The Boston Red Sox continue to trend in the wrong direction and will look to avoid a three-game sweep on Wednesday when they conclude a five-game road trip with a matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Rays beat the Red Sox 3-1 on Monday and 4-3 on Tuesday, leaving Boston (27-38) a season-high 11 games under .500.
“(The Rays) have a plan and they’re good at what they do and you just have to be able to adjust and go with what you can get,” said Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle, who allowed four runs in six innings on Tuesday while taking the loss.
“I don’t know how many times I got two strikes, but once again another day where I just couldn’t seem to put them away.”
The Red Sox had just four hits and six baserunners in the Monday setback, and they were limited to six hits and no walks on Tuesday. Boston hasn’t had more than seven hits in any of its past five games and is averaging 2.4 runs per game over that stretch.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Red Sox catcher Mickey Gasper said. “We’re all trying to help the team win, and we’re knocking at the door every night.”
Boston’s lack of punch at the plate has been particularly evident late in games. The Red Sox scored twice in the eighth inning on Tuesday to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-3, but they failed to score again even though the tying run was on second with no outs.
Boston has a 1-32 record when behind after seven innings, and the Red Sox have lost all 35 times when they trailed entering the ninth.
“We hit some balls hard, quite a few actually,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “I’ll say the same thing as (Monday): We had to create more opportunities for ourselves throughout the game.”
Boston will attempt to shake its slump when it faces Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen (5-2, 3.00 ERA) on Wednesday. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 10 career games, including six starts, against the Red Sox.
Rasmussen is coming off arguably his best outing of the season. He threw seven innings of one-hit ball in a 6-0 road win over the Miami Marlins on Friday, striking out nine without issuing a walk.
Boston is expected to recall Jake Bennett (1-1, 4.35) from Triple-A Worcester to start the Wednesday game. The 25-year-old left-hander made his major league debut on May 1, throwing five innings of one-run ball in a win over the Houston Astros.
His only other major league appearance was a start against Tampa Bay on May 7. Bennett allowed four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out one in 5 1/3 innings during an 8-4 loss.
Bennett has pitched superbly for Worcester this year, going 3-2 with a 1.60 ERA in nine starts.
He will try to slow a Tampa Bay offense that scored each of its four runs with two outs on Tuesday.
“It’s just like a mindset,” said Ben Williamson, who went 2-for-4 from the No. 7 spot in the Rays’ batting order. “We don’t quit. Even with two outs, we know that we have a chance to score, cause chaos on the bases and move the ball around.”
Tampa Bay’s four RBIs came from the players hitting in the bottom four spots in the order.
“It was awesome to watch,” Williamson said. “It was awesome to be a part of. Like we’ve said before, this is such a dynamic offense. We have the big three, but then guys can just move the ball, move runners over and get them in at the bottom half of the order.”
–Field Level Media
