BSJ Game Report: Rays 4, Red Sox 1 - Sox sloppy again in yet another frustrating loss to AL East foe

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Red Sox no match for McClanahan 

Entering Wednesday night, the Red Sox had won 14 of their last 15 games when their starter logged at least six innings. 

And sure enough, Josh Winckowski met such a quota against the Rays at Tropicana Field, giving up four hits and three runs over six innings in his seventh career start.

The numbers might have been on Boston’s side as far as the pitching was concerned. But when an ace like Shane McClanahan is opposing you on the mound, it might be best to throw those numbers out the window.

Because the Rays’ southpaw gave Boston’s bats fits all evening — giving up one run over 6 1/3 innings and only tossing 85 pitches en route to 4-1 Sox loss down in St. Petersburg. 

With the loss, Boston has now dropped seven of its last nine games and is now 11-23 in games against AL East opponents. Even after McClanahan was eventually pulled in the seventh inning while he was cruising along, Boston was unable to capitalize — with the Sox going quietly over the final 2 2/3 innings and only connecting on two hits. 

Sox continue to struggle with execution

Yes, the Red Sox’ bats were stymied by McClanahan for most of the evening. But once again, Boston’s sloppy play and bone-headed decisions on the diamond further twisted the knife in a lackluster showing against a divisional opponent. 

After throwing away a win against Tampa on Tuesday following a botched play between Matt Strahm and Franchy Cordero, Boston shot itself in the foot yet again. 

Be it Rafael Devers running into an out while trying to advance from second to third after Francisco Mejia fumbled with a ball behind home plate — or Boston letting a baserunner score from first on a seeing-eye single into shallow right field — the Red Sox routinely made things easy for the Rays in this one. 

TURNING POINT

Devers’ baserunning blunder in the fourth sapped any momentum that was generated after he doubled out to right field, but the most frustrating stretch might have been in the following frame — when singles from Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo put runners on first and third with no outs.

Boston did manage to push across the run, but it was the result of Christian Vazquez grounding into a double play. Bobby Dalbec then struck out to end the once promising inning. 

TWO UP

Xander Bogaerts: Bogarts will get dinged for sleepwalking on that ugly relay sequence in the seventh, but the Sox shortstop did manage to go 2-for-3 at the plate with a double. 

Josh Winckowski: He was handed the loss, but Winkowski did his part — with one of the runs he relinquished coming off of a soft pop-up by Harold Ramirez that managed to drop into no-man’s land. All things considered, the Sox will take a start in which their rookie goes six deep with just four hits allowed. 

TWO DOWN

Rob Refsnyder: Along with the lack of urgency on that relay sequence in the seventh, Refsnyder also fanned twice from the leadoff spot.

Bobby Dalbec: After striking out twice in three at-bats, Dalbec’s batting average is now sitting at .205. 

QUOTE OF NOTE

“It’s a lot of mistakes. It’s costing us games. We need to start playing better baseball if we want to be the team we envisioned in spring training.” - Alex Cora

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING 

The Red Sox are now 0-10-1 in series against AL East opponents this season. 

Boston is now 2-7 in its last nine road games. 

Jake Diekman has now allowed at least one baserunner in nine straight outings. 

UP NEXT 

The Red Sox will look to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Rays on Thursday — with RHP Kutter Crawford (2-2, 4.50 ERA) set to go up against RHP Drew Rasmussen (5-3, 3.11). First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.