In 2015, the Red Sox entered their final homestand of the first half with a chance to make some noise in the AL East and head into trade season as buyers.

They won four of their first five games, improving to 41-45 and leaving a sliver of hope with one final first-half set against the Yankees.

In the fourth inning of the series opener on a Friday night, Clay Buchholz walked off the mound clutching his elbow. His season was over, and so, too, were the Red Sox’ playoff hopes after losing two of three to the Yankees and seven straight out of the break.

This time around, things aren’t so dire for the Red Sox (42-36) but after going just 10-16 in June and falling 51⁄2 games behind the first-place Orioles, the importance of these final nine games — six of which will be played against teams currently in last place (Angels and Rays) — cannot be overstated.

“It would be nice to get a winning homestand for sure,” said shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

“We’re going to be together all the way to the end,” said first baseman Hanley Ramirez. “Nobody’s quitting, everybody keeps coming early and getting their job done and get ready to play every day.”

Offense hasn’t been the team’s problem this season, but it showed clear signs of slowing down in June.

While the Sox scored 126 runs in 26 games, averaging about five runs per game, they hit just 27 homers. Only the A’s and Royals hit fewer in the American League.

One issue that manager John Farrell noticed was the Sox’ tendency to become pull-happy. After hitting balls to the opposite field 28.6 percent of the time in April, that number dropped to 25.6 percent in May and 24.3 percent in June, ranking 25th in the majors.

One could also say their good luck ran out. After having a .340 batting average on balls in play in April and a .342 in May, their June number was just .308.

“You can’t be hot the whole time,” said Bogaerts, who ironically has been hot all season, hitting .324 in June and .342 overall this year. “Personally, you’re going to go through a tough stretch. It’s just a matter of how quick you snap out of it. We’re struggling a bit as a team, all phases of the game. We have to get back to that type of game we used to play.”

The Sox were particularly bad at cashing in opportunities. They hit just .259 with runners in scoring position in June.

“It happens, it’s a long season,” said Ramirez, who hit .229 in June. “You’re going to have ups and downs. We just have to get ready for this moment and try and get out of it. We’re just going to keep playing and hopefully everything comes together and hopefully that’s the difference.”

On the pitching side, the Red Sox posted a 4.88 ERA in June with a 5.24 ERA out of the starting rotation. Overall, they allowed 1.64 home runs per nine innings, ranking 29th in the majors.

The Sox pitchers have posted a 68.5 percent strand rate (league average is 73 percent), indicating they’ve allowed too many hits with runners on base, a fact that shows they are not making their best pitches in sticky situations.

Slumping Angels

The Angels enter their three-game series at Fenway Park after winning just eight games in June, their lowest total in the month since 1980. And, according to the Los Angeles Times, manager Mike Scioscia called a closed-door team meeting on Wednesday, two days after Farrell did the same thing with the Red Sox.

Runs should be en vogue this series as three of the five scheduled starters (the Sox haven’t named one for Sunday) have ERAs worse than 5.25 and only one is under 4.10 (Steven Wright, who gets the ball tonight, is at 2.18).

However, Los Angeles’ Sunday starter, Matt Shoemaker, has been a bright spot of late.

Over his last eight starts, he has posted an impressive 1.87 ERA in 572⁄3 innings with 68 strikeouts and only five walks. (Series matchups, stats on Page 62.)

Changes on tap

Brock Holt is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list today after being out for about six weeks recovering from a concussion. Ryan Hanigan could also be activated, though president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski could not say for sure when asked yesterday.

“We will have announcements (today) in regards to our roster,” he said. …

Per Pawtucket’s official game notes, Henry Owens is still scheduled to pitch tonight, which would take him out of the running to make Sunday’s start against the Angels.

Roenis Elias pitched on Wednesday, leaving 27-year-old Aaron Wilkerson as the leading candidate to get the nod. Wilkerson, a former Independent League pitcher, has a 2.20 ERA with the PawSox this season and has yet to pitch in the majors.

Sean O’Sullivan, who made two starts for the Red Sox earlier this season, could also be considered after he was scratched from last night’s scheduled start.