The guy who grew up with Triston Casas, the Mets' Mark Vientos
NEW YORK - Good news for the Red Sox: The Twins and Royals lost again. Bad news for the Red Sox: So did the Red Sox.
It has left Alex Cora's crew desperately searching for solutions that simply aren't making themselves readily available. It's a reality that was put on display thanks to the image of a slumping Rafael Devers sitting in front of his locker for the better parts of 45 minutes after the Sox' 7-2 loss to the Mets, grasping a bat and starting straight ahead.
Answers were not - and have not been - immediately forthcoming.
With another loss the Red Sox have now dropped 10 of its last 13 games, continuing a consistent theme along the way - not scoring many runs.
During the 13-game stretch the Red Sox have totaled just 33 runs, with no amount of lineup tinkering fixing what ails them. This time Cora tried putting Rob Refsnyder at the top of the order, hitting Jarren Duran second against Mets lefty David Peterson. He also saved Triston Casas for pinch-hitting duties for when Peterson's night was over.
None of it bore much fruit.
"This is a good offensive club that is going through a bad stretch," Cora said. "Hopefully, (Wednesday) is the day we pitch, play good defense, hit, go home and reset Thursday and be ready for Friday."
Peterson ended up giving up just one run over six innings while fanning a career-high 11 batters. And making the offensive agony even more noticeable was Kutter Crawford landing on the wrong end of the results despite giving up just one hit (a Francisco Lindor homer) over his six frames.
All of it offered a somewhat sad look for a Red Sox team that is seemingly limping to the finish line, unable to jump on the injured shoulders of Devers or anyone else. Since Aug. 19, the Sox' third baseman is hitting just .128 with a .371 OPS. As a team during that stretch, the Red Sox own the second-worst OPS (.610) in baseball, only better than the flailing White Sox.
But as amazing as the continuous plummeting of the Red Sox has been since the All-Star break, what is equally as remarkable is that they still sit just 4 1/2 games out of a Wild Card - (the same as the Tigers) - because of the recent ineptness of the teams they are chasing.
Going back to Aug. 19, the Twins (5-10), Royals (6-10) and Red Sox (5-10) have all played some of the most uninspiring baseball in all the major leagues. In other words, the Sox aren't the only ones with problems.
The issue, however, is that the things that do currently ail the Red Sox aren't going away. Swinging and missing has become an increasingly concerning problem, as their 15 strikeouts Tuesday night once again suggested.
Going back to Aug. 1, the Red Sox are tied with the Rockies for the most strikeouts of any team in baseball. Compare that to June, when Boston's sat with the 11th-most in MLB, and there has absolutely been an uncomfortable shift.
"I think it's just a virtue of trying to do too much, whether that's effort or just trying to force things. I think that's what it generally leads to," said Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse. "I think sometimes, too, missing or taking early-count strikes, I feel like we have been doing that a lot late lately, and that is what tends to lead to swing and miss, especially late in ccounts. That's what leads to punchouts.
"To me, it's part of the game but it's something where we want to put the ball in play and put pressure on guys. Punchouts happen and it's part of the game but it's not something we're thrilled about. We have to just keep pressing."
So, what's next? Cora was quick with an initial answer heading into the series final at Citi Field, saying the plan is to move Devers up to the No. 2 spot in the batting order with Jarren Duran back at leadoff.
After that it's simply about finding the best version of themselves. It's a version that has been absent for far too long.
"We have to find a way to win games," Cora said. "I keep saying, the teams around us, they're not playing better than us. We're playing up to them right now. We're all struggling. it's going to get dicey here because other teams are jumping into the situation. It should be very interesting the next three weeks."