The Red Sox are in the midst of a four-game losing streak after falling 7-2 to the New York Mets at Citi Field on Tuesday night. However, starting pitcher Kutter Crawford isn’t exactly ready to throw in the towel on Boston just yet.
“It hasn’t been easy. It’s definitely been a tough stretch,” Crawford told reporters in New York. “But, we’re not going to bend over. We’re gonna show up every day. We’re gonna compete to the best of our ability.”
Crawford continued: “Personally, I think we still got a chance. We get on a five-game win streak, and we’re right back in it. So, we’re showing up to the yard every day, still trying to compete and win every single ball game.”
The Red Sox’s starting rotation has given the club every opportunity to win each of the last four games, but the offense has stalled, scoring just six runs on 22 hits and striking out 40 times against the Mets and Detroit Tigers.
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“Similar to when we were hitting, we weren’t pitching,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after the loss. “That’s the way it works. I mean, that’s the beauty of this game. It’s never perfect. So, hopefully, tomorrow’s the day we pitch, we play good defense, we hit, we go home. We reset Thursday and be ready for Friday.”
The Red Sox remain 4 1/2 games back of Kansas City for the final American League wild card spot, despite the Royals dropping a 7-1 decision to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.
“We gotta find a way to win games. The teams around us are not playing better than we are,” Cora said. “We’re playing up to them right now. We’re all struggling. It’s going to get dicey here because other teams are done jumping in this situation, and should be very interesting the next three weeks.”
— The Red Sox dropped to 20-47 when their opponents score first, 7-46 when scoring less than four runs, 21-24 against National League opponents and 39-31 on the road.
— Crawford gave up his 29th home run of the season when Francisco Lindor tagged the righty for a two-run dinger in the bottom of the third inning. It was the only mistake he made in the game. He gave up one hit, struck out eight across six innings and retired the side in order in the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Crawford fell to 8-13 on the season.
— Chris Martin gave up four runs on four hits, including a two-run homer to Pete Alonso in the bottom of the eighth inning. He struck out two of the seven batters he faced.
— The Red Sox will look to avoid being swept by the Mets in the final contest between the two clubs on Wednesday. First pitch from Citi Field is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET. You can watch the game, following an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
