BOSTON — The Red Sox’s plus-116 run differential is the best in the American League and the second best in Major League Baseball. They lead the league in team average (.284), OPS (.813), runs (692), hits (1,278) and doubles (281).
So why can’t they seem to score with runners on base lately?
The Red Sox lost to the Kansas City Royals 6-3 at Fenway Park on Friday despite having 15 hits and watching Dustin Pedroia and Mookie Betts go 9-for-9. It was a strange line, to say the least, but Red Sox manager John Farrell isn’t too worried yet.
“I’m fully confident in this group, and I think that’ll turn,” Farrell said after the loss. “There’s been times where maybe we’ve expanded the strike zone. That wasn’t the case (Friday night). Give credit where it’s due. (Royals starter Ian Kennedy) challenged us. Particularly with less than two outs and men in scoring position, he got a number of key strikeouts. But still, we continue to put up quality at-bats, particularly the top four guys in the order.”
That was definitely the case Friday, as Betts went 5-for-5, Pedroia went 4-for-4 with a walk, and Xander Bogaerts went 3-for-5. It was the back end of the order that struggled, with Sandy Leon, Jackie Bradley Jr., Travis Shaw and eventually Chris Young going 0-for-13 with nine strikeouts in the Nos. 6, 7 and 8 spots.
Boston starter Steven Wright giving up a five-spot in the first inning certainly didn’t help, either, but the Red Sox actually didn’t think that was as big of a problem.
“It’s definitely a big deficit starting like that, but we have a great team where we can score five in one inning, too,” Betts said. “We don’t look at it as we’re that much in a hole. We’re just going to play the game and know that we’re going to score some runs.”
The whole issue was downplayed overall, as the Red Sox simply see their current problem putting runners across the plate as a bump in the road.
“Everyone goes through this type of stuff personally,” Bogaerts said. “Team-wise, also. We’re getting a lot of opportunities. That’s all you can ask for. If no opportunities were created, it would’ve been tougher, but hopefully we’ll come through sooner rather than later.”
Here are some more notes from Friday’s loss.
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— Wright’s first inning definitely was a disaster, but at least he was feeling OK. The knuckleballer’s outing was his first start back from the disabled list, but Wright said his formerly inflamed shoulder didn’t bother him.
“It feels good,” Wright said. “In the first inning, I definitely was a little — didn’t really know going into a game situation, but I felt good. I definitely was antsy, had a lot of adrenaline going out there in that first inning. I was able to settle down a little bit from the second on. So definitely the positive thing to look at it for me is I felt good out there.”
— David Ortiz’s ground-rule double in the third inning was the 625th in his career, passing Hank Aaron for 10th all-time in major league history. He still leads the league in doubles with 41.
— The Red Sox’s third straight loss left them one game back of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays, who beat the Minnesota Twins 15-8 on Friday. The Baltimore Orioles, however, lost to the New York Yankees 14-4, so Boston held on to a one-game lead for the first wild-card spot and second place in the American League East.
— The struggling Junichi Tazawa had his first 1-2-3 inning since June 22 in the seventh but he spoiled that in the eighth by giving up a leadoff home run to Royals right fielder Lorenzo Cain. Tazawa has a 12.86 ERA in August with four home runs allowed over seven innings and seven outings.
— For what it’s worth, the Royals have been on fire this month. They’ve won 12 of their last 13 games and 16 of their last 19 to catapult themselves back into the playoff picture. Kansas City’s bullpen also had a scoreless streak of 41 1/3 innings before the Red Sox scored in the ninth.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
