It’s been a long season for the Boston Red Sox. In particular, it’s been a long season for the Red Sox on offense. That continued on Wednesday, when the Red Sox offense suffered a historic low that hasn’t been seen since 1901.
The top three hitters in the Red Sox lineup, which consisted of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu, all struck out in each of their first three at-bats of the game. No team has done that since 1901. Tyler Milliken of the Section 10 podcast pointed this out on social media.
“The Red Sox are making history with their first 3 hitters in the lineup striking out for the 3rd consecutive time to start the game. No team has done that since 1901. @NESN booth is all over it. Drew Rasmussen also has a career-high with 12 Ks. Downright embarrassing,” Milliken wrote.
In his fourth at-bat, Duran was able to break the trend with a single. Rafaela then hit a home run, which actually got the Red Sox to bring what had seemed like a doomed game to within one run. It wouldn’t be enough, though, and Boston went on to lose 7-5, dropping Boston to 27-39 on the season.
Even with the eighth-inning rally, they had already made the kind of history you never want to see. No team had such a bad performance from the top three spots in the order since 1901, and for context, the World Series began in 1903.
Interim Manager Chad Tracy on the Boston Red Sox’s Struggles
GettyBoston Red Sox manager Chad Tracy
Prior to the game in Tampa on Wednesday, interim manager Chad Tracy addressed the struggles that the Boston Red Sox have had. In particular, their poor play at the plate.
Tracy would point the finger at an inability to take walks. The Red Sox entered the week with four walks over their last five games. Through the first seven games in June, they only drew nine walks. That’s the fewest in MLB while Boston is scuffling to a 2-5 record going into play on Wednesday.
“It’s that simple,” Tracy said.
Boston drew three walks in the loss on Wednesday to the Rays. It’s a bit better, but it’s also not a surprise that the top of the lineup had a historic bottoming out. They’re now just 2-6 in May.
The Red Sox are Looking to Trade for a Right-Handed Bat
GettyBoston Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow
Boston Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow has said that it’s early, as far as Trade Deadline discussions go. Despite that, there are reports that the Red Sox don’t believe they’re out of it yet and would like to add a right-handed bat.
Some reports have even suggested that a member of Red Sox ownership is speaking to teams around MLB. The hope is that it will help land a trade.
This comes in what has been a disaster of a season offensively for the Red Sox. Going into play on Wednesday, Boston was 30th in home runs, with 51. They were also 29th in runs scored, at 257. That’s despite hitting .243 as a team, which is good for 13th, demonstrating how difficult it’s been for the Red Sox to hit with runners in scoring position. That’s a deadly combo when combined with their power outage.
With Wednesday’s loss to the Rays, Boston is now 6-14 against the AL East, 1-36 when trailing at any point by two runs or more, and 12 games under .500. They’ll return to Fenway Park this weekend to play the Texas Rangers.
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