The Boston Red Sox offense had a number of opportunities to push runs across the board in their 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. They just didn't.
Boston had at least one runner in scoring position in three of the final four innings but failed to plate a single run. Red Sox manager Alex Cora spoke about the frustration with his offense following the game.
"We didn't make contact. Didn't get guys over. It's a tough one, I think it was 0-for-8 (with runners in scoring position)," Cora said, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "We had some good at-bats, but when it mattered we didn't make contact and we paid the price."
One of the things that made Boston's offensive output so frustrating was the fact that Brayan Bello put together the best start of his young career. The Red Sox offense only supplied him with two runs in a game that he held the high-powered Blue Jays offense to just two runs on six hits. Cora was complimentary of his rookie starter following the game.
"He was excellent. That was good stuff," Cora said. "We felt in Houston he was turning a corner, talking to other starters and understanding how it works here. … From pitch one, he was electric. Weak contact, swings and misses, four-seamers up, changeup. He was really good. He was really good."
Here are more notes from Wednesday's Red Sox-Blue Jays game:
-- Franchy Cordero belted a two-run home run in the loss, carrying on a hot streak at the major league level. Cordero owns a .429 OBP and 1.111 OPS over his last nine big league games dating back to July 25. In that stretch, he is 6-for-22 from the plate with three doubles, two home runs, and six walks, per Red Sox media relations assistant Raleigh Clark.
-- Brayan Bello topped out at 98.7 mph with his fastball in the first inning. It's the fastest pitch he's thrown as a big leaguer.
-- The Red Sox are 3-12 against the Blue Jays this season, being outscored 62-20 in the process. Toronto is 5-0-0 in series against Boston.
-- Boston is four games under .500 and seven games back in the Wild Card standings with 38 games left.
-- The Red Sox will continue their three-game series against the Blue Jays from Fenway Park on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, with NESN 360.
