After an explosive opening series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox offense went as cold as the Boston weather in their three-game sweep at the hands of the Pirates.
Pittsburgh beat the Red Sox, 4-1, at Fenway Park on Wednesday. Mitch Keller held a one-hitter through 6 2/3 innings to put the Pirates two games over .500 in the first six games of the season.
It was the first time Pittsburgh had completed a road sweep of three or more games over an American League opponent since 2018, and it was the sixth time in franchise history it accomplished that feat, per Boston Sports Info.
The last time the Red Sox were swept in a series of three or more games at Fenway Park was August 23-25 last season against the Toronto Blue Jays, per Red Sox media relation's Raleigh Clark.
The Red Sox had scored 32 runs in their first 27 offensive innings of the 2023 Major League Baseball season, per NESN's Tom Caron. However, since then, Boston has scored three runs in 25 innings after Wednesday's game. The Red Sox have been outscored 12-3 in the last 26 innings.
"We didn't play good baseball," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "Obviously, the running game, we have to do a better job. We showed some flashes of good stuff, but overall, (Wednesday), that wasn't good. When you are not scoring runs, like the last two days, you gotta be on point. Even when you're scoring runs, you gotta play better defense. And I think we just made bad decisions."
On the next steps for the team, the Red Sox manager added: "Just get on the plane, and go to Detroit and play better baseball. We know we have a lot of work to do. And we knew that before we played Baltimore, in spring training. We're gonna keep working to get better, but games like this, they're disappointing to everybody not just me. ..."
It's still early in the season, and Boston showed some bright spots Wednesday, specifically in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reese McGuire appeared to get the offense going with a three-run home run that would have tied the game at four apiece.
It would have been the 28-year-old's first dinger of the season. But the umpires reversed the call on the field to a foul, and after video replay review, it was determined the ball did not hook inside Pesky Pole.
Here are more notes from Wednesday's Red Sox-Pirates game:
-- In the three-game series, the Red Sox had a team batting average of 1.88 with a minus-7 run differential, according to NESN's postgame coverage. The starters had a 5.79 ERA, and the bullpen had a 2.77 ERA.
-- Boston became the first team since the 1987 Montreal Expos to give up 14 consecutive steals to open the year, according to The Boston Globe's Alex Speier.
-- Corey Kluber only went five innings after throwing 67 pitches in his second start of the season. Cora told reporters he felt the veteran gave the team enough and wanted to bring on his team's best reliever John Schreiber against Bryan Reynolds. The right-hander surrendered one run off three hits, but he only had two strikeouts and a walk.
It was Kluber's 80th career start with at least five innings pitched and zero or one run allowed, per Clark.
-- Zack Kelly has produced solid results in his second big-league season. In three outings, the 28-year-old has a 1.93 ERA in 4 2/3 innings, along with four strikeouts.
-- The Red Sox head out to Detroit to play the Tigers at Comerica Park. First pitch is scheduled at 1:10 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage on NESN starting with pregame coverage at 12 p.m.
