So much for playing well on the road.<\/p>\n
One of the few things the Boston Red Sox had done well this season was playing better away from Fenway Park, entering their road trip with a 16-14 mark on the road. After winning the first game in New York on Friday night against the Yankees, the Red Sox dropped their next four games, including a three-game sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays.<\/p>\n
The 7-5 loss on Wednesday moved the Red Sox to 12 games below .500, their most since 2020.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox offense battled back late with three homers and got a solid outing from their rookie pitcher, but it wasn\u2019t enough in a season that\u2019s been full of disappointment and shortcomings.<\/p>\n
Thursday marks an off day before the Red Sox return home Friday\u00a0for three games against the Texas Rangers and three against the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough,\u201d interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters of the trip. \u201cGot off to a really good start in New York, then the way it finished, yeah, I think it\u2019ll be good for everybody to have a breather (Thursday).\u201d<\/p>\n
A few takeaways from the Tampa series:<\/p>\n
Offensive inconsistencies abound<\/p>\n
After a brutal start to the game in which Rays starter Drew Rasmussen struck out 13, the Red Sox showed some late life with two homers in the eighth inning to pull within 5-4.<\/p>\n
Caleb Durbin hit a solo homer to lead off the eighth, and Ceddanne Rafaela followed with a three-run homer to make it a one-run game. Reliever Justin Slaten extinguished any hope of a comeback, though, giving up a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. Durbin, on a tear the last two weeks, hit another homer in the ninth to make it 7-5.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done that a lot, and it hurts more,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cYou get back to within a run and feel like you\u2019re there and you\u2019re one more swing away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those were the silver linings in an otherwise dreadful offensive day.<\/p>\n
Rasmussen was so dominant early that the top four Red Sox hitters went 0-for-11 with 11 strikeouts and a hit by pitch. Rafaela, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu each struck out three times in their first three at-bats. According to the NESN broadcast, it marked the first time since 1901 that a team\u2019s top three batters struck out in nine straight plate appearances to start a game.<\/p>\n
Boston\u2019s offensive inconsistencies appeared to turn a corner in mid-May, hitting .279 with a .775 OPS in 15 games from May 15 to May 31. The Red Sox averaged 4.7 runs per game, and it looked like they might have finally figured things out.<\/p>\n
Then June arrived.<\/p>\n
Since the start of June, they\u2019ve largely fallen back to wayward at-bats. In eight games this month, they\u2019re averaging 3.3 runs per game and are hitting just .215.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve scored three or fewer runs in five of eight games, once again putting impossible pressure on their starting pitchers.<\/p>\n
Connelly Early and Payton Tolle weren\u2019t at their best in the first two games of the series in Tampa, but they also had a razor-thin margin for error, as did Jake Bennett in his return to the team.<\/p>\n