There’s no way around it: things just aren’t going well for the Boston Red Sox.
Pitching was known to have question marks due to not having Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and now Eduardo Rodriguez. But the defense has been making a slew of mental errors of late that leaves fans scratching their heads.
Michael Chavis shouldered the blame for Tuesday’s loss because of one miscue while Jose Peraza had an error Monday and Kevin Pillar lost a fly ball in the second inning of Wednesday’s game.
“He thought it was hit better, turned around and lost it,” manager Ron Roenicke told reporters of Pillar’s miscue during his postgame Zoom press conference.
The offense, on paper, looks stacked. But even that department isn’t having the best season.
And now Boston finds itself with a 6-12 record after a 9-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.
Roenicke didn’t mince words after the game.
“Things aren’t going well,” he told reporters. “That’s all there is to it. We’re not getting breaks and weird things are happening.”
That’s certainly one way to put it.
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Here are some other notes from Wednesday’s Red Sox-Rays game:
— J.D. Martinez was a bright spot in the Red Sox’s lineup.
The designated hitter launched a grand slam into the Green Monster in the eighth to give Boston a bit of life for the first time in the game and made the score 8-5.
SEEEEEEEEE YAAAAAAAAAA 👋@RedSox | @JDMartinez28 | https://t.co/8YcZCoVAmi pic.twitter.com/vkf1XmMTbM
— NESN (@NESN) August 13, 2020
— Ryan Weber, who was called up to replace Andrew Benintendi after the outfielder was placed on the injured list Wednesday, pitched well for the most part.
The right-hander pitched six innings of relief and gave up one earned run on five hits with four strikeouts. Weber’s appearances as a starter haven’t been as good, so Roenicke is considering keeping Weber in the bullpen.
“(He) Looks so good in relief, maybe it’s better we have him in long relief,” Roenicke said. “Great job by him, that’s the guy that we saw in spring training. Hopefully, with that outing, certainly should gain some confidence and we’ll see what happens.”
— Speaking of Benintendi, it sounds as if the outfielder will miss more than 10 days as he nurses a rib injury.
” … He’s going to be awhile. It will probably be more than that 10 days that we talked about,” Roenicke said.
— Jonathan Araúz continued to be a bright spot in Boston’s starting nine.
The 22-year-old drove in the team’s first run with a bases-loaded single in the eighth.
Araúz now has a hit in six of his last seven at-bats.
— The Red Sox will turn to Kyle Hart on Thursday — who will make his Major League Baseball debut — against the Tampa Bay Rays in hopes of righting the ship.
First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 4:30 p.m. ET.
