BOSTON — As the Red Sox arrive home for their Fenway Park opener Friday afternoon, they do so with the understanding that they need to snap out of a losing streak fast. The celebration of the home opener is somewhat subdued by the fact Boston has lost five in a row and was just outscored 23-7 in a poorly played three-game sweep in Houston following another lost series in Cincinnati.
“We played well in Cincinnati. We lost two out of three there,” said manager Alex Cora. “We got demolished in Houston.”
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That demolition, at the hands of an Astros team that seemed to be clicking on all cylinders in its second series, was felt in all areas of the game for the Red Sox. Offensively, though, things were particularly bad. Lance McCullers, Hunter Brown and Mike Burrows all shut down Boston’s offense, which failed to sustain any rallies during the series and struck out 38 times.
“That’s a good baseball team,” Cora said of Houston. “When you’ve got (Carlos) Correa and Yordan (Alvarez) healthy the way they are and Lance throwing the ball the way he did, a lot of teams are going to run into them. It just happens it was early for us and we faced them at the wrong time, I guess.”
Outside of Wilyer Abreu, who has had another hot start to his season, and catchers Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong, the lineup has not produced as expected. In the mind of Cora, it’s simple.
“We just need to hit, to be honest with you,” Cora said. “That’s it. There’s a few guys that, numbers-wise, it doesn’t seem like they’re getting on base, but they are. You look at Masa (Yoshida), Willson (Contreras), Jarren (Duran), they’re taking their walks so their on-base percentage is good.
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“There’s others that are not getting on base or hitting the ball hard. You can talk about Trevor and Caleb.”
The two worst-performing regulars are Trevor Story (4-for-29, 13 strikeouts) and Caleb Durbin (0-for-18, 5 strikeouts), though Ceddanne Rafaela (hitting .211), Duran (.167), Contreras (.150) and Marcelo Mayer (.200) have also struggled. For Cora, the good at-bats will come first with the results to follow. For the Red Sox, who have 67 strikeouts and just 22 walks so far, Cora believes a more passive approach may lead to runs. Strikeouts are going to be part of the game but need to be limited in certain spots.
“One thing we can adjust to is to swing less,” Cora said. “We’re swinging a lot. We are. And when you’re swinging a lot, that means you’re chasing pitches. It means you’re fouling off pitches that you don’t have to offer to.
“I don’t think we are this team. We will put the ball in play, but all of the sudden, you’re not going to go from a 28% strikeout rate to 18%. Impossible. If you’ve got that guy, let me know. If you’ve got that hitting coach, let me know. I’ll give him my salary and I’ll retire. It’s not gonna happen.”
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“Like I said before, it’s six games,” Cora said. “I get it. I understand the record. As far as the numbers, over 162, if you are who you are, you will hit your stride and you’ll get hot and your numbers are going to get to where they’re supposed to. But we didn’t get off to a good start on the road. We’re 1-5. That’s the reality of it.”
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