Two games. Two losses. One more nail in the coffin.
The Boston Red Sox are fading fast in their quest to stay alive this season. Their record dropped to 42-51 with a 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
The Red Sox, who lost Monday’s first game 11-1, have lost five in a row dating back to before the Major League Baseball All-Star break. They lost all four games this weekend against the Angels.
Boston now sits nine games back of the division-leading New York Yankees in the American League East with 69 games remaining on the schedule.
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GAME IN A WORD
Comatose.
The Red Sox have been dead in the water several times this season, but their performance against the Angels in the teams’ four-game weekend series really put things into perspective. Boston showed little life, particularly offensively, making it hard to envision the club going on a second-half run.
The Angels outscored the Red Sox 22-4 in the series. And that’s with Boston scoring three runs over the final four innings of Monday’s second game when Los Angeles had a victory all but sealed.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
The Angels touched up Steven Wright for four runs in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead.
All of the damage came with two outs, as Wright induced back-to-back ground ball outs to open the frame. A two-out walk — as it so often does — paved the way for trouble, though. Wright struggled with his control throughout the inning.
Wright issued three walks, hit a batter and allowed three singles (two of the infield variety) in the disastrous inning. Catcher Blake Swihart also was charged with a passed ball.
ON THE BUMP
— Wright gave the Red Sox five innings, which was an improvement over the 1 2/3-inning effort Eduardo Rodriguez provided in Game 1. But the veteran right-hander allowed six earned runs on six hits and three walks.
Wright surrendered two home runs: one to Albert Pujols in the second inning and one to Mike Trout in the fifth inning.
— Tommy Layne and Craig Breslow each tossed a scoreless inning. Breslow actually pitched in both games, which speaks to the state of the Red Sox.
— Alexi Ogando surrendered a home run to Pujols in the seventh inning, giving the three-time MVP a major league-best 29 homers. Trout had tied Pujols in the fifth inning with his 28th homer.
Pujols, who also took Rodriguez deep in Game 1, had three homers on the day.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— David Ortiz crushed a two-run homer to right field in the sixth inning. It tripled the Red Sox’s entire offensive output for the series to that point.
— Xander Bogaerts went 2-for-3 with two singles, a sacrifice fly and a run scored.
— Mike Napoli collected two hits, including a double, in his effort to maintain a job.
— Swihart, who was activated from the disabled list Monday, went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored in his first major league game since June 30.
— Dustin Pedroia went 0-for-4. He’s 0-for-14 in four games since coming off the DL.
— Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval went a combined 0-for-8.
— The Red Sox went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Polar opposites.
[tweet https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/623354592244420608 align=’center’%5D
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will travel to Houston for a three-game series against the Astros starting Tuesday. It’ll be a hectic travel schedule, as the Sox plan to travel from California to Texas on Tuesday morning.
Thumbnail photo via Kelvin Kuo/USA TODAY Sports Images
