The Sox had an incredible 1 for 19 record with runners in scoring position and left 17 runners on base.
“As I always said, the team is throwing at the blue at this stage,” said Cora afterwards. “Either you hit it with your B swing or you take it. At the moment we’re not there yet.”
Cooper Criswell allowed his first of three singles in the 12th, starting with Byron Buxton’s through the left side. With runners on first and third base, Trevor Larnach hit a high chopper just out of Criswell’s reach for the lead. Matt Wallner’s RBI single made it a two-run game before the Twins extended their lead to three on a sacrifice fly.
The Sox faced seven pitchers, led by starter David Festa. All seven had at least one strikeout, Festa six of them. To make the team’s nightmare Friday night even worse, the team missed 46 times, the most in the major leagues this year.
“Frustrating,” said Story, who hit an RBI single against Festa in the fourth inning. “It’s as simple as that. It’s kind of hard to believe at this point that we’re playing that offensively.”
“It’s just hard. It’s hard to imagine because I know what kind of people we have, what kind of offense we have. But right now it’s a low point that we can’t shake off.”
The bitter aftertaste of Friday’s loss was just another reminder of how bad the Sox were on offense.
The Red Sox only managed five runs in their recent loss to the Rays. The club managed 33 strikeouts and just two walks – a recipe for failure. To make matters worse, the Sox had an on-base percentage of .130, which is the lowest in a three-game series since 1909.
In Thursday night’s loss, the club managed just one hit and had just one baserunner. The last time that happened was on Sept. 2, 2001, when Mike Mussina was one out away from a perfect game that was broken up by Carl Everett.
“I’ve seen this for 13 years (as a player),” manager Alex Cora said before the game. “All that chasing hits doesn’t work. I think controlling the strike zone and looking for pitches in certain areas works right. A walk works, you just have to have a good at-bat.”
“That’s what I (us) want to achieve. And it hasn’t happened.”
Still, Richard Fitts managed five scoreless innings and allowed just five hits. Fitts is the first pitcher in Sox history to throw more than five innings in his first three career starts without allowing an earned run. Only one other pitcher in MLB history has accomplished that: Andrew Abbott of the Reds in 2023.
Luis Guerrero worked a scoreless sixth run and Chris Martin came on for the seventh. Buxton hit a single up the middle and stole second base, undermining Story’s tag. Larnach hit a single to right, putting runners on the corners for Carlos Correa.
Correa hit a ball to Rafael Devers at third base, who went to second base for a double play attempt that would have ended the inning. However, the throw landed behind Enmanuel Valdez at second base. Although the Sox managed to force out, Correa was safe at first base, allowing the tying run to be scored.
This means the Sox have made 16 blown saves since the All-Star break, which is a new team record.
But again it was the offensive that stalled.
“We just didn’t get it right,” Story said. “It’s hard to say exactly what the problem is. Did we try too hard or whatever. If you could say exactly, you could sort of solve it right away.”
You can reach Julian McWilliams at [email protected]. Follow him @vonJulianMack.
