TORONTO — Rick Porcello may have pitched his way into a vacation.
After Porcello allowed seven hits, including three home runs, and seven runs in two innings Wednesday in the Red Sox’s 11-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston manager John Farrell could elect to pass over the right-hander until after the All-Star break.
That would be easy enough to do because the Red Sox have two days off in their schedule leading to the break, next Monday and Thursday.
It could be the tonic Porcello needs.
He is winless in his past eight starts and lost seven of them. He has not won since May 16 at Seattle.
Porcello (4-9) allowed two home runs and five runs in the first inning Wednesday. His ERA rose to 6.08, the highest in the majors among qualified starting pitchers.
“We haven’t even begun to map out next week,” Farrell said about the possibility of skipping a couple of Porcello’s starts. “We haven’t looked at the rotation as we go through to the break.”
Porcello is painfully aware of what is going wrong.
“I’m not doing a good job of executing pitches in pressure situations,” he said. “I don’t feel lost. I know what’s going on. I’m throwing a lot of fat pitches.”
That was the short and sweet answer. Farrell expanded on it.
“It was a quick outing,” the manager said. “Pitches up in the strike zone against this team on a day when the ball is carrying as it was, that makes for a tough outing. You get down five quick runs, and that’s a big hole for us to come back from.
“When he elevates, he’s not getting away with any mistakes, and that was the case again today. More consistent location is clearly needed.
“It’s been a tough run for him. It’s been about an eight-start stretch here where he continues to battle. His approach in between starts doesn’t change, his preparation doesn’t change, and yet the results for the work put in are not there.”
All the more reason to make Porcello’s All-Star break a little bit longer. He needs a break, and so do the Red Sox.