Red Sox Notes: Alex Cora Addresses Overworked Pitching Staff

The Boston Red Sox fell to the Toronto Blue Jays in a series sweep on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Sox had played some of their best baseball in 2023 against the Blue Jays in earlier series, from a four-game sweep in April to another sweep in Canada leading into July.

This weekend at Fenway Park, Toronto flipped the script to outscore Boston 25-8 in the three-game sweep. The Red Sox suffered their sixth series sweep of the season, allowing seven home runs in three games and a season-high 13 runs on Sunday.

“There’s not much we have to say,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “They outplayed us the whole weekend. Obviously, we’ve been through stuff like this, right? Just show up tomorrow and play good baseball.”

While the Red Sox have plenty to improve upon after falling five games behind Toronto for the final wild card spot, bullpen usage is a current headline for Boston. Not including openers and James Paxton’s start on Friday, Red Sox relievers pitched 20 innings during the series as the team eagerly awaits the return of Chris Sale, Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock to spread out the staff.

“There’s a lot of close games,” Cora said. “You start using the bullpen heavier. That’s part of the schedule. I don’t think we’ve been in a stretch as far as close games and have to use the bullpen over and over and over.”

The Boston bullpen has tallied the sixth-most innings in the majors to this point this season. Usage for arms may only go up as Boston has just two more off days this month on Aug. 14 and Aug. 31. Managing arms will have to be a priority for Cora and his staff in a high-stakes month.

“In this case, we had to take care of other guys, right?” Cora added. “… The schedule is going to keep getting heavy. There’s a week we’re going to play seven in a row and 10 with the three we just played. Hopefully, the other guys come back and we can do a few things as far as the pitching staff. It’s going to be a challenge because they’re not going to go deep into games. We know we have our restrictions and we’ve got to be smart about keeping them healthy.”

The Red Sox do have a chance to bounce back with seven games last on the homestand against a pair of sub-.500 American League Central teams in the Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers. Players and coaches alike have faith in Boston turning this recent stretch around.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing over there,” Justin Turner said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We’ve got to show up and play better.”

“We’ve still got seven at home,” Cora said. “Come here and play good baseball.

Here are more notes from Sunday’s Blue Jays-Red Sox game:

— Turner stayed hot against Chris Bassitt with another hit. The 38-year-old is now 6-for-10 against the right-hander in his career.

— Davis Schneider homered off of Murphy for his second home run of the series after making his major league debut on Friday night.

— After winning the first seven games of the season series against the Blue Jays in 2023, the Red Sox have lost three straight.

— Boston moves to 6-37 when scoring four runs or less.

— In his return to the lineup, Alex Verdugo tallied his eighth three-hit game of the season in a 3-for-4 effort with a trio of singles.

— Nick Robertson made his Red Sox debut after being acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 25. The right-hander threw an inning, allowing one run with a strikeout.

— The Red Sox continue their 10-game homestand at Fenway Park on Monday to begin a four-game series with the Kansas City Royals. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.