A few days ago, the Boston Red Sox were in their best position of the season. They had won six games in a row and 10 of their last 12. They even cut the gap to the AL East leaders to just four games — but now, they’re facing their worst stretch in three years.
Alex Cora‘s team has lost six straight games, marking their longest losing streak of the season and their worst since September 2022. They now trail the New York Yankees by 8.0 games.
«It’s an opponent that has been good against us,» said manager Alex Cora after Friday’s 9–0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. «[José Berríos] uses his changeup to expand the zone. Now he has the backdoor sweeper. He has a good arsenal, but we just have to be better. We just have to be better.»
Bryan Bello ran into some trouble during the first two innings but then retired 12 of his last 14 opponents.
«Obviously, I didn’t have my best stuff today,» the right-hander said. «I was battling and fighting every single batter. I know the first couple of innings were long, but I was able to get quick outs in the second half of the game.»
The Red Sox have only scored twice in the past 18 innings and only four runs in the past three games.
«I feel like we are putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to score a bunch of runs every single game,» said Jarren Durán after the game. «When we are at our best, we are just stringing the bats together, passing the baton, and right now I feel like we are looking for that one big hit, like a homer or something.»
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«It feels a little tense right now,» said Duran after the game. «We are grinding right now, and I feel like that’s part of it. I just have to have a quality at-bat, which is more important than trying to force a hit — even if it’s a walk, or hitting the ball hard and maybe they make an error or something — just getting on base.»
Photo: @MLBNetwork
