BOSTON — Hitters go through slumps all the time in the big leagues. But it seems like early in the season, the Boston Red Sox are going through a slump in the field.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t disagree as Boston committed two crucial defensive miscues — only one was recorded as an error — in the eighth inning in Thursday night’s 9-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in 10 innings at Fenway Park.
Boston was charged with three unearned runs in the defeat and lead all of MLB in that category, signaling the defensive lapses that other teams take advantage of on a regular basis.
“Feels that way,” Cora said on the defense snowballing. “It started a while ago. We had some big games and lately, it’s been routine plays, too. I always say the metrics are the metrics and you want to be great at that, but the routine plays we have to turn into outs. That’s one for me as a manager, I always say we can talk about range and first step, arm strength and all that, but out conversion at this level is a must. We’ve been missing a lot of routine plays the last five or six games and we’ve paid the price.”
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Boston’s defensive mistakes haunted the Red Sox as they tried to protect a one-run lead in the eighth. Pablo Reyes committed a fielding error at third base to begin the frame.
But the Red Sox almost put that behind them when it looked like Ceddanne Rafaela, who subbed in at second base, and David Hamilton combined to turn an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. The only issue was Hamilton didn’t touch second base on his turn.
That proved massive as the Red Sox brought on right-handed reliever Greg Weissert, and his first offering to Anthony Santander wound up in the right-field stands to give Baltimore the lead.
“I just got to the bag and (Rafaela) was pretty close to it, so I just assumed that he would get there himself,” Hamilton said of the misplay. “That’s wrong by me to assume that. I got to be there and be ready to turn the page. Not much else to say.”
The Red Sox were relying on Trevor Story to stabilize the infield at shortstop. But with Story suffering a shoulder injury the will cause him to miss the rest of the season, the Red Sox have been forced to go to a platoon at the position and the defense has taken a hit because of it.
We’re not converting outs. Something we’ve talked about the whole time,” Cora said. “We got to turn the page with Trevor. He’s not going to be here. That’s the bottom line. We have to step up. Whoever is playing, they’re capable. They showed it in camp. We played some clean baseball. Now obviously, the lights and the third deck come into play and every game matters, every inning matters.
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