The Red Sox will be kicking themselves after Tuesday night’s loss.
Boston fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 in a game that offered plenty of opportunities to take home a win.
The Red Sox left runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth, failing to score in each frame. A total of 11 men left on base will often come back to bite you, and that was the case for Boston. Alex Cora addressed that following the loss, in addition to some missed chances from earlier in the night.
“We were patient enough to get our matchups,” Cora said. “That last pitch to Christian (Vazquez), he missed it. I think we had chances early in the game to put the Rays out and we didn’t. We had men at second with no outs and we didn’t score.”
Boston’s offense looked tremendous against the New York Yankees, winning three times during their four-game set a Bronx Bombers last weekend, and much of that was due to success with runners in scoring position. That hasn’t been the case over their last two losses. The Red Sox were 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday.
David Price not making it through the fifth inning didn’t help either, ultimately allowing the middle receivers to give up Boston’s lead. Despite the tough showing, Price said he felt better physically than he had in a long time.
“It’s been a grind over my past five or six (outings),” Price said. “Outs are tough to get. It’s been tough just throwing strikes. Physically, today was the best I’ve felt in a while. I have some stuff to address these next four days before I pitch in New York but I think it’s going to get better.”
Here are some other notes from Tuesday’s Red Sox-Yankees game:
— Cora also spoke about the middle relievers, noting that they need to do their job too.
— Andrew Benintendi remained hot for the Red Sox.
The left fielder went 3-for-4 with three RBI’s and a home run in the loss, pushing his average to .285 on the year after a slow start to the season.
— The Red Sox now have 15 consecutive games with a home run.
That’s the second-longest steak in franchise history over the last 50 years, with the 1969 club (17 games) holding the only streak longer.
— Rafael Devers helped pace the Red Sox offense with three hits and two runs scored.
— Boston and Tampa Bay combined for 14 pitchers on Tuesday.
The Rays even ran into the rare problem of running out of mound visits.
