Red Sox Notes: Alex Cora Details Clubhouse Scene With Playoff Bid Over

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t hear much of anything from his team in the visiting clubhouse following a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

That was a good sign to Cora as the Red Sox came to grips with the fact that there will be no playoffs for them this season after officially being eliminated from postseason contention Wednesday night.

“I’m not happy, but it’s very quiet, which is good,” Cora told reporters. “Like I’ve been saying all along, outside the walls here, nobody expected us to play all the way until now, meaningful games. Our goal was to make it to the playoffs, it didn’t happen. But it’s a good learning experience for those kids over there.”

Cora said it was “too early” to deliver a message to his team about falling short of the playoffs again. It was the third straight season and fifth out of the last six campaigns that the Red Sox have missed the playoffs.

“It’s always a tough pill to swallow when you don’t reach the goal you set out for yourself the beginning of the year,” Trevor Story told reporters. “It’s not good enough right now. We got to figure some things out. I think it’s as simple as that, man. Everyone’s feeling it. So, it’s something that we got to address.”

The Red Sox looked poised to make a trip to the postseason when they entered the All-Star break 10 games over .500 and situated in the third and final American League wild-card spot.

But the Red Sox couldn’t keep that momentum up coming out of the break as Cora said his team was “very inconsistent” and “never got it going” over the second half of the season.

The Red Sox certainly had their chances to get into the playoffs. The Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins — two teams Boston continuously chased — both played under .500 baseball in the month of September, but the Red Sox couldn’t take full advantage of the opportunity in front of them.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a different group next year, but for them to think they’re almost there — at one point we felt like we were a playoff-caliber team and in the end, we missed the opportunity. Let’s put it that way,” Cora said. “You look around, you look at the teams that are fighting, we had it right there and we blew it.”

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

— Richard Fitts finally gave up an earned run after going the first 18 2/3 innings of his MLB career without allowing one. The burly right-hander tossed five innings and surrendered four runs on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Fitts wasn’t pleased with his start, but the 24-year-old can take solace in the fact he accelerated his development by posting a 1.74 ERA over his first four outings in the big leagues.

“I think I learned that I can compete,” Fitts told reporters. “I think there’s a lot that I have to do this offseason to really have a chance to be on the team next year and try and solidify my spot in the rotation.”

— Tyler O’Neill has been in a rough slump ever since he hit a walk-off homer against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 11. O’Neill has gone just 2-for-36, including an 0-for-4 showing in the loss to the Blue Jays, with 15 strikeouts in 11 games.

— The Red Sox finished the season 43-38 on the road and they are the only MLB team not in the playoffs with a winning record on the road. To Cora, it illustrated Boston’s struggles at Fenway Park this season, where they are 37-41.

“I think we’ve been playing on the road pretty well for the last few years. The other part we have to be better,” Cora said. “We talked about it last year. We talked about it in spring training. We got to find a way to win at home. That’s the most important thing. You do that and then you play the way we play on the road, you add that, you’re playing October baseball.”

— The Red Sox begin their final series of the season Friday against Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. Boston will send Nick Pivetta to the mound in the series opener. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.