Bobby Dalbec was not the reason the Red Sox' lost Tuesday night.
The headliner when it came to blame pie for the Sox' 7-1 loss to the Astros was starter Martin Perez, who allowed six runs in just two innings. For one important hour, the most reliable Red Sox pitcher became the most unreliable version of himself.
But by the time the Red Sox officially put their five-game win streak in the rearview mirror, Dalbec's existence had once again become part of the story.
The first baseman's night included four hitless at-bats with three strikeouts.
It was just one game. But unfortunately those singular games have been piling up to make a pretty big mound of concern.
Since May 16, Dalbec is just 6-for-51 (.118) with a .442 OPS and 27 strikeouts. For the season, the rookie's batting average stands at .185 with not enough home runs (6) to turn a blind-eye to the too-many-to-count awkward at-bats.
"It's tough right now," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora of his first baseman. "We know he can get to it. He can get hot. We keep talking about making adjustments, be on time, pitch recognition, discipline in the zone. But lately it's been hard, especially gainst lefties, too. He had struggled controlling the strike zone against them. It started here against Atlanta, the against the Marlins, same thing. It happened today. Just one of those, as a young player, he's chasing hits. We talked about it last week. You've got to chase good at-bats. I know he's frustrated. Timmy (Hyers) and Pete (Fatse), they're working hard with him. Timing is very important at this level. When you're off balance, the fastball is going to look that hard and the breaking ball is going to be a chase pitch for you. We need to get back to his base and being able to recognize pitches. If we can accomplish that, I do believe he's going to be OK. But at the same time, right now he's struggling. He comes in with a great attitude, he works hard, the process is good, but obviously the results are not there right now."
It is tough right now.
Dalbec has shown spurts of the kind of promise that put him in the starting lineup to begin with. But this recent hole in the lineup is getting more and more noticeable.
Overall, the Red Sox have the fourth-worst batting average and OPS of any team at first base. They also sit with a .191 average and .608 OPS in the No. 9 spot. None of it seems palatable going forward.
But what are the answers?
If the Red Sox want to send Dalbec to Triple-A Worcester, the potential for a palatable in-house replacement might be hard to find. Danny Santana? Marwin Gonzalez? Both aren't likely going to give you the kind of offensive consistency the Sox are starved for at the position. And Michael Chavis isn't exactly tearing it up since heading back down to Worcester to fix his swing-and-miss problem.
The quickest fix is to find a way to truly limit Dalbec's exposure to right-handed pitching, which has been the case for the most part, but perhaps not enough. Dalbec has 102 at-bats against righties, totaling just 14 hits while striking out 47 times. Against left-handers it is a dramatically different story, with the slugger managing a .267 batting average and .824 OPS.
But, again, who is playing when Dalbec is not? Against right-handers, Gonzalez is hitting .176, with Santana just 5-for-36.
So, that leads us to a couple of possible trade deadline targets ...
Jesus Aguilar, Miami: The righty hitter is having a good year, hitting .270 with an .818 OPS and 12 home runs. He is also hitting better against righties then lefties. Aguilar is working on a one-year, $4.350 million deal with the opportunity to offer him arbitration for next season.
Colin Moran, Pirates: Pittsburgh might be reluctant to part with two more years of arbitration-eligibility left after this year of making $2.8 million. But Moran's price is going to go up with his production continuing to stay solid, hitting .294 with an .808 OPS. The lefty hitter has a .312 batting average against right-handers.
It's a just another hint that every little counts, particularly in the kind of race the Red Sox find themselves in. Consider it the Steve Pearce reminder.