The Boston Red Sox couldn't have started off the game any better against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.
The first six batters reached base against Pirates starter Mitch Keller and the Red Sox gave themselves a comfortable lead by putting up four runs by the end of the first inning. But maybe the Red Sox offense got too comfortable?
While it seemed Boston had the makings of a big offensive night, the Red Sox's bats fell silent for a majority of the game as they didn't produce a single hit over the final seven innings.
The strong start held up though in a 5-3 road win at PNC Park, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora wasn't exactly impressed with his team's offensive effort despite getting to Pittsburgh's pitching early.
"We need to be better," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "Seven innings no hits, only one walk. The quality of the at-bats got worse throughout the game. We'll talk about it tomorrow. When you start a series and you're up 5-0, it'd be great to add on and get to their bullpen and keep digging in. That's how you win series. I'm not saying we got lucky because we put some good at-bats early on, but we got to keep going. We can't stop.
"That way you rest your bullpen, you get to the (opposing) bullpen and all that. At the end, we'll take it. Those are the things as a manager and a coaching staff you got to keep preaching, 'Let's be better.' We're doing a good job playing good baseball, but we can improve."
Cora said it was very surprising to see the Red Sox have such a dramatic offensive dip after starting off the game putting together quality at-bats.
But he isn't worried that the trend will continue as he just wants his club to keep pushing forward.
"Not chasing hits, chasing good at-bats that's the key, and we will," Cora said. "I'm not disappointed. We won the game. We scored five. That's good, but like I've always said, this is a good team that needs to keep improving and we will."
The Red Sox will get that chance to improve, especially offensively, on Wednesday when they continue their three-game series with the Pirates. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game with NESN 360 following an hour of pregame coverage.
