The Red Sox wrapped up their highway journey in uneventful, unappealing trend on Sunday, dropping their sequence finale to the Chicago White Sox 4-1.
Their travels culminated in a 3-4 report stuffed with wasted alternatives to pad their report in opposition to two mediocre American League Central groups.
But losing alternatives has been a theme all season, why ought to their sojourn within the midwest be any totally different?
Over their weekend in Chicago, the Red Sox have been 3-for-18 with runners in scoring place, and left 20 males on base.
Adam Duvall was the one actual shiny spot in Sunday’s lackluster offensive exhibiting. After going 0-for-8 over the primary two video games of the sequence, he collected back-to-back doubles and drove in his group’s solely run. They have been 2-for-8 with runners in scoring place, and as befit their opponents, left eight males out.
“Today, we had chances early on,” Alex Cora acknowledged to reporters. “We haven’t hit with men in scoring position.”
“We faced some good pitching, too,” he added.
Chicago had a profitable bullpen recreation, utilizing Tanner Banks, Jesse Scholtens, Aaron Bummer, and Keynan Middleton to carry the Red Sox to 5 hits, three walks, and their solely run. They mixed for 10 strikeouts.
It wasn’t Kutter Crawford’s finest day, however aside from Luis Robert Jr., who homered off him twice, the Red Sox starter was strong. Over six innings, he allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits, issued one stroll, and struck out 4. He maintained constant velocityand induced 13 Swing & Misses.
“He threw the ball well,” Alex Cora stated of his starter.
Brennan Bernardino and Kaleb Ort adopted with a mixed two scoreless innings. Chicago solely collected seven hits to Boston’s 5, however two of belonged to an outdated good friend.
Andrew Benintendi had himself fairly the revenge weekend. He didn’t strike out as soon as, and picked up no less than two hits in every of the three video games in opposition to the group that drafted him seventh general in 2015, promoted him to the majors barely a yr later, received a hoop with him in 2018, and traded him to the Kansas City Royals in February 2021. Sunday was his finest recreation of the weekend, as he went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI.
The Red Sox are actually 11-14 in sequence finales.
Losing to unhealthy groups has emerged as one other unlucky motif.
The Minnesota Twins have been 36-36 (and by some means in first place within the American League Central) when the Red Sox arrived on Monday. After taking the primary two video games, they ended up splitting the sequence, which Twins starter Joe Ryan capped off by throwing a complete-game shutout within the finale.
The White Sox have been 32-44 and in fourth place within the AL Central when the Red Sox rolled into city on Friday.
Nearly midway via the season, it’s turning into clear that the Red Sox struggling in opposition to so-called “bad teams,” or shedding squads isn’t an aberration.
Perhaps, they merely aren’t excellent, both.
Despite being above .500 for a lot of the season and having a plus-21 run differential, the Red Sox haven’t managed to beat groups with considerably worse marks. Often, they defeat themselves by failing to capitalize, as was the case this weekend.
The Red Sox are 11-15 in inter-league play, together with getting swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates at Fenway for the primary time in franchise historical past, and one other sweep at house by the St. Louis Cardinals, who have been 13-25 after they arrived in Boston. They’re presently fourth and final within the National League Central, respectively.
Earlier this month, the Red Sox dropped two of three to the visiting Colorado Rockies who’re 31-49 on the backside of the NL West, and misplaced 25-1 to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday evening.
What makes this season so baffling, is that the Red Sox have dispatched much better groups. They’re 28-24 in opposition to golf equipment that entered Sunday with a report of .500 or higher. They swept the Toronto Blue Jays in a four-game set at Fenway in May, and are 5-1 in opposition to the New York Yankees this season.
Yes, this Red Sox group can rating a season-high 15 runs in opposition to the Yankees, then lose 4-1 to the White Sox.
Good luck making an attempt to make sense of that.
The Red Sox head house 40-39, clinging to a profitable report as soon as once more. They have Monday off to reset earlier than the second-place Miami Marlins and Matt Barnes pay a 3-game go to.
They’re a profitable group, possibly the Red Sox can beat them.
Source: www.bostonherald.com