(Photo: WCVB TV)

The Red Sox now find themselves 3-8 on the season and their road trip which felt like a lifetime is finally over. The Red Sox lost both the Seattle (1-3) and Oakland (1-3) series and were 2-6 as they ventured to their final destination Arizona. Their struggles did not stop there, losing 2 out of 3 to the Diamondbacks. The players will be hanging their heads high however, winning the finale of the road trip, they have the day off Monday, and the home opener Tuesday vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox are too good of a team to be blasting on a nightly basis, but there was much that went wrong during this road trip that cannot happen the rest of the season.



Starting Rotation Struggles



The starting pitching as far as I’m concerned performed at an F Level. On a nightly basis the majority of their starters gave up multiple home runs and could not make it out of the fourth inning. Throughout the 10 games in this road trip with the exception of Sunday (Velazquez started) the nightly rotational guys averaged 5 earned runs per start. 9 out of the 10 starts between the five starters included at least one home run per start. Together, that averages to 1.6 home runs that in some cases included 2 or 3 RBI’s. The unit of Sale, Eovaldi, Rodriguez, Porcello, and Sale look to improve upon this as Sale takes the hill for the home opener Tuesday.



Scoring with Runners in Scoring Position / Lack of Offense



The offense has been off and on throughout the 11 game road trip, as there have been games that they have scored at least 6 runs, but this also included two shutouts (both in Oakland). There have been various situations in which the Red Sox have had the bases loaded and they failed to score. It felt as though when the Red Sox scored early and the other team responded, the offense just simply fell flat. Last Thursday, the offense came out of the gate early and lead 3-0 in the third inning. Oakland responded hitting a 3 run shot in the bottom of the 3rd, followed by another 3 run inning in the bottom of the 3rd. The effort offensively from the Red Sox appeared to be minimal following this. Also, there have been other missed opportunities in which the offense was forced to run more aggressively, as the Red Sox got thrown out trying to advance runners three times in the Oakland series from the arm of Ramon Laureano. Needless to say, Laureano has phenomenal ability, but the base-running as a whole, was strained from the lack of offense. Runners on first, first and second, or bases loaded, the Red Sox inning by inning failed to move runners over and drive in runs.



Fundamentals First



From the numerous errors in the first series of the season, and the lack of communication between Bradley Jr. and Betts in the finale of the Oakland series, the Red Sox have in some cases failed to follow the fundamentals of baseball. It can be said that the Alex Cora approach going into the season was more lenient than last season. Cora noted following last Thursday’s 7-3 loss, “I love paying attention to details and that’s something I took pride (in) last year. And right now we’re not paying attention to details. So that’s on us. That’s on me. That’s on the staff.”



The Red Sox staff as a whole received a rude awakening from the Seattle Mariners in their opening series, and the players know that it takes adversity to overcome what is considered a “World Series hangover” to many. With the Red Sox as favorites to be beat by the rest of the league, it is no surprise teams like the Mariners and Diamondbacks have absolutely dominated the Sox offensively and defensively. It can only be said that the Red Sox will improve and fix up what was previously missing during their upcoming homestand in which they see the Toronto Blue Jays for two games and the Baltimore Orioles for three.



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