The last two weekends, the Red Sox took care of the Yankees winning five of six games against the Bronx Bombers. Those wins inspired hope as the Sox crawled back into the playoff hunt.
The hometown nine then started a seven-game road trip in Minnesota. Boston bested the Twins behind an offensive explosion where they scored 19 runs in two games. James Paxton carved through the Twins’ lineup on Monday striking out seven and Kutter Crawford tossed 6 scoreless frames on Tuesday while not allowing any runs.
Alex Cora’s crew was now riding a six-game heater with an opportunity to do serious damage on the remainder of the road trip.
Everything was coming up Red Sox and it looked like the Jekyll and Hyde team fans have watched all season long had finally turning the page.
But then the wheels fell off and fast.
The Sox snapped a six-game winning streak, losing 5-4 on Wednesday in extra innings. Kaleb Ort wasn’t able to keep the automatic runner from scoring and with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, Kyle Farmer looped a soft single into center field to end the game.
Unfortunately for the Sox, the next game, they faced Twins' ace Joe Ryan. He had a career outing tossing a complete game 6-0 shutout, smothering the Sox offense.
“We faced some good pitching too. The first two nights here. The guys in Minnesota. These teams don’t have good records, but they have good pitching,” said Cora postgame on Sunday. “Disappointed because we started off well, but now we just got to go home, turn the page and be ready for Tuesday.”
The only bright spots that came out of the Twins series were the debuts of both David Hamilton and Brandon Walter.
Hamilton showcased his blazing speed and played a solid defensive shortstop. Walter had a rocky start to his debut, but then settled down. He went 6 ⅔ relief innings, allowing just three runs on six hits in that span. The lefty struck out two and walked three batters; he received a no-decision.
You’d think that the lowly White Sox would be the remedy that cured the Sox' two-game losing streak. Instead, it was just the opposite. Boston’s bats were silent, they scored just six runs over the weekend, managing two home runs, one from Rafael Devers and the other from Triston Casas.
Over the last week, the bats have been missing, Adam Duvall (.130), Masataka Yoshida (.214), Devers (.200) and Kiké Hernández (.118) all failed to produce squandering an opportunity on the road trip to get much needed wins in the standings.
Devers' only home run came during the White Sox series, it was his first blast since his two-homer game against the Rockies at Fenway Park. It's starting to feel like Boston lacks any real protection for Devers in the lineup resulting in the slugger pressing in each and every at-bat.
“I’m not feeling good at the plate,” Devers said to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier while in Minnesota. “To be honest, I’m not who I’m supposed to be at the plate.”
Devers is hitting .241 with 18 homers and 60 RBI with a .798 OPS and a 112 wRC+. He is among the league leaders in homers but his overall body of work isn’t meeting his expectations.
“I’m not happy with the way that I’m performing this year. I know that I can give way more than what I’m doing right now,” Devers told Speier. “That’s one of the things that kind of stings, that I’m not producing the way I know I can produce.
“I don’t know what it is right now,” he added “I’m working on stuff in the cage. Sometimes I’m trying to look for a pitch and they don’t throw it to me, and then when they throw it, I’m already late.”
The fact of the matter is the Sox lack any serious and consistent thump in the lineup. Gone are the days of Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez helping to protect the All-Star third baseman.
Duvall was thought to be one of the players to help give some thunder in the lineup but since returning from his broken wrist on June 9, he’s only hitting .163 with one homer, four RBI and has a .268 OBP.
There have been rumors the Sox could shop Duvall with the emergence of Jarren Duran. There’s a case to be made for the Sox to move on from the slugger, especially since Duran and his ability to play center field every day.
Duran has provided the Sox lineup a spark with blazing speed. He stole three bases during Saturday afternoon’s 5-4 loss to the White Sox. Since he was called up from Triple-A Worcester in mid-April and has since stolen 14 bases in 15 attempts over 58 games. The California native has also put pressure on opposing defenses by turning singles into doubles. Duran has a career-high 21 doubles on the season.
Trading Duvall might fly in the face of pleading for the Sox to find help for Devers. Duvall has been streaky his entire major league career and the Sox should upgrade. Boston will get Trevor Story back in a few weeks, but by then it could be too late for the up-and-down Sox.
If Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox are serious about a playoff push, he needs to find reinforcements that will help Cora’s roster. The Sox need a starter, possibly a left-handed reliever and most importantly someone in the lineup that can ignite the offense. You’d think that would be Devers, but he needs help and fast.