Red Sox Notes: Boston Looking To ‘Turn Page’ After Deflating Loss

After a difficult homestand against two of the best teams in baseball, the start of a six-game road trip presented the Boston Red Sox with an opportunity to take advantage of the lowly Kansas City Royals.

But instead of getting on the right track versus a team that is 52 games under the .500 mark, the Red Sox were dealt one of their worst losses of the season.

The Royals jumped out to a seven-run lead after three innings at Kauffman Stadium and never looked back Friday night, pounding the Red Sox, 13-2. It was Boston’s fifth straight loss.

“We’re getting punched and we have to bounce back (Saturday),” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “It hasn’t been easy. Obviously, we’re running out of time here. We need to play better baseball.”

James Paxton’s ineffectiveness immediately put the Red Sox into a hole. He allowed back-to-back home runs in the bottom of first before giving up four more runs in the second and got pulled following 1 1/3 innings, which was the second-shortest outing of his career.

That pitching line felt like it should have belonged to Royals starter Jordan Lyles, who entered the contest with an abysmal 3-15 record and a 6.51 ERA. But Lyles kept Boston’s offense extremely quiet — the Red Sox only registered five hits — as the right-hander didn’t allow a run until the eighth inning.

“It’s tough. It’s not easy,” Cora said. “At the end of the day, that guy, regardless of his record, we know his stuff, it’s a good one. And when guys at this level have a big lead like that, they’re going to pound the strike zone. We just got to turn the page.”

It was the second straight game for Boston that it fell into an early 7-0 deficit. Chasing runs has become routine lately for the Red Sox and Alex Verdugo, who provided the only offense with a two-run home run, knows that will have to change if they want to snap out of their funk.

“It’s a little deflating when you get down early, but at the same time, we have the same opportunity as them,” Verdugo told reporters as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “And we just got to be a little bit better and a little bit more I guess ready for pitch one. Bringing the energy, especially in this ballpark.”

Verdugo believes that this lopsided loss won’t snowball, though, and that the Red Sox can move on quickly from a rough showing.

“We have a lot of professionals, a lot of vets and guys that know how to bounce back from this,” Verdugo said. “This is just one game, chalk it up and get ready for (Saturday).”

Here are more notes from Friday’s Red Sox-Royals game:
— It sure looks like Paxton is hitting a wall late in the season. The veteran lefty hasn’t pitched this many innings since 2019 as he missed the last two seasons due to injury.

“Not a lot of feel with the breaking ball right now,” Paxton told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “Fastball just feels kind of lifeless, too. So, trying to figure some things out mechanically. It’s just not feeling good right now.”

— Adam Duvall’s 10-game hitting streak came to a conclusion in the defeat. He went 0-for-2 before Ceddanne Rafaela pinch hit for him in the top of the seventh inning.

— Rafaela is on a streak of his own. He has recorded a hit in each of his first three games in the big leagues.

— Brandon Walter was one of the September call-ups for the Red Sox and had the unenviable assignment of chewing up innings with the game out of hand in the early going. The 26-year-old performed well at first but ran into trouble by letting up six runs in the sixth inning. He ended up surrendering seven runs on 10 hits while striking out five in four innings of relief.

— The Red Sox look to snap their losing streak Saturday against the Royals. First pitch from Kauffman Stadium is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.