoreless innings, going into the fifth before getting relieved by the bullpen.

The Red Sox picked up runs in the fourth and fifth inning; an RBI groundout from Devers in the fourth, and an RBI double from Kike Hernandez would make it 4-2.

Xander Bogaerts would golf a low inside pitch barely over the monster, and it would be one run game heading into the ninth inning. But Josh Taylor would come in for the ninth only to allow two runs and make it a three run ball game. No runs would cross the plate in the bottom half of the ninth, as the Blue Jays would pick up the 6-3 win.

The Red Sox will invite the Mariners to town for four games, to cap off their ten game home stand.