We may be in the middle of summer, but the Boston Red Sox offense has gone ice cold.
The Red Sox’s offensive woes continued Monday night, as the Seattle Mariners blanked Boston 4-0 in the series opener at Safeco Field. Mariners starter James Paxton was brilliant in his 10th win of the season, only allowing four hits to go along with 10 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings.
Boston’s inability to do damage to the scoreboard prolonged its offensive drought, as the Red Sox have scored just two runs in their last 25 innings. The current West Coast road trip particularly has been troublesome for the Red Sox, as they only are hitting a combined .192 and averaging 2.8 runs per contest through four games.
And while Boston’s big hitters are expected to lift the team from the current slump, Dustin Pedroia believes it takes efforts from everyone on the roster to right the ship.
“It falls on everybody,” Pedroia said, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “It’s a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team. It’s 25 guys, it doesn’t fall on me or Hanley (Ramirez) or anybody like that. It’s everybody, we do it together.”
Red Sox manager John Farrell also acknowledged the hitting struggles after the game and knows what his team must do in order to get the bats hot once again.
“The inability to string base hits together,” Farrell said. “We do it on the first game of this road trip, and that’s the type of offense we’re capable of. But to sustain it, that’s where it’s been a little hit and miss. We’re not built around the home run, we recognize that. We know this has to be quality bats up and down the lineup.”
Here are some other notes from Red Sox-Mariners.
— Paxton certainly has the Red Sox’s number. In three career starts against Boston, the left-hander is 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA to go along with 18 strikeouts and only two walks.
— Monday’s loss marked the ninth time the Red Sox have been shut out this season, which leads the big leagues.
— The Red Sox are batting .210 through 12 games since returning from the All-Star break with only 20 extra base hits and 112 strikeouts.
— Unfortunately for Boston, its struggling offense has squandered some quality pitching.
— The Red Sox hope to receive a lift Tuesday by way of Rafael Devers, who will make his MLB debut. The top prospect will become the youngest current player in the big leagues at 20 years and nine months.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports Images
