McAdam: Offense fails to deliver for Red Sox - again

The momentum of a four-game winning streak and having closed the gap in the East by three games since last weekend should have given the Red Sox something of a lift at the start of a big homestand.

It did not.

None of that meant much when the Red Sox were faced with trying to solve Tampa Bay Rays righthander Yonny Chirinos. Chirinos retired the first 15 hitters he faced and when the Sox finally broke through in the sixth, loading the bases with one out, made sure that things went no further.

He fanned Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers back-to-back and the Sox mustered just three more hits -- and one rather meaningless run -- over the final three innings in a deflating 5-1 setback to the Rays.

Boston managed a mere for hits all night. That four-game winning streak in which they scored at least seven runs each time didn't matter much Friday night.



"We haven't been good for a while with men in scoring position,'' said Alex Cora. "We haven't been good with the bases loaded for the last month. Obviously, (Chirinos') stuff was good, but we had a chance there with the bases loaded and we didn't put the ball in play, so...

"We've got to keep getting better. There are certain things with the offense that they haven't done this season. I know the numbers look great and they're very similar to last season, but it doesn't feel the same.''

Indeed, it doesn't — especially against quality opponents. It's one thing to beat up the lowly Kansas City pitching staff and something else entirely against Tampa Bay, which entered Friday night with the A.L.'s best staff ERA at 2.99.

Among the underachievers to date is Mookie Betts, whose .841 OPS, while hardly embarrassing, is far from the offensive force he was last year when he captured the AL MVP award. And if Cora thought returning Betts to the leadoff spot - as he did a week ago -- was going to spark a turnaround by the outfielder, it's yet to happen. In fact, since assuming the top spot in the batting order, Betts is just 3-for-26 (.115).

When questioned about his swing, Betts noted: "It's coming along. I've got to do better, but it's a work in progress.''

Quizzed about the team's struggles with runners in scoring position, Betts was no more effusive.

"Not sure,'' he shrugged. "It could be a combination of things -- they make some pitches (or) we chase. It's just one of those things where we've got to do better.''

Cora held out hope that Betts isn't far off, noting that he's done well to control the strike zone and hasn't become overly aggressive in chasing pitches.

"It seems like he's missing his pitch,'' Cora observed. "But as far as controlling the zone, he's still staying within. That's a positive. It's just a matter of time. If he keeps going that, good things are going to happen. He's hitting the ball in the air and he's pushing hard to get that swing, but right now, it's not there yet.''

And neither, it follows, are the Red Sox.

Hitting coach Tim Hyers, assessing the lineup as a whole, has noticed a number of hitters who are perhaps pressing too much, resulting in worse -- not better -- at-bats.

"That's when you get a little rotational,' he explained, "and come off some balls that you usually square up. (Betts) is one of those guys. He's trying to help the team out, help them win and they spin the ball away from him a lot and sometimes I think he overswings a little bit and gets himself out front. We're seeing more cue shots and rollover than we have in the past.''

At better than a third of the way through the schedule, only Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers have consistently produced while Betts, Andrew Benintendi and J.D. Martinez, have, for a variety of reasons, suffered drop-offs.

That slippage is even more pronounced against better teams like Tampa Bay -- and New York and Houston, for that matter. If the Red Sox are going to close the gap in the A.L. East, they'll need to up their offensive game against the kind of quality pitching those teams roll out on a nightly basis.