Red Sox Notes: Recurring Situations Troubling Boston’s Offense

The Boston Red Sox cannot find ways in recent games to get the clutch hit and spark their offense.

Boston's lineup faltered again Friday night in a 5-1 loss to the Washington Nationals. After scoring just two runs against the Atlanta Braves in the last series, the Red Sox left 11 runners on base in the loss at Fenway Park. Strikeouts once again spelled the biggest factor to another tough night for the offense -- Boston fanned nine times.

"We didn't get the big hit," Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "... The way you come out of this is keep putting good at-bats and have traffic. At one point, we're going to get the big hit. We gotta get in that groove, right? It didn't happen tonight."

Trailing 3-1 in the seventh inning, the Red Sox left the bases loaded when Jarren Duran struck out to end the frame. Those two-out chances have hurt Boston in recent games.

"The two-out RBIs, that's not easy," Cora said. "Of course, you want them and all that. It's the one before with second and third and less than two outs. You have to cash in."

Cora believed that hitting fundamentals have to be an emphasized part of the approach, with the Red Sox needing to be intentional with moving runners along and driving them in.

"For me, its's more about the situational at-bat," Cora said. "I don't know how many we had today. Not many. It seems like every opportunity was with two outs. We just gotta keep digging, looking and see where we're failing. Hopefully, we can find it tomorrow."

Here are more notes from Friday's Nationals-Red Sox game:
-- Friday marked Washington's first trip to Fenway Park since August 30, 2020 and the first game against the Red Sox in Boston with fans since April 15, 2015.

-- Garrett Cooper drove in his first run with the Red Sox on an RBI double.

-- Tanner Houck finished seven innings for the second time in 2024 and completed at least six innings in all but one of his starts this season.

"Good (work) going seven," Cora said. "They put the ball in play twice in the second, third inning and get rewarded. Overall, he induced the weak contact. He's been great for us."

-- The Red Sox scored less than two runs in a loss for the sixth straight defeat in May.

-- The Nationals have won three straight games at Fenway Park dating back to 2020.

-- Boston is 2-for-29 with runners in scoring position over the last three games, as Tom Caron shared on NESN's postgame coverage.

-- The Red Sox and Nationals continue their three-game series on Saturday evening at Fenway Park. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.