The 2019 Boston Red Sox haven’t exactly been a delight to watch this season.
For one, they’ve been a wildly inconsistent bunch, putting up great performances some nights only to follow them up with a dreadful showing. Couple that with a simply plodding pace many nights and, well, it just hasn’t been the most exciting title defense to watch.
That made Tuesday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants a microcosm of the entire season. The two sides combined to use 24 pitchers, which tied the big league record for most hurlers used in a game. A three-run sixth inning by the Red Sox forced extras, and ultimately the two teams all but eliminated from postseason contention took 15 innings and just under six hours to reach the game-deciding 7-6 scoreline.
The result and how they got there wasn’t lost on Sox manager Alex Cora, who gave a candid description of the game and season as a whole early Wednesday morning.
“If you can (sum up) our season in six hours, it was right there, honestly,” Cora told reporters, per WEEI.com. “Close games, we didn’t hit with men in scoring position, we didn’t pitch well in the beginning but then we pitched well. We played good defense but then we didn’t. Honestly, if you want to put everything in six hours, it’s right there. I was watching, I was like, long game, extra-inning games, using the bullpen knowing we have a bullpen day maybe tomorrow, it’s been like that the whole season. That’s how I felt.”
The Red Sox and Giants will play the middle contest of the three-game set at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.
