There was no Mother's Day Miracle for the Red Sox on Sunday, nothing to invite warm, nostalgic thoughts about that May game back in 2007, when the Red Sox improbably rallied from being down 5-0 in the ninth inning to a stirring come-from-behind victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
This year, the miracle would have been scoring say, five runs for the entire game. That's something the Red Sox have done just eight times in the first 29 games.
The 2021 Red Sox, meanwhile, averaged 5.11 runs per game. You could pretty much count on them scoring at least five runs every day last year.
This year? Not so much.
Through 29 games, they're averaging 3.2 runs per game. And if you exclude the first week of the season when the Red Sox scored five or more three times, then the average is far closer to two runs per game.
There are cries that the baseball has been deadened. But the entire Red Sox lineup looks lifeless.
It was more of the same Sunday as the Red Sox dropped their fifth in a row. They scored their only two runs in the sixth inning. In the eight others, they were blanked.
Alex Cora re-inserted Kike Hernandez in the leadoff spot, having removed him from the leadoff role a few weeks back. But nothing changed -- Hernandez worked a leadoff walk in the first, then went 0-for-3 the rest of the way.
With Hernandez back in the top spot, Trevor Story was demoted to No. 2. If this were a true meritocracy, Story would perhaps not be playing at all, but the Red Sox have to give him the opportunity to fight his way out of the worst start of his career. Sunday, though, was not the day for that breakthrough as Story looked as overmatched as he's been all year, with an 0-for-4 afternoon that included three more strikeouts. In the last four games, all losses, Story has struck out 10 times, and his strikeout rate for the season is now 34 percent -- among the highest rates of any qualified hitter in either league.
The Sox' inability to adjust in big situations continues to croak them.
Take the fourth inning when two consecutive singles from Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts gave the Sox two baserunners and no out. Surely, this would be the breakout inning for which the Sox had been waiting.
Or maybe not. Four pitches later, J.D. Martinez had hit into a double play and Christian Vazquez had taken a called third strike. End of rally, and as much as it signaled more offensive futility for the home team, effectively the end of their best chance.
Was there some bad luck involved? Perhaps. In the ninth inning, Martinez clubbed a pitch from reliever Jose Ruiz high off the wall. Hit into a stiff gale wind blowing it, the ball almost certainly would have been over the wall for a game-tying homer on a normal day. Instead, Martinez had to be satisfied with a double.
Still, the potential tying run at second base with no outs in the ninth isn't a bad place to be especially with White Sox closer Liam Hendriks unavailable because of his recent workload.
Any optimism quickly evaporated, however, when an over-eager Christian Vazquez inexplicably swung at the very next pitch and popped it up to second. The catcher failed to accomplish the bare minimum by hitting the ball on the ground to the right side to help advance pinch-runner, Franchy Cordero. Two at-bats later -- a strikeout and a flyout -- and the White Sox were out of the inning.
It's difficult to know what the Sox should try next, beyond refusing to give Bobby Dalbec any at-bats in the near future. Dalbec struck out in each of his first two at-bats and is now hitting just .139. Like Story, he's fanning in about a third of his plate appearances. Cordero should get some playing time at first, if for no other reason than he seems capable of at least putting the ball in play on a semi-regular basis.
At this point, just three Red Sox regulars are providing competitive at-bats -- Devers, Bogaerts and Martinez. But no one is getting on base in front of them, and no one is providing protection behind them. It will be interesting to see how long the trio can maintain plate discipline as teams choose to pitch around the only three hitters capable of doing any damage at all.
After the game, Cora engaged in some gallows humor and noting the need to make adjustments, said he would probably shave the beard he's had since spring training.
It's unlikely such a move will kickstart the offense. Then again, it's not like he has any more options available to him.