BOSTON — As they head down the final stretch of the schedule, the Red Sox have picked an exceedingly bad time to fall back into a bad habit that plagued them earlier in the season.
In their loss Wednesday against the Athletics, the Red Sox were a woeful 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
On Friday night, in the series opener with the New York Yankees, the Red Sox were almost as bad: 0-for-8.
Their inability to take advantage of a few opportunities almost obscured the fact that they collected just two hits in a 4-1 loss. The Sox had their chances, even if they didn’t exactly slug their way to those opportunities.
In the second, an error, a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch gave the Sox a runner in scoring position with two down. But David Hamilton popped out foul for the final out.
They were even more wasteful in the fifth when two walks, a wild pitch and a balk gave them runners at second and third with no out.
But New York starter Luis Gil induced a pop-up, recorded a strikeout and, finally, retired Jarren Duran on an inning-ending lineout to left.
“We couldn’t do much,” said Cora. “We put pressure early in the game with the walks, but didn’t cash in. In any game, you’ve got to cash in. It’s something that, the last few days, we’ve been lacking production with men in scoring position. We just have to be better.”
The Sox are without two regulars — outfielders Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu — but Cora said their absence can’t be used as an excuse.
“It’s part of it — a few guys banged up and all that,” said Cora. “But we have to go out there and execute. That’s the most important thing.”
Cora pointed to the fact that the Red Sox worked five walks as a promising development and an indication that things may soon turn around.
“There’s a few signs out there tell me that me that a few guys are about to get hot,” he said, “but as a unit, we have to be better.”
One of those hitters is Alex Bregman, who drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and opened the eighth with a sharp single to left.
“Obviously, we didn’t execute well enough on offense,” he said. “We had a few walks but we didn’t square the baseball up as much as we should have today.”
Bregman has by far the most postseason experience of anyone on the Red Sox roster and players will invariably turn to him to take their cues.
“You flush tonight and you focus on the next pitch,” advised Bregman. “We’ve been talking about that for the last month. And everyone’s mentality is in a good spot.”
Like Cora, Bregman was encouraged by the patience shown by other hitters in the lineup, leading to the five walks.
“That’s one of the keys for our offense is staying in the strike zone and making sure we swing at strikes,” he said. “I feel like we were a few big hits away and just didn’t come through tonight.”
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