Andrew Cashner’s struggles continued Sunday afternoon.
The right-hander only could get five outs for the Red Sox before manager Alex Cora was forced to go to the bullpen. Cashner was pulled after just 1 2/3 innings, three hits and as many runs with five walks and just one strikeout. His ERA jumped to 4.83 in Boston’s eventual 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park.
Cashner has been anything but consistent since being acquired by Boston in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles, going 1-4 with a whopping 8.01 ERA through 30 1/3 innings. Cashner has walked 17 and struck out 21 batters while giving up seven home runs — something that really never was an issue throughout his career.
After the game, Cora acknowledged the team being stuck in a tough place pitching wise.
“No command,” the manager said on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “… We thought he was going to get into rhythm, but that wasn’t the case. He went to the slider a lot today, but it wasn’t there. He didn’t command the strike zone so we ran into trouble.
“We’re not in a good spot, so we’ll sit down tomorrow and we’ll see how we’re going to map it out. About where we’re going to go with the rotation.”
As for Cashner, he chalked up another rough outing to him not being able to execute his pitches.
“I think my stuff is really good, I’m just not getting ahead, not making pitches when I need to,” he said on NESN’s “Red Sox Extra Innings Live.” “… I think it’s fixable. …I’ve been doing this a long time. … I need to be more aggressive down in the zone.”
He added he’ll continue to work with pitching coach Dana LeVangie in an attempt to correct his wrongs.
Here are some other notes from Sunday’s Red Sox-Angels game:
— Matt Barnes blew his seventh game of the season, bringing the Red Sox’s total to 22.
“We have to get better starting tomorrow,” Barnes said.
— Chris Owings was added to the Red Sox roster ahead of Sunday’s finale and started at second base as well as batting leadoff.
The infielder caught a 5:45 a.m. ET flight to Boston and was working on minimal rest. He ended his Red Sox debut by going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.
“It’s one game,” Cora said. “That happens at the big league level.”
— Christian Vazquez continued to be a bright spot for Boston on Sunday when he crushed his 18th home run of the season in the fourth inning to tie the game at 3-3.
— The Red Sox are 3-11 in their last 14 games.
