The Red Sox have struggled as of late to take advantage with runners in scoring position, and that was the case again Sunday in Boston’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Boston was 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Sunday, which capped off a series where it was 5-for-36 with RISP (.139 average). This issue has been lingering for Alex Cora’s club over the last few weeks, and he noted that following the loss.
“We have to take advantage of the situations,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “That’s something that we’ve been talking about it for a while and we need to execute.”
As for how they fix the issue? Cora says they’ll keep the problem atop their to-do list.
“We keep addressing it. We keep talking about it,” he said. “It’s game-planning. We have to attack them as a group and do the the little things. … All that stuff that helps you get the big inning — we haven’t done that in a while and we have to start doing it.”
Plenty of these struggles have come against some of the league’s better teams, and Cora knows that they’re a step above the Red Sox right now.
“Right now they’re better than us,” Cora said. “We need to keep getting better. We need to keep working. We’ve been saying it all along. Better with men in scoring position, execute out of the bullpen, everything. Like I said, Texas is playing well too. They’re coming in tomorrow, it’s a four-game series and we need to do what we’re supposed to do. Just keep getting better.”
Here are some other notes from Sunday’s Red Sox-Rays game:
— Marco Hernandez was solid again in his second consecutive start. The second baseman went 2-for-4 on Sunday and now is a combined 4-for-9 with three RBI’s over the last two games.
— The Red Sox now are 9-17 against teams with a winning record.
Over the last three weeks, Boston has had series against the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays. They’ve lost each of those sets, going 5-11 over that span.
— Marcus Walden’s struggles continued Sunday, as the reliever gave up three hits and two earned runs in 1/3 of an inning pitched.
The right-hander has now allowed six earned runs in 9 2/3 innings over his last nine appearances.
— Boston now trails both the Rays and New York Yankees by seven games in the American League East standings.
