Red Sox Notes: Alex Cora Assesses Underwhelming Homestand

BOSTON — A 10-game homestand could have catapulted the Boston Red Sox early in the season.

But the Red Sox wrapped it up Sunday finishing exactly where they started.

“We didn’t gain momentum. We didn’t lose momentum,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said following a 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox couldn’t string more than two wins together on the homestand and dropped the final two contests to the Orioles. They went 5-5 over the 10 games and Boston produced only two runs in the two losses to Baltimore.

“We were inconsistent this homestand, pitching-wise,” Cora said. “It seems like when he hit, we didn’t pitch and then when we pitched, we didn’t hit. So, I think 5-5 is what we deserve.”

The Red Sox now stand at 27-28 as they have hovered around .500 for the entire season — Boston hasn’t been higher than three wins above .500 on the campaign. A strong winning streak would change that and it feels much-needed for a team that can’t find consistency this year.

“We’re still playing where we’re at — an average team,” Cora said. “Hopefully when we get our streak, we can get to eight games over .500 and take off.”

Rafael Devers, Wilyer Abreu, Kristian Campbell, David Hamilton, Nick Sogard and Ceddanne Rafaela went a combined 0-for-20 in Sunday’s loss to Baltimore.

Jarren Duran admitted the team is “grinding” at the moment, and that description really would be true since the season started two months ago. But Duran feels like the Red Sox taking off is just around the corner.

“We all know baseball. It kicks your butt and you love it and you hate it,” Duran said. “We got a lot of young and hungry guys. I know we got some older guys who are hungry, too. So, I feel like that’s going to fuel our fire to just keep pushing and keep working hard to get to that next level.”

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

— Walker Buehler made his first start since getting ejected and turned in five solid innings. The veteran righthander allowed four hits, two runs and two walks while striking out three. He threw only 85 pitches as the Red Sox were careful in Buehler’s second start back from the injured list. Buehler wished he could have provided more.

“I felt really good against New York and whatever happened happened, and then to kind of feel flat or whatever is disappointing,” Buehler said.

— Marcelo Mayer recorded his first big-league hit when he led off the bottom of the second inning with an opposite field single. The 22-year-old, who got the start again at third base, also laced a double into the right-center gap at 105.1 mph off the bat to begin the bottom of the ninth to complete a two-hit day.

“I was just trying to get a pitch to hit,” Mayer said of his first at-bat. “I ended up getting two strikes I think. Shot it to left field. It was a really cool moment.”

— The Red Sox called up Zack Kelly prior to the game and used him right away with the bullpen taxed. Kelly made his first appearance for Boston since April 20 and let up one hit, two runs (one earned) and one walk in two innings of work.

— It’s not often Duran collects four hits from the leadoff spot and the Red Sox only produce one run. It was the eighth four-hit game for Duran in his career. Duran has hit safely in 10 out of his last 12 games as the All-Star outfielder has found his groove after some bumps along the way to begin the season.

“Personally, I feel terrible because I just want to do more for the team. That’s one thing that makes me worse sometimes,” Duran said. “That’s why I got (assistant hitting coach Pete Rosenthal), (hitting coach) Pete (Fatse), (hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin), AC, just to keep me level-headed and say, ‘Hey bro, you’re on the same exact track (as last year), man. Just keep chugging, keep working, keep doing your thing and you’re going to be perfectly fine.”

— The Red Sox lived through another defensive nightmare of a play in the eighth inning, which resulted in a Little League home run for Ryan O’Hearn. After O’Hearn doubled, Rafaela’s throw missed the cutoff man and rolled away off O’Hearn, allowing Gunnar Henderson to score. O’Hearn broke for third and Mayer threw the ball away to allow O’Hearn to score.

— The Red Sox head off to face the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. Boston will send Garrett Crochet to the mound to start a three-game series from American Family Field. First pitch is set for 2:10 p.m. ET and you can catch the complete game on NESN.