BOSTON — The Red Sox’ demanding schedule coming out of the All-Star break — three straight series against division-leading teams — was difficult enough. But that stretch has been made harder still by the team’s scuffling offense.
In five of the first seven games to kick off the second half, the Red Sox have been held to two runs or fewer — up to and including Friday night, when the Sox mustered just five hits and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2.
The loss was Boston’s fifth in the last seven games.
Sometimes that’s been the result of facing excellent pitching. And sometimes, like Friday, the Red Sox haven’t helped their cause with the quality of their at-bats or their approach.
That was the case right from the first inning when the Sox used two walks from Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan to give themselves a first-and-second, one-out chance, but couldn’t take advantage.
Meanwhile, in the third, the Sox having scored what would be their only two runs of the night, had another runner in scoring position with no out and again failed to cash in.
“It was more (on) us tonight than them,” said Alex Cora. “But you’re going to have nights like that. We still put pressure on them throughout the evening, but it wasn’t enough.”
From the fourth through the eighth, the Red Sox barely stirred. At one point, Dodger pitching retired 18 of 19 Red Sox hitters with only a two-out single from Masataka Yoshida to break up the monotony.
In the ninth, a leadoff double from Trevor Story and a two-out hit-by-pitch for Romy Gonzalez brought the tying run to the plate. But Rob Refsnyder hit a topper to second for the final out.
“I think we just have to continue to grind,” said Alex Bregman, “and pass the torch to the next guy. I feel like for the last month, our best games offensively, we’ve just thrown together good at-bat after good at-bat. Obviously, we’ve been facing good pitchers.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in this group. We just have to get it rolling.”
It hasn’t helped that the Sox have frequently been playing from behind in the second half. The opposition has scored multiple runs before the Sox have scored at all in five of the last seven.
“It’s always hard (to play that way),” acknowledged Cora. “It happened earlier in the season. But I think we keep grinding and putting up good at-bats, and we’re right back in the game.”
“Obviously, you want to get off to a good start each game,” said Bregman. “The mentality of trying to grind and controlling what you can control offensively (is important)….I feel like, just overall, quality preparation and execution on the field is really important. When you’re playing against really against really good ballclubs in the last week, execution is key.
“We just have to do a better job all around. I’m confident in this group and I think we will.”
Another sign of struggle: the Red Sox didn’t homer Friday, dropping their record in such contests to 9-26.
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