Red Sox fall behind early and never recover in 8-4 loss to Pirates

The Red Sox spent most of Friday night trying to dig themselves out of another early hole.

Every time they made some progress, the Pirates pushed them right back into it.

Boston fell behind by four runs through four innings and never fully recovered in an 8-4 loss at PNC Park, continuing a difficult road trip and an offensive funk that has followed the Red Sox since their nine-game winning streak came to an end.

The Red Sox have now lost six of their last seven games and are 1-4 through the first five games of the trip. For the sixth time in their last seven, they failed to score more than four runs.

“Obviously we’re not playing the way we want to,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “We’re not winning enough games, not winning enough games the way we want to.

“They’re still fighting. I think most guys in that room know, like you know, teams go through this. The key is you know we have to find a way to get ourselves going again, get on another stretch, go in the other direction, and if you do that, this all becomes a forgotten thing. But we’re still looking for that, so you know there’s been signs of life here the last couple days with the at-bats, which is good, but no, you know, nobody’s happy about it.”

“It’s not it’s not fun going through it,” Tracy concluded, “but we have to find a way to get out of it.”

Jake Bennett allowed just one hit through his first three innings, but that hit was a solo homer by Ronny Simon in the second. Things unraveled for Bennett an inning later when the Pirates began consistently squaring him up.

Pittsburgh collected four hits and scored three times in the fourth, stretching its lead to 4-0 and putting the Red Sox in catch-up mode.

The southpaw’s night ended there, marking it the first time in 14 major league starts that Bennett failed to complete five innings. 

“Just wasn’t able to execute,” Bennett told reporters following the game. “It’s definitely disappointing. I want to try and go as deep into games as I can, and just try and give my team the best chance to win.”

From June 17 through July 17, Bennett went 4-1 with a 1.17 ERA across six starts, holding opponents to a .152 average while walking just four and striking out 30 over 38 1/3 innings.

Since July 22, Bennett is 2-3 with a 5.67 ERA over five starts. Opponents have collected 31 hits in 27 innings, and Friday marked his fifth consecutive outing allowing at least three runs.

“I’m not overly concerned,” Tracy told reporters postgame. “I think we left some soft pitches in very hittable spots, is all it was. They were obviously able to string some stuff together against JB.”

Boston finally showed some life in the fifth.

After being held scoreless through four, the Red Sox pushed across two runs to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 4-2 and give themselves a chance to climb back into the game.

The Pirates answered immediately when Jovani Morán hit Nick Gonzales with a pitch near the head to begin the bottom of the fifth and eventually found himself with runners at second and third. Morán was two strikes away from escaping the inning when he left a changeup over the middle of the plate to Brandon Lowe.

The longtime Red Sox nemesis launched a three-run homer into the right-field seats, turning a two-run game into a 7-2 deficit.

The Red Sox tried to chip away again in the seventh, scoring once to make it 7-3.

Again, Pittsburgh answered in the bottom half.

That was the story of the night. Whenever Boston created a little momentum, the Pirates quickly took it away.

The Red Sox had opportunities to make things more interesting, particularly in the middle innings. They stranded at least one runner in every inning from the fourth through the seventh, including two in the seventh after putting the first two hitters aboard.

Boston finished 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

The offensive struggles are becoming difficult to ignore. Over the first five games of the road trip, the Red Sox are hitting .239 with a .686 OPS. With runners in scoring position, that average falls to .176.

And while the offense has struggled, Boston’s starting pitching has largely done enough to keep games manageable. Red Sox starters own a 2.79 ERA on the trip compared to a 6.00 ERA from the bullpen.

Friday was an exception for the rotation, with Bennett unable to get through five.

The Red Sox also ran themselves out of a potential run in the fourth.

With Willson Contreras at first and two outs, Wilyer Abreu drove a ball to the warning track in right-center. Contreras was moving on contact, but with the veteran still dealing with a leg issue, third base coach Chad Epperson aggressively waved him home.

The decision didn’t work as Contreras was thrown out at the plate rather easily, ending the inning and another Boston scoring opportunity.

There was at least one defensive highlight.

Before the game, Tracy praised Eli White’s ability to handle all three outfield positions. White quickly backed up those comments when Simon drove a ball deep into left-center in the first inning.

White covered plenty of ground before making the catch on the warning track just shy of the wall. The ball carried a .490 expected batting average, but White made it look routine.

Alec Gamboa also provided something Boston badly needed after Bennett’s short outing.

The recently recalled reliever covered the final three innings, allowing only an unearned run on one hit. With the bullpen already dealing with the loss of Garrett Whitlock to elbow inflammation, Gamboa’s ability to finish the game prevented Tracy from burning through additional arms.

But there wasn’t much else to feel good about.

A week ago, the Red Sox were riding a nine-game winning streak and seemingly finding a different way to win every night.

Now they’ve lost six of seven, the offense has cooled considerably, and the bullpen has become an issue.

Boston will try to get things moving in the right direction Saturday night when Sonny Gray (14-3, 2.79 ERA) faces Pirates right-hander Jared Jones (2-4, 5.03 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET on Fox.