It’s almost as if Alex Cora is watching the Boston Red Sox offense on a loop the past three games. And he doesn’t like what he is seeing.
The Red Sox suffered their second shutout loss in their last three games Tuesday night against the Angels, falling 4-0 at Angel Stadium. Los Angeles starting pitcher Griffin Canning held Boston to its only two hits of the game, both of which were singles.
And now the Red Sox, who started their nine-game road trip having one of the best offenses in baseball, have scored a mere one run over the last 32 innings as Cora believes his team is late in making adjustments at the plate.
“(Canning) changed speeds, got ahead and then expanded,” Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “We saw it (Monday), we saw it with Michael (Wacha) in San Diego. And obviously, this is not us, but we have to make adjustments. It’s different (Wednesday) with a lefty. People they watch and they see and they make adjustments. I think we’re going to a point in the league that sample matters and they know what you’ve been doing the first 40 games. … They see our numbers and what we’ve done and they’re going to start making adjustments.”
Triston Casas and Enmanuel Valdez were the only members of the Red Sox to get on base via a hit. Boston’s first five batters in the lineup, including Rafael Devers, were a combined 0-for-19 with just one walk.
It’s a low point at the moment for the Red Sox’s attack, but Cora knows what Boston will need to do to break out of their mighty offensive slump.
“Now it’s time for us to kind of like slow it down and break it down,” Cora said. “I think using the other side of the field it helps. I think there’s a lot of pulled ground balls lately. A lot of empty at-bats. First time I’ve said it this season, there’s a lot of empty at-bats. (Wednesday) we got a lefty, so it’s a different lineup, but when there’s a righty, we have to make adjustments.”
Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Red Sox-Angels game:
— Brayan Bello had one of the better performances of his young career. He tossed a career-high seven innings in which he gave up two earned runs — one came on the first batter he faced with Mickey Moniak hitting a solo homer — while striking out six and walking none. He threw 67 of his 98 pitches for strikes.
“That was really good,” Cora said. “Started slow but then his stuff picked up. That’s a team that did an outstanding job against him at home. They scored four right away, they put good at-bats. Right away, the big swing for a homer, (Shohei) Ohtani gets on and after that, he started going to certain places and that was great to see. That was fun to watch.”
— Joely RodrÃguez struggled out of the bullpen in just his third appearance for the Red Sox since being activated off the injured list last week. The left-handed reliever recorded just one out in the eighth inning while giving up two runs on three hits with a walk and a strikeout mixed in.
— Aside from a two-run home run from Mike Trout off of RodrÃguez, the Angels’ superstars in Trout and Ohtani haven’t really hurt the Red Sox in the series. The dynamic duo has just one hit each — Ohtani’s was an infield single — through two games against Boston.
— Masataka Yoshida’s six-game hitting streak got snapped in the loss. Yoshida finished 0-for-4 and grounded out into an inning-ending double play in the top of the eighth with the Red Sox trying to mount a rally.
— The Red Sox look to avoid a three-game sweep to the Angels on Wednesday night. First pitch from Angel Stadium is scheduled for 9:38 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
