There were some interesting items to grab onto coming out of the Red Sox's 4-1 loss to the Rays on Sunday.
Willson Contreras, arguably the most reliable hitter in the Sox's lineup, has been sidelined after being hit by a pitch in his very first at-bat. The good news is that scans revealed no break or significant structural damage. The bad? Living life without Contreras for any period of time might be painful, as the series finale defeat reminded us.
There was Payton Tolle, once again proving to be more of the solution than any problem, both on and off the mound. Pitching-wise, the rookie lefty impressed in his five-inning outing, giving up three runs. But it's also the emotion and honesty that emerges in and around his outings that help keep optimism in the Red Sox's corner.
There was Trevor Story's key error in the third inning, which allowed the door to open to the Rays' pivotal two-run frame. Or the drama that popped up after the game, with the social media world noticing that Jarren Duran had removed his Instagram page following his post criticizing NBC Sports Boston's Michael Holley for a take on the team's honesty in relation to injuries.
In a nutshell, there is still a lot going for a team that remains mired in mediocrity with a 17-23 record.
But what is the thing that should be non-negotiable when it comes to needing a fix? That is easy: Hitting with any sort of authority in the place the Red Sox play half their games, Fenway Park.
We know this lineup is anything but an offensive juggernaut. It was held to one or fewer runs for the 10th time this season, while plating three or fewer runs in more than half (22) of the Sox's games. We get it. Third-to-last in OPS, the fourth-fewest runs, with only three teams having fewer extra-base hits.
They might be suggesting the combination of bats is a work in progress. Yet, there can be no room for interpretation when it comes to taking advantage of the Red Sox's home park. And that's something far from reality right now.
Where do you want to start?
The Red Sox have the fewest home runs at home of any team in Major League Baseball (9). And before you start screaming and yelling that Fenway isn't a place conducive to homers, soak in that only six clubs have fewer extra-base hits at their home ballpark than the Red Sox, with this club's .623 home OPS the second-worst in baseball.
Of course, the most important statistic ultimately is runs scored, and that picture at Fenway hasn't been pretty, either. Of the team's 19 games at Fenway, it has managed three or fewer runs an appalling 13 times.
This isn't how a Boston Red Sox team with postseason dreams is supposed to be built.
There are some elements of the equation that would be hard to fix, with certain key members of the batting order simply not built to capitalize on the park's dimensions. The lefty-hitting Wilyer Abreu, Masa Yoshida, and Marcelo Mayer come to mind. But there was a thought that a few of the other lefties, such as Roman Anthony and Duran could go the other way a bit. Along with the plan to unlock the pull-side skill-sets of Caleb Durbin and Contreras, it was going to work.
Not yet.
They are still without an opposite-field home run from a lefty hitter, this season, with all but one of Abreu's six homers coming on the road, and both of Duran's Fewnay homers clocked to right field. There have also been more homers hit over the left field wall by righty hitters from the Sox's opponents (6) than the home team (4).
And here is maybe the ultimate slap-in-the-face stat: This home OPS would be the worst by a Red Sox team since 1968.
Not good.
The good Red Sox teams almost always find a way to take advantage of their home surroundings. The two best home-hitting editions of the Sox, for instance, were in the 2003 and 2004 campaigns. The championship teams of 2007, 2013, and 2018? Their OPS at Fenway all hovered around .800.
It's not as though the Red Sox are blind to this issue. There was a reason they had all that interest in Teoscar Hernandez in years past, with the righty-hitting outfielder managing a .963 OPS in his 202 plate appearances in Boston. This was certainly a selling point for Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman. Even the memories of acquiring Pull-Side Danny Jansen should hit home (pun absolutely intended).
Folks can talk about vibes and a bad American League, but until the Red Sox start hitting with more authority at 4 Jersey St., it's hard to get truly serious about all of those October aspirations.
