Disastrous road trip has Red Sox spiraling out of contention
BOSTON -- A road trip to Detroit and New York was supposed to give the Red Sox a chance to get back on track. Instead, Boston's postseason hopes are now spiraling down the drain.
Boston hit the road at 69-65 on the season after losing five of seven at Fenway Park, plus another loss in their resumed game against the Blue Jays. The Sox had a stellar 38-27 record on the road heading into the trip, so there was some hope they could right the ship against two teams outside of the playoff picture.
But after winning the first game in Detroit, Boston closed the trip with five straight losses. It culminated with an 8-3 loss to the Mets on Wednesday night when the Red Sox bats and bullpen once again failed in grand fashion.
Boston was just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the finale against the Mets. The Red Sox left six runners on base, while also grounding into three double plays. Rafael Devers drove in a run off a sac fly, but was 0-for-3. Boston's best hitter -- who has been dealing with a shoulder issue -- was 1-for-24 over the six games with seven strikeouts and no walks.
It wasn't just Devers who struggled at the dish. Boston hit just .203 (39-for-192) on the trip, striking out 55 times while drawing only 14 walks. The Red Sox hit a meager .188 (6-for-32) with runners in scoring position, leaving 32 runners on base in Detroit and New York.
The Red Sox still had a chance to win Wednesday night despite those offensive woes, and despite starter Tanner Houck surrendering a first-inning grand slam. An RBI ground-rule double by Jarren Duran followed by a pair of sac flies made it a 4-3 game in the third inning, which is where things stayed before a disastrous eighth inning from the Boston bullpen.
Kenley Jansen got just one out in the bottom of the eighth, giving up a single and walking three. He walked in a run to make it a 5-3 game in favor of the Mets before Alex Cora gave him the hook, but Rich Hill didn't fare much better. He threw four straight balls to walk in another run, and then proceeded to walk in another. He gave up a sac fly before Cora ended his night, with Hill walking off the mound with the Mets on top, 8-3.
The Red Sox have now lost five straight for their longest losing streak of the season, and are back to .500 at 70-70. It's the first time their win total has matched their losses since June 14.
The whole trip was a huge missed opportunity for Boston, with both the Royals and the Twins losing seven of their last 10 games. The Red Sox are now 5.5 games behind both teams for the final AL Wild Card spot, and both the Tigers and the Mariners (who are also 70-70) have now joined Boston in that pretenders spot in the standings.
Cora didn't have much to say after Wednesday night's loss, only that his team has to be better.
"We are playing .500 baseball. I don't think that's good enough. We have to be better," Cora said after the defeat. "The Royals, Twins and everybody else -- it doesn't matter. We are playing .500 baseball."
But the thing is, the Red Sox are not playing .500 baseball. They are 17-27 since the All-Star break. They have lost 11 of their last 14 games, including that make-up loss to the Jays.
The Red Sox are now down to an 8.1 percent chance of making the postseason, according to FanGraphs.
Hope is dwindling, even with Boston set to six straight at home. The Red Sox have three games against the 109-loss White Sox before three against the now-first-place Orioles, and will have to take at least five of those games to have any hope of climbing back in the race.
But with a 31-38 record at home this season, that seems like wishful thinking. With less than a month left in the season, it's becoming more and more of a reality that the Red Sox are going to miss the playoffs for a third straight year.
