BOSTON — Whatever low expectations there were for the Boston Red Sox offense, through 24 games they’ve been decidedly worse.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox were nearly shut out at Fenway Park for the second straight night, escaping that ignominious fate by scratching out a run in the ninth inning of a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees.

Wednesday’s lineup was without Roman Anthony, who sat out with a sore back and will be reevaluated Thursday.

Manager Alex Cora tried to change the lineup — yet again — sliding Ceddanne Rafaela up to the leadoff spot and inserting Andruw Monasterio against tough lefty Max Fried.

“Trying to get something going,” Cora said before the game. “We haven’t hit. That’s the reality of it.”

It didn’t work Wednesday either.

Cora hasn’t used the same lineup more than four times this season as he’s searched for ways to jump-start a sluggish team that is collectively slumping.

Part of the problem is that the Red Sox rank second-to-last in baseball in zone swing percentage at 61.9 percent, meaning they’re not swinging at pitches in the heart of the zone.

“You do damage in the middle, in the heart of the plate,” Cora said. “And I think sometimes we take too many pitches there, and we swing at too many pitches on the edges. So we have to flip-flop that and start doing damage and hitting the ball hard.”

Asked why so many batters in the lineup have been letting hittable pitches pass by, Cora said it’s part of “their DNA.”

“You are who you are,” Cora said. “Some people are very passive on 0-0 in the first at-bat; then flip the script in the second at-bat, they become more aggressive. Or they’re patient with nobody on, and then with men in scoring position they solve the at-bat right away. We just have to make sure we swing at the right ones. Whoever you are, if you’re passive or aggressive, swing at the ones you can do damage.”

But the empty at-bats piled up Wednesday as Fried pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits. The Red Sox went down in order in two separate innings on just eight pitches.

Their best chance came in the second, down 3-0 after the Yankees attacked Ranger Suarez, snapping his 14-inning scoreless streak, in the first. Monasterio led off with a walk, and Jarren Duran, who’d been 0-for-13 against Fried, smacked a double off the wall. But Caleb Durbin, Connor Wong and Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out in order to end the inning.

The Red Sox had one hit in the second, third and fourth, but not another until the ninth when Trevor Story singled and Duran, who had his first three-hit night of the season, drove him in.

In the first six games of the homestand, the Red Sox have scored a total of 13 runs, eight of which came in Monday’s win.

“I’d say we’re putting pressure on ourselves,” Duran said. “I think that we’re just trying to do too much. We’re trying to dig ourselves out of a hole. But I mean, at the end of the day, we’re not really in a hole, it’s still early.

“We are really young, and it’s just getting through those bumps and bruises,” he said. “I remember I took my bumps and bruises coming up playing in the big leagues. We got some young guys that are in here for the first time. And it’s just one of those things. It’s just baseball. We’re going to get through it together.”

Where does the pressure come from?

“Ourselves. We’re in Boston,” Duran said. “It’s a big market. And we want to produce for the fans and produce for ourselves and for the team. The Red Sox have a big legacy that obviously, even if you try not to put that pressure on yourself, it’s there. It’s just part of it. But we have a hardworking team. It sucks you guys don’t get to see what we do behind these walls every single day. But I know everybody’s working, and I know people are going to say, ‘Oh, well, you should work harder.’”

The lone bright spot Wednesday came in the sixth inning, when Eduardo Rivera, who’d been called up straight from Double A earlier in the day, made his big-league debut by striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr. Rivera pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three.

Given his lengthy outing, it’s likely Rivera will be optioned to Triple-A Worcester, where he’d been promoted Sunday but for whom he never made an appearance. Following Sonny Gray’s injury, the Red Sox pushed back starters Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet a day, creating an opening for Thursday’s start. Cora would not confirm it after the game, but Payton Tolle is expected to be called up from Triple A to make the start.

Nevertheless, it will be a tall task for Tolle if the Red Sox’s bats once again fail to show up.