It somehow keeps getting worse for the Red Sox

BOSTON -- If the summer of 2022 was a march toward futility for the Boston Red Sox, this week was the nail in the coffin.

And Thursday night's loss -- Boston's fourth straight and sixth in their last seven games -- came with a bullet.

The Red Sox hoped to salvage something in their three-game home set vs. the Blue Jays, a team that has utterly dominated Boston this season. And they had their chances, too.

The Red Sox erased a 2-0 deficit early before jumping on top of the Jays 3-2 in the third. Toronto regained the lead in the fourth, but Boston responded by once again knotting the score, this time at 4-4. In the sixth, it was the same deal, with Toronto plating one run in the top of the inning and the Red Sox immediately getting it back in the bottom half of the frame.

If ever there was a night when the Red Sox looked capable of actually competing and generating some positivity, this was it. And in the eighth and ninth innings, they had their golden chances at delivering a knockout blow.

Instead, well, the 2022ness of the 2022 Red Sox took over.

The bottom of the eighth inning kicked off with a gift of a "triple" for Reese McGuire, as right fielder Teoscar Hernandez allowed a sharply hit single to scoot beneath his glove and roll all the way to the wall. With a runner on third and nobody out, the Red Sox couldn't get the go-ahead run to the plate. 

Bobby Dalbec struck out, Jarren Duran was hit by a pitch, Tommy Pham struck out, and Rafael Devers grounded out to the right side to end the inning.

After Matt Barnes danced around damage in the top of the ninth, the Red Sox had yet another chance to win the game in the bottom of the inning. Consecutive hits by J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts preceded an intentional walk to Christian Arroyo (who, as an aside, has looked like a modern day Wade Boggs this month) to load the bases with nobody out. 

At that point, most contact can win the game. A fly ball to medium depth in the outfield, a grounder that forces an infielder to move even two steps, a bloop the other way, a line drive over the infielders' heads -- any and all of it would have gotten the job done.

Yet instead of any of that, Franchy Cordero struck out. Then Kiké Hernandez hit a ground ball to the wrong spot, with Matt Chapman stepping on the third base bag before firing across the diamond for an inning-ending double play.

The Jays scored the eventual winning run in the top of the 10th on a ground ball to short, with the infield pulled in.

And that was the ballgame.

Cora credited Chapman for making a great play on the 5-3 double play in the ninth, but he also said the Red Sox are hurting themselves at the plate.

"Just got to be better, man. That's the bottom line," Cora said. "I just think we have to make a conscious effort of using the whole field. I do believe that's it. We haven't done that. That's on us, right? We've gotta keep preaching that, we've gotta be better."

Thursday's game featured opposite-field hits from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, both of which scored runs for Toronto.

"Winning teams, they do that stuff," Cora said. "You see Vladdy going the other way. I mean, we're talking about elite hitters, and with two strikes, they're making a conscious effort of using the whole field. And we're not doing that."

The Red Sox entered the week with a 3.3 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to Baseball Reference's simulations. Fangraphs gave them some better odds, at 6.7 percent.

Yet after getting swept and dropping to 3-13 on the season against the Blue Jays, any fantasy of the Red Sox making the postseason is over. Baseball Reference's number is down to 0.5 percent, and the once-optimistic Fangraphs projection is now at 1.8 percent.

Thursday's loss was just one in a season with too many to remember. When the season does come to a merciful end a little over a month from now, this one surely will have already been forgotten.

But in the moment, for a team full of professionals who are trying to maintain a certain level of pride and positive energy, this particular loss might have been as devastating as any.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.