On a day when Clay Buchholz did not have his best stuff, counterpart John Danks of the White Sox did. Buchholz was run out of the game after just five innings, his pitch count elevated to 95. Though he yielded just a pair of runs, it was not enough on a day when Boston could manage just a single run in seven innings against Danks, the 25-year-old who has quietly emerged as one of the best left-handers in the league.

The Red Sox dropped a 3-1 decision to Chicago in the first contest of the day-night double-header, moving them 7 1/2 games behind the Rays in the wild card. No team in baseball history has ever come back from a Sept. deficit of more than seven games.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

–Clay Buchholz saw his longshot Cy Young candidacy take a shot. Though he held the White Sox to two runs, he went just five innings, and was pulled after 95 pitches in favor of Scott Atchison.

That brought to an end his streak of seven straight quality starts, the longest by a Red Sox pitcher this season.

–David Ortiz continued his struggles, particularly against left-handed pitchers. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, including an 0-for-3 performance with two punchouts against White Sox southpaw Jordan Danks. Since. Aug. 21, Ortiz is 1-for-18 with a double and eight strikeouts against left-handers. Overall, Ortiz has now gone 13 games without a homer, hitting .192/.250/.308/.558 with 16 strikeouts in 52 at-bats.

–Bill Hall‘s strikeout problem recurred at a critical time. After falling behind, 1-0, in the top of he second inning, the Red Sox loaded with bases with one out in the bottom of the inning. But Hall struck out on three straight pitches. Since his last walk on July 28, he has struck out 28 times in 82 plate appearances.

Though Hall did go on to have two singles (one of which plated the only Red Sox run of the day), he also struck out once more. He is on pace to become one of the most prolific strikeout machines in team history. Hall has 89 strikeouts in 312 plate appearances this year.

Hall has a good chance of finishing second in team history for the fewest plate appearances ever by a player to reach 100 whiffs, with only Mark Bellhorn (who fanned 109 times in 335 plate appearances in 2005) likely to prevent Hall from taking the title.

–The Red Sox mustered little with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-8 in such circumstances.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

–Jed Lowrie had a solid day at the plate and in the field, going 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. He also was part of three double plays that the team turned, delivering a strong pivot on two of them and initiating the third.

–Dustin Richardson inherited a two-on, one-out jam and worked his way out of it in the seventh inning. Though he went to three-ball counts against both batters he faced, he came back to punch out Juan Pierre and then get an inning-ending groundout.