The Boston Red Sox, like the rest of Major League Baseball, still couldn’t navigate their way around the scorching-hot Tampa Bay Rays.
However, this go-around, Boston paid for some costly mistakes after the lineup put together a convincing comeback bid in Wednesday night’s 9-7 loss, marking the third straight visit to the loss column for the Red Sox.
Boston made just one error, but the box score didn’t recognize a few other defensive miscues that proved costly, which manager Alex Cora didn’t shy away from calling out.
“This level, when you give them more than 27 outs, they gonna cash in,” Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… Routine plays we didn’t make. Ground ball and then we don’t throw a guy out. Then the safety squeeze play, we know with that guy it’s gonna happen. That’s the part that frustrates me, you know? I guess I gotta do a better job at coaching them.”
Bobby Dalbec was charged with the only error, booting a routine ground ball in the first inning.
The Red Sox defense then failed to field a sacrifice bunt attempt, which was followed by a two-run double from Wander Franco. Then in the bottom of the eighth inning, Alex Verdugo cleanly fielded a sacrifice fly, but his throw toward the plate wasn’t cut-off by Triston Casas, giving Franco — who stood at third base — all the time in the world to trot his way to home plate and give the Rays a 9-7 lead for good.
“At this level, you can’t do that,” Cora said.
Despite a rough all-around night, the Red Sox did show some resiliency at the plate for the first time against Tampa Bay, pushing seven runs across and changing the trajectory of the contest from a game that was over by the fourth, to a competitive American League division clash by the final out.
“I do believe that we’re trending in the right direction,” Cora explained. “We will be fine, and I still believe that the fastball has life up in the zone.”
Here are more notes from Wednesday night’s Red Sox-Rays game:
— Rafael Devers blasted a three-run home run in the seventh inning to bring the score within one. It was Devers’ first homer and multi-RBI performance since April 4 against the Detroit Tigers.
“Obviously it wasn’t enough to get the win today so still need to keep working to get better and to try to get the win tomorrow,” Devers told reporters through a translator, per NESN. “But at the end of the day, we didn’t get the win and that’s all that matters.”
— Red Sox right-handed pitcher Zack Kelly made a quick exit after suffering what was labeled as “right elbow pain” after going down on the mound in the fifth inning and being assisted off the field by Cora and a team trainer.
“Whenever something like that happens, you get emotional about it,” Kelly told reporters, per NESN.
— Boston has lost 12 straight games at Tropicana Field, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com.
— Kiké Hernández entered the night on an 0-for-27 cold stretch with 11 strikeouts. He finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI to break out of the slump.
— The Red Sox will fight to avoid a four-game sweep, facing the Rays once more in Thursday’s series finale. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus a full hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.
