The Wednesday, August 5, 2020

* The Boston Globe

It’s another four-game skid for Red Sox as late rally at Rays falls short

Peter Abraham

Nate Eovaldi was working on a two-hit shutout with two outs in the fourth inning against the on Tuesday night, pitching so well that it appeared he’d go deep into the game, a rarity for a Red Sox starter this season.

But Eovaldi recorded only four more outs. A missed call, the quirkiness of Tropicana Field, and some poor pitches led to a 5-1 loss.

The 3-8 Red Sox have lost four in a row and are already six games out of first place. Tuesday marked the ninth time in 11 games the Sox allowed five or more runs.

“We’re definitely struggling,” Eovaldi said. “Today was a big game. I felt I needed to step up and do a lot better than I did.”

The offense was quiet, too. The Sox went into the ninth inning with only five hits before Christian Vazquez, Kevin Pillar, and Jackie Bradley Jr. singled off Ryan Thompson to load the bases with one out.

The Rays rushed in closer Nick Anderson. He struck out Jose Peraza and on 11 pitches to end the game. Both went down looking at .

Benintendi was 0 for 5, and is 2 for 29 on the season with one RBI.

“No doubt there’s frustration there,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “They know that we’re a better team than that.”

Eovaldi had a 1-0 lead with two outs in the fourth and was seemingly out of the inning when he threw a full-count to Yoshi Tsutsugo. Replays showed caught the inside corner of the plate. Umpire Randy Rosenberg called it ball four.

“I thought it was close,” Eovaldi said. “I felt like his strike zone was really good tonight. It’s hard for me to tell balls and strikes. I think a lot of them are there and they tend not to be. I’ve got to move on and attack the next batter.”

Eovaldi did just that. Joey Wendle swung at a fastball and popped it in foul territory. Third baseman settled under it, but the ball struck one of the metal catwalks above the field and deflected away. That’s just a foul ball at the Trop.

“You’d think that’s a ball we would have caught, but you never know,” Roenicke said. “It certainly changed things. When you’re going good, those things don’t happen that often, and obviously we’re not going good.”

Wendle, given a second chance, singled to left field. followed with a two-run double to the gap in right field and the Rays had a 2-1 lead.

“It’s definitely frustrating to say the least,” Eovaldi said.

Said J.D. Martinez: “That’s Tropicana for you. You never know. It’s a strange place sometimes.”

The fifth inning was bad pitching, not bad luck.

Eovaldi’s first pitch hit No. 9 hitter Michael Perez. Austin Meadows, playing in his first game of the season following a positive test for coronavirus, followed with a line drive off the wall in right field when Eovaldi left a fastball over the plate.

The Sox were slow relaying the ball in and Perez, a catcher, scored from first. Brandon Lowe followed with an RBI single. It was the end of a stretch that saw five out of six Rays reach base off Eovaldi, who allowed four runs on six hits over five innings.

“I’ve got to do a better job of turning the page,” Eovaldi said.

Red Sox starters have a 7.07 .

As Eovaldi competed against the Rays, the umpire, and the quirkiest ballpark in the majors, Tampa Bay starter Charlie Morton allowed one run on five hits over 5⅔ innings. The 36-year-old righthander struck out five without a walk, liberally working in his with a low-90s fastball.

Mitch Moreland homered in the second inning. The Sox should have had a 2-0 lead in the third, when Peraza singled and Martinez doubled to left field. But the ball hopped over the fence for a ground-rule double, sending Peraza back to third.

“Huge,” Martinez said of the ill-timed bounce off the artificial turf. “That kind of shows you the way it’s going right now. That ball hooks perfectly and hits off the wall and ricochets and goes over. That’s a run right there, and a big run, too.”

Xander Bogaerts had a chance to drive in two, but popped to center field. That was the first of eight consecutive outs recorded by Morton, who had allowed eight runs over nine innings in his first two starts.

The final game of the road trip is Wednesday, with Martin Perez facing Ryan Yarbrough.

Red Sox are chasing everything, and their offensive approach has unraveled

Alex Speier

Back-to-back looking with the bases loaded to end a game in which the Red Sox lost by four runs? Brutal. Yet somehow, even those final acts of futility did not seem the most fitting emblem of a 5-1 loss to the Rays on Tuesday night at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Much earlier in the game, Rafael Devers swung at a Charlie Morton curveball that hit him in the back leg, turning what would have been a trip to first base into a strike. The development proved so absurd that the Red Sox third baseman couldn’t stifle a laugh.

Yet rather than a one-off that can be dismissed with a chuckle, such an extreme outcome feels somewhat typical of the 2020 Red Sox — a team whose offensive approach has unraveled. The patience and discipline of recent years, the willingness to build rallies methodically and then cash in with sound approaches in run-scoring situations, has been absent, a pattern that continued as the Red Sox dropped to 3- 8.

Perhaps, J.D. Martinez suggested, the hitting culture has been shaken by the new rules governing both in- game access to technology (players do not have access to video during games this year) and the ability for teams to convene at the field hours ahead of time to review video and game plan. The pregame and in-game ability to engage in such conversations, Martinez said, has essentially been eliminated.

Martinez, who in past years would spend significant chunks of the game reviewing video of both his at-bats and those of teammates, no longer can engage in such a practice. When he sees a slumping teammate, he can’t run to a clubhouse video setup in search of a tip that might help either himself or another Red Sox player to recalibrate.

“It’s kind of everyone on their own,” Martinez said. “Survivor.”

Yet the altered dynamics of 2020 only partially explain what’s transpired with the Red Sox offense.

During their recent run of perennial contention — mostly with atop their order — the Red Sox lineup proved relentless. Even against elite , the team dominated the strike zone and seemingly turned every pitch into a challenge in a way that created a sense of possibility.

Team-wide plate discipline typically meant that pitchers had to challenge the team’s hitters. The team wouldn’t chase pitches off the plate, and did damage to those in the strike zone. Those characteristics created the potential for sustained uprisings.

To this point in 2020, that hasn’t been the case. On Tuesday night, Rays starter Morton — to be sure, one of the best pitchers in the AL in recent years — navigated through 5⅔ innings while allowing one run. He didn’t issue a single walk — or, perhaps more accurately, the Red Sox didn’t work a single free pass, a now-familiar occurrence.

Personnel changes have something to do with the development. Betts — one of the most selective batters in the game, and someone who chases one of the lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone every year — is gone. So, too, is Brock Holt, another player who got on base at a high clip and rarely chased.

The at-bats that went to those players last year are going to Jose Peraza — who entered Tuesday having swung at an astronomical 52 percent of the pitches he’d seen outside of the strike zone, the third-highest chase rate in the majors — at second base, and and Kevin Pillar in right field, both of whom swing at an above-average number of pitches outside the zone.

At the same time, Devers has regressed, his swing at the pitch that hit him illuminating a swing-at- everything approach. Entering Tuesday, he’d swung at 45.9 percent of pitches outside of the zone, one of the 10 highest chase rates in the majors.

With such performances, the Red Sox have become one of the least disciplined teams in the league. Before Tuesday, they’d chased 34.1 percent of pitches outside the strike zone — the third-highest percentage in the big leagues this year. They’d walked in just 6.9 percent of plate appearances, the third-lowest rate in the game.

Add in devastating slumps by Andrew Benintendi — who is walking, but only because he is struggling to put any pitches in play, resulting in more than half of his plate appearances concluding in a walk or — and Jackie Bradley Jr. (who broke an 0-for-21 slump with a ninth-inning infield hit), and you get a lineup that opposing pitchers have been able to pick apart.

The Red Sox have let opponents execute their game plans, chasing pitches out of the strike zone without forcing pitchers to challenge them with the pitches they can drive inside of it.

On Tuesday, Roenicke credited Morton and the high-quality arms in the Rays bullpen as the cause of his team expanding the strike zone (10 strikeouts, 1 walk), but the Sox haven’t worked as many as three walks against any starting since Opening Day against Tommy Milone. Perhaps the cumulative weight of an ugly start has accelerated the disintegration of the team’s approach.

“A lot of times, especially if offensively you don’t start swinging the bat well, you start to press a little bit because you know you’ve got to get it going. You know that the whole team has to get it going,” said Roenicke. “I don’t think the at-bats are that bad. I just think we’re a little bit off in a few people.”

That said, in a short 60-game slate, every flaw is magnified, every small pothole feeling expansive. Within that context, the Red Sox feel as if they’ve fallen into a ravine, with no exit in sight.

Could soon open a door for ?

Alex Speier

Bobby Dalbec is with the Red Sox in Florida as part of the three-person traveling taxi squad. But how much longer will it be until one of the team’s top prospects gets his big league opportunity?

Michael Chavis will play a sizable role in shaping the answer to that question. Increasingly, the 24-year- old’s hold on a roster spot seems tenuous.

Chavis is off to a woeful start, 3-for-19 with nine strikeouts and just one walk in 20 plate appearances, resulting in a .158/.200/.316 line. The season-opening struggles represent a continuation of what occurred down the stretch in the infielder’s rookie campaign, when the jolt he provided to the offense in April and May quickly leveled off.

From May 23 to the end of the 2019 season, Chavis hit .241/.293/.382 while striking out in more than one of every three plate appearances. Big league pitchers carved him up, attacking a hole at and above the top of the strike zone, and they haven’t relented. Since the start of last year, Chavis has struck out in 33.8 percent of plate appearances, third most in the big leagues among those with at least 400 PAs.

Those offensive struggles, in turn, have resulted in a significant reduction of playing time. While Chavis and Jose Peraza were expected to compete for time at second base at the start of spring training, Peraza won the job and has taken possession of the position. Chavis, meanwhile, has served only as the righthanded-hitting part of a platoon at first base — a role that team’s rarely view as worthy of a roster spot.

(The fact that teams are working with an expanded 30-player roster to open the season has created greater latitude for the Sox to keep Chavis in his role, but rosters shrink to 28 players on Thursday.)

While Chavis isn’t playing every day, he did start in six of the team’s first 10 games as the Sox faced a wealth of lefties. The Sox view his struggles as a product not of inactivity, but instead approach.

“He’s getting plenty of playing time to get this thing going. I think he’s making progress,” said Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke. “I think he’s making progress. If he continues to do that, hopefully he gets hot like he did last year when he came up. If he does that, we’ve got a really good combo with him and [first base platoon partner Mitch Moreland].”

To be sure, Chavis is amidst a very normal pattern for a young player: Early success with a mid-year callup, a performance dip later in that rookie season as the league adjusts to his strengths and weaknesses, and often profound struggles in a player’s first full season. Most recent Red Sox position players, save for the well-nigh incomparable Mookie Betts, endured such a pattern.

With young players, there is reward for patience. Teams consider a willingness to ride out struggles as a sort of long-term investment in a player who learns how to navigate adversity.

Nonetheless, there have been plenty who, amidst those struggles, benefited from the opportunity to recalibrate their games in the minors. Betts shuttled between the big leagues and Triple A in 2014. Jackie Bradley did so between 2013 and 2015. Rafael Devers was given extra time in the minors coming off an injury in 2018 to regain his approach.

Chavis may be arriving at a point where the length and extremity of his struggles, particularly the frequency with which he’s swung and missed, creates a question about whether he and the team benefit more from his ongoing presence in the big leagues or from time working at the alternate training site in Pawtucket.

“Honestly I wouldn’t say I feel any more pressure because of [questions about his role],” Chavis said over the weekend. “Whenever I go out there and I focus on my numbers, or try and focus on my own performance, I just don’t perform well. . . . In regards to the platoon aspect, I really don’t feel any pressure because [Moreland and Peraza are] playing well. I’m actually just happy that they’re playing well and they’re swinging it well and we’re working towards winning ballgames.”

That outlook is commendable, but at a certain point, the team will have to consider the matter of production — and whether there’s someone else who can improve upon it. Dalbec represents a source of intrigue.

Entering the year, Sox officials believed there was a good chance the 25-year-old — about six weeks older than Chavis — would help in the first half of 2020. He’s been a standout power hitter, blasting 59 homers in 2018–19, while showing an advanced approach and knowledge of the strike zone that belies his high strikeout rates. His defense at the two infield corners is also considered superior to Chavis’s.

While his asymptomatic COVID-19 infection at the start of July training camp required quarantine and left him rusty, the Sox believe he’s regained his timing during intrasquad games in Pawtucket.

“He’s swinging the bat better all the time,” said Roenicke. “Still hard to tell because they aren’t real games that they’re playing in. We just get reports on how he does and hopefully that translates into, if you need to, good at-bats in the game.”

The time for Dalbec to get those at-bats in a game has not yet arrived, at least for now. Still, it’s fair to wonder whether his presence on the taxi squad against the Rays is a precursor to a look in games that count. If Chavis cannot re-establish himself as the potential impact contributor he proved to be in early 2019, then Dalbec’s opportunity may be close at hand.

Red Sox keep it subdued, smart on their off day in Florida

Peter Abraham

A day off in Florida would normally find the Red Sox players and coaches scattered around the state, some to visit family and friends, and others to play golf or charter a fishing boat.

But in the age of coronavirus, their time off on Monday wasn’t much to talk about.

“It was way different. I just stayed in my room talking to my wife, my babies,” second baseman Jose Peraza said Tuesday before a 5-1 loss against the Tampa Bay Rays. “We can’t do anything.”

The Sox did not require the players to stay at the team hotel in St. Petersburg. But with Florida overrun by the virus, the players were counseled to be particularly careful.

“Some guys came in and asked me about some different activities they were thinking of doing, and they canceled those,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “We recommended the guys didn’t do anything. But we didn’t want to come out and say, ’You’ve got to stay in your hotel room.’ ”

Roenicke smiled when asked if it’s still possible to enjoy a day off this season given the trepidation around the game.

“I walked [Monday] night,” he said. “I didn’t do much. I read some. I guess I can say I enjoyed it some. I got to read a little bit and walked.”

The Red Sox were without third base coach , who returned to Boston because of an inconclusive result on a test in New York over the weekend. The Sox believe he will ultimately test negative, but didn’t want him around the team.

Ramon Vazquez coached third base.

Jay Groome eases into action at Pawtucket Jay Groome, a 2016 first-round pick, threw 23 pitches of live batting practice at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, his first time facing hitters this season. The 21-year-old lefthander was added to the player pool for developmental purposes and is unlikely to pitch in the majors in 2020.

Groome has thrown only 66 professional innings because of injuries. He’s 3-9 with a 5.18 ERA in 20 starts.

Groom had five swinging strikes and allowed only one ball to be put in play. His was sharp and his fastball, when it was over the plate, produced some bad swings.

“He’s missed a lot of time, obviously. He doesn’t really have a routine; that is probably what you need to pitch at the upper level,” said Pawtucket pitching coach Paul Abbott, who is handling the pitchers on the reserve squad.

“His bullpens have been very conservative; they’re very deliberate. We want him to be a bit more aggressive in his bullpens.”

Abbott said the coming weeks will be important for Groome to get work in against hitters, and for the Sox to come up with a plan for how to best develop him.

Martin Perez hoping to build off positives Martin Perez allowed four runs in five innings in his debut Red Sox start against Baltimore, but he was better in his second game, giving up two runs over 5⅔ innings against the Mets.

The lefthander, who starts Wednesday night, improved his command and threw his off-speed pitches for strikes.

“Especially with my changeup,” Perez said. “Down the middle, down and away. Better location.”

Perez said the rhythm of his delivery has improved now that he’s on a regular schedule.

Perez faced the Rays twice last season. He allowed six runs over 2⅔ innings on May 30, but only two runs over seven innings on June 27.

Loose threads , a valuable bullpen lefty last season, pitched an inning in a simulated game in Pawtucket. He’ll get two days off, then pitch every other day. The hope is he will be ready to rejoin the major league team after four appearances. Taylor’s progression was slowed by a positive test. The same was true for lefthander Darwinzon Hernandez. But the Sox want to build Hernandez up for multiple innings, with an eye on perhaps having him start given the gaping holes in the rotation . . . Infielder Bobby Dalbec and righthander Mike Shawaryn joined catcher Jett Bandy on the taxi squad for the series. Teams are allowed to bring three players on the road to expedite roster moves. At least one must be a catcher . . . The Rays placed outfielder Manuel Margot on the bereavement list following the death of his father. Margot was one of the prospects the Red Sox traded to the Padres before the 2016 season to obtain Craig Kimbrel . . . MLB made a scoring change in the Mets-Red Sox game at Fenway Park on July 28. ’s single in the ninth inning was changed to an error on third baseman Jeff McNeil, who fumbled a ground ball, then threw wildly to first base.

* The Boston Herald

What’s going on with the Red Sox offense? A breakdown

Jason Mastrodonato

The Red Sox offense was supposed to be the driving force of a team that wasn’t built to win in 2020, but was expected to have a chance at the postseason due to guys like J.D. Martinez, , Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi.

But 11 games into the season, the Sox are wasting chances, overswinging on breaking balls and struggling to find a rhythm.

The numbers aren’t good.

They’ve scored just 47 runs in 11 games. That puts them 15th out of the 22 teams that have played at least 10 games this season.

But take into account they scored 13 of those runs durings an Opening Day blowout of the Orioles, and they’ve averaged just 3.4 runs per game over the 10 games since.

Their plate discipline has been questionable, at best, with just 27 walks. That ranks 20th out of the 22 teams. And their .308 on-base percentage ranks 16th out of 22.

“I don’t know if that’s the reason for what’s going on,” said J.D. Martinez after the Sox’ 5-1 loss to the Rays on Tuesday. “I feel like we’ve gotten a lot of guys on base in different situations. We had some guys today in that situation where we could drive a run in. We had a bunch of guys on second base today. Certain situations we could get guys in. We really couldn’t get the big hit going. You’ve got to give credit to Tampa, too. They’ve got some big arms, man.”

If the Sox were jacking homers left and right, an OBP that low might be OK. But they aren’t, with just 13 on the year.

Here’s our breakdown of what’s happening at each position:

CATCHER

Christian Vazquez: 11-for-35 (.314), 4 HR, 9 RBI

Kevin Plawecki: 4-for-10 (.400), 1 RBI

It’s the one position the Red Sox have no trouble with. Christian Vazquez is smashing the ball and is a big reason the team ranks No. 1 in WAR with 0.5 WAR at the catcher position this season. Kevin Plawecki is a solid backup. The Sox are in good hands behind the plate.

FIRST BASE

Mitch Moreland: 6-for-21 (.286), 3 HR, 6 RBI

Michael Chavis: 3-for-21 (.143), 1 HR, 1 RBI

Simple question: are the Red Sox still trying in 2020?

If they are, Mitch Moreland needs to play, for reasons outlined here.

If they aren’t, they can live with Michael Chavis’ terrible at-bats. It’s early, and a lot of players are rusty. If Chavis is going to keep chasing above the zone and failing to recognize off-speed pitches, it could be a long year. But he’s young, has potential and needs to learn.

The other part of this equation is Bobby Dalbec.

Since the Sox never added top prospect to their player pool this year, Dalbec is the best first base prospect on the 60-man roster. He averages close to 30 homers a year in the minors and, at 25 years old, he’s ready to show what he can do.

The Sox brought him on the taxi squad to Tampa and if they’re ready to look to the future, it’s time to get him some at-bats.

SECOND BASE

Jose Peraza: 10-for-40 (.250), 3 RBI

Jonathan Arauz: 0-for-5

Do the Red Sox miss Brock Holt? The numbers say they do. They rank 30th out of 30 teams in WAR from second, where Jose Peraza has struggled to offer much of anything. Chavis isn’t hitting, nor is he playing much second. And the Sox haven’t used Rule 5 pick Jonathan Arauz to see if he’s capable of handling big league pitching at all.

It’s only a matter of time before prospect Jeter Downs gets the call. He was considered close, but not quite ready back in February. But so many guys who are in the big leagues this year probably feel the same way.

Downs has something to prove. The Sox made a late decision to switch out prospect , who has been electric out of the Dodgers bullpen, and instead added Downs in the Mookie Betts trade. He could make his debut soon.

THIRD BASE

Rafael Devers: 8-for-41 (.195), 1 HR, 2 RBI

Rafael Devers has never been a hot starter.

His career OPS in March/April (.749) is almost 200 points lower than his OPS in July (.934). And his poor defense has been mostly limited to the early season as well.

So it’s not a huge surprise that he got off to a slow start this season. He’s shown signs of getting more comfortable, with a key homer against the Yankees on Sunday night to get him going, but it might take him a few weeks before Devers becomes a main contributor on this team again.

Given his potential, he’s not going anywhere. Devers is the third baseman. And the Sox have to live with his early-season struggles, even if it means they fall out of the playoff race in a 60-game season.

SHORTSTOP

Xander Bogaerts: 11-for-37 (.297), 3 HR, 9 RBI

Xander Bogaerts is playing well on defense, crushing the ball on offense and speaking to the media every other day on Zoom. He’s a leader. And he’s representing the Red Sox as well as anyone has before him. There’s no worrying about their shortstop.

LEFT FIELD

Andrew Benintendi: 2-for-29 (.069), 1 RBI

Oh boy. This one is a headache.

Will Andrew Benintendi always be the No. 7 overall draft choice (and Ben Cherington’s parting gift to the Red Sox) that can’t put it all together?

With a 2-for-29 start, Benintendi is looking completely lost at the plate, a fact made even more glaring by his new position as the team’s leadoff hitter and his frequent trips to one knee while whiffing on curve balls.

Asked if Benintendi is trying to do too much in that spot, manager Ron Roenicke said, “Hard to say if he’s trying to do too much. I think he’s just trying to find his — I don’t want to say his swing, because his swing is actually pretty good. I think he’s trying to find his recognition of where that zone is when he does a lot of damage. Then also making sure he lays off the pitches. Usually when he’s not going good, he’s chasing. He’s chasing down, chasing up. If he can narrow those pitches and get them back into the zone where we know he can hit, I think that’s more of it than where he is in the lineup.”

In parts of five big league seasons now, he’s just a .274 hitter with mediocre power.

It’s a weird season and hard to form player opinions because of it, but it’s going to be hard to resist the urge to trade Benintendi for pitching help come this winter if he doesn’t turn it on soon.

CENTER FIELD

Jackie Bradley Jr.: 9-for-33 (.273), 3 RBI

Jackie Bradley Jr. is playing for a contract.

A free agent after this year, he’s had a so-so start to his season. He’s made several spectacular diving catches in center field, but made a pair of questionable reads on long fly balls that dropped too close to him.

Offensively, he looked hot to start, but has been lost at the plate since the first four games.

Are the Red Sox going to move on from him? It’s likely after this year. To do so now, in the middle of the season would seem harsh, actually, considering his contract status. But prospect Jarren Duran is waiting patiently in the wings, hitting homers in intersquad games at McCoy Stadium, and if the season falls apart, perhaps Duran will get a look as the Red Sox center fielder.

RIGHT FIELD

Alex Verdugo: 7-for-28 (.250)

Kevin Pillar: 13-for-33 (.394), 1 HR, 5 RBI

Why is Alex Verdugo simply a platoon outfielder? It’s an odd role for a player who was acquired for Betts.

Why not play Verdugo every day against right- and left-handed pitching? Roenicke seems intent on getting guys rest and rotating Kevin Pillar into the fold for all three outfielders. But Verdugo needs to play to get better. He needs confidence to hit lefties and righties. And while his swing isn’t quite there, he’s shown great contact ability on a wide variety of pitch locations. He looks like a legit hitter if he can get going, and it might be time to let him play regularly.

Pillar, meanwhile, is playing so well that the Sox should consider trading him before the Aug. 31 deadline. He’s on a one-year deal and isn’t someone the Sox would need next year.

DESIGNATED HITTER

J.D. Martinez: 10-for-40 (.250), 3 RBI

J.D. Martinez continues to make his case that MLB screwed up by not allowing players to have access to video of their at-bats during the game. It’s killing his routine, he said, and he’s struggling to find a new one.

But his .250 average without any home runs isn’t going to cut it as the Sox’ best hitter, and Martinez knows he’s got to get better.

“I’ve been grinding in the cage as much as I can,” he said after going 2-for-4 against the Rays on Tuesday. “But I feel like I found something today, maybe a little thought or something. I’m going to try to ride it out the next couple days, see what happens, build off it really.”

SUMMARY

There isn’t a lot of creative freedom for Roenicke to work with on this roster. The only question is whether or not the Sox are giving up on 2020 and should turn their eyes to the future.

Dalbec, Downs and Duran are waiting.

Three takeaways from Red Sox’ 5-1 loss to Rays: can’t carry this team alone

Jason Mastrodonato

Eleven games into the 60-game season and the conversation has already started shifting to bringing up the prospects.

How could it not?

The Red Sox fell to the Rays, 5-1, on Tuesday and moved to 3-8 on the season. They’ve been beaten up by the Orioles, Yankees and now the Rays.

Here are the three takeaways from Tuesday’s game:

1. Nathan Eovaldi can’t save the Sox Eovaldi had everything working for three strong innings against his former club, then it fell apart quickly.

It happened on a single pitch.

With two outs in the fourth, Eovaldi appeared to strike out Yoshi Tsutsugo with a fastball on the inside part of the plate, but with Christian Vazquez waiting for the pitch on the opposite side, the umpire didn’t give Eovaldi the call and Tsutsugo took first base on the free pass.

Eovaldi looked stunned. And while he rarely loses composure on the mound, it’s fair to wonder if that pitch ruined his night.

Joey Wendle singled behind Tsutsugo and Hunter Renfroe smashed a double to right-center as the Rays took a 2-1 lead and never lost it.

While Eovaldi’s command was sharp early, it fell off after the walk to Tsutsugo. His splitter wasn’t working. His fastballs were left over the plate and he never looked in control of the at-bats.

After allowing two more runs in the fifth, Eovaldi departed. His final line: five innings, four runs, six hits, one walk and six strikeouts. He has a 3.94 ERA after three starts this year, and the Sox have won two of them.

But with Eovaldi their only consistent starting pitcher, it’s been difficult for the Sox to get in any kind of rhythm.

“I feel like I have to go out there and do a better job than what I did tonight, for sure,” he said. “Regardless of what the outcomes of the game are for us, any time I take the ball I hold myself accountable for my job out there. Tonight I felt like I needed to do a better job.”

Is Eovaldi a true ace? That’s also a question. He’s never been an ace before and has been thrust into the role this season as the Sox are without and Eduardo Rodriguez.

Eovaldi doesn’t pitch deep into games with any regularity and is a constant injury risk. He’s looking solid through three starts, but isn’t doing enough to carry the Red Sox on his back.

Asked if the Sox need to win every game Eovaldi starts, manager Ron Roenicke said, “Well, I don’t want to feel that way but I know what you’re saying. We count on Nate to keep us in games, which he has. Because we know he has a big arm, we know every time he goes out there we think we’re going to win. I know we haven’t scored enough runs like we’re going to. Put it this way, when Nate pitches we feel like we have a great chance to win. I don’t want to think that we have to win every time he’s out there.”

2. J.D. Martinez is slowly getting it together Martinez whiffed on a curveball at a terrible time in the eighth inning, when the Sox had two runners on and one out as they attempted a rally.

He appeared to guess wrong on the curve. Guessing the pitch sequences has been harder than ever for Martinez, who makes it known he relies on video replay that he no longer has access to during the games.

But he was 2-for-4 in the game with a double and he’s up to .250 on the season.

“Today was really good,” Roenicke said. “Really happy to see what he did. The first line-drive to first base I thought was a great at-bat and then he hits a double and he squares up another ball. So three great at-bats for him today. I think with J.D. once he finds that he can maintain that for a long time. Hopefully, this is the start of seeing him for a good two months now.”

The Sox have struggled without their best hitter looking sharp, and they’ll need Martinez for any hope at a miracle run this season.

3. Mitch Moreland has to play Moreland is always a fast starter, and it’s no different this year. He saw Charlie Morton’s breaking ball better than anyone in this game and made it clear in the second inning, when he timed up a curve perfectly and smashed it to right field for a solo .

It was Moreland’s third homer this season. And he’s barely played. Splitting time with Michael Chavis at first base, Moreland is a platoon player only. And when the Sox are running into left-handed pitchers, Moreland sits.

Chavis pinch-hit for Moreland in the sixth inning when the Rays brought in a left-hander, and Chavis was predictably retired.

The youngster is struggling at the dish and looks outmatched by everybody early in the year. The Sox need Chavis as a key piece of their future, but in a 60-game sprint, it’s a bad look to take the bat out of Moreland’s hand, even against a left-hander.

The Sox simply don’t have enough hitters who are impacting the right now.

Jose Peraza struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Behind him, the ice-cold Andrew Benintendi couldn’t come through, either. He struck out looking at a breaking ball on the outside part of the plate to leave three runners on base to end the game.

Benintendi went 0-for-5 in the game and is just 2-for-29 on the season. He’s over-swinging on breaking balls and continues to end up falling to one knee after whiffing, a sign that his timing is far from being on- point.

The Sox are desperate for offense at this point. They’re desperate for pitching, too. And soon, it’ll be time for the prospects to show what they got.

This season is looking close to over for the local nine.

Red Sox notes: Bobby Dalbec joins taxi squad, Mitch Moreland needs playing time

Jason Mastrodonato

Bobby Dalbec’s MLB debut with the Red Sox isn’t far off.

The Sox added the slugging corner infield prospect to their taxi squad and flew him to Tampa to be with the team while they play the Rays this week. He’s not officially on the roster, but if a need were to arise, Dalbec’s debut could come soon.

“He can cover first and third, and obviously a power bat if something did come up,” manager Ron Roenicke said.

The 6-foot-4 Dalbec hit 27 homers last year between Double-A and Triple-A and has been a consistent home run hitter in the minor leagues. At 25 years old, he’s ready for the bigs if needed.

“He’s swinging the bat better all the time,” Roenicke said. “I know when he first came back after having to sit in his hotel room for all that time, he was rusty. No question. I think we saw that in our intrasquad games. Been swinging the bat a lot better.”

First base was supposed to be Michael Chavis’ position to grow into. But the 24-year-old is just 3-for-19 with nine strikeouts and one home run this season while showing little plate discipline or ability to hit pitches.

Chavis has been hitting with the platoon advantage, too. He’s playing mostly against lefties while he shares first base with Mitch Moreland.

“Certainly glad to see the home run, glad to see the base hit the other way,” Roenicke said. “He’s getting plenty of playing time to get this thing going…I think he’s making progress. If he continues to do that, hopefully he gets hot like he did last year when he came up. If he does that, we’ve got a really good combo with him and Mitch.”

Moreland has been one of the few Sox hitters with a consistent approach at the plate this season. He entered the week 5-for-19 with three extra-base hits, including a pair of homers. And he hit a solo shot off Charlie Morton to get the Sox on the board in the second inning on Tuesday night.

Moreland’s had some physical issues and the Sox are monitoring his playing time. But if they were serious about competing this year, it’d make sense to push Moreland into more playing time.

“Because of all the lefthanders we’ve had it’s actually just worked out where he’s had off-days,” Roenicke said. “We know after the off-day Thursday we have 17 straight. So, we’ll see what we have as far as righties and lefties, but he’s feeling good. Physically he’s ready to go, but things crop up. I’ll continually watch him.”

Peraza explains why he wears a mask Jose Peraza has been one of the few Red Sox players wearing a mask on the field this year.

He’s kept the mask on at all times while playing defense, running the bases and in the dugout, though he wears the mask around his neck while at the plate.

“It’s extremely important to me, especially for my kids and my wife,” Peraza said. “That’s why I do it, to stay safe. Until I feel like I don’t have to anymore, I’m going to wear it.”

Only Peraza and Tzu-Wei Lin have been wearing a mask regularly. Alex Verdugo has worn a mask at times.

“We’ve talked about it here and there,” Peraza said. “It’s not that big of a deal (that others aren’t wearing it). I know I want to wear the mask, I have the reasons why I wear it. That’s what I’ve been focused on.”

An unusual off-day The Sox had a controversial off-day in St. Petersburg on Monday. With Florida a coronavirus hotbed right now, the Sox asked their players to be smart, though they were allowed to leave the hotel.

“One family was here and they tested before they came in,” Roenicke said. “I don’t know the other guys with families. But I know some guys came in and asked me about some different activities they were thinking of doing and they canceled those, we recommended the guys didn’t do anything but we didn’t want to come out and just say ‘you’ve got to stay in your hotel room,’ so there were some coaches that were walking and wearing masks and trying to do the right thing. I can’t say exactly what everybody did but I know what most of them did.”

Peraza said he stayed in the room to talk to his family and watch TV all day.

“We can’t do anything you know?” he said. “It’s my decision. I just want to stay safe.

“I’m just focused on approaching it as if we’re going to finish the season. We’re going to play the games and that’s how I’ve been going about it.”

Febles out with COVID concerns The Red Sox lost their third base coach, Carlos Febles, to a potential coronavirus case.

Febles had an inconclusive test when the team was in New York last weekend and was sent back to Boston until he tests negative. Ramon Vazquez is coaching third base in Febles’ absence.

Lefties nearing a return Lefty Josh Taylor is about four outings away from joining the team, Roenicke said.

A key part of the Red Sox’ bullpen last year, he’s been out with the coronavirus.

Darwinzon Hernandez, also recovering from the virus, is being stretched out a little and will likely return when he’s ready to pitch a couple innings.

* The Providence Journal

Red Sox coach sent home after COVID test

Bill Koch

Carlos Febles did not travel with the Red Sox to Tampa Bay.

The third-base coach was sent home to Boston after his final coronavirus test in New York returned inconclusive.

The Red Sox were swept in their weekend series with the Yankees, dropping the Sunday finale in the Bronx by a 9-7 count. Boston traveled on its off day Monday ahead of this two-game set with the Rays, but Febles was left off the team charter.

“We’re pretty sure this thing is going to come out negative, but we didn’t want to take a chance,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “We didn’t fly him down here with us to Tampa. He’s back in Boston and he’s got to wait for a test.”

Major league coach Ramon Vazquez will man the third base box over each of the next two nights against Tampa Bay. Vazquez is in his third year on the Red Sox staff and serves as a liaison between the club’s advance scouting and analytics departments. Vazquez also works with Boston’s infielders, particularly on the defensive side — he appeared in 696 career games with six different organizations.

The Red Sox have been diligent about attempting to avoid similar outbreaks to those that befell the Marlins and Cardinals. Miami ultimately reported 22 positive tests among its travel party and St. Louis was up to 13 as of early Tuesday. The Marlins have completed just three games this season, seven fewer than Boston.

“We recommended the guys didn’t do anything, but we didn’t come out and say they had to stay in their hotel rooms,” Roenicke said. “There were some coaches who were walking, wearing masks and trying to do the right thing.

“I can’t say exactly what everybody did, but I know what most of them did.”

In a typical season, the Red Sox would have left New York during the overnight hours stretching into Monday morning. A trip to face the Rays is generally a prime spot for a scheduled day off, with Clearwater Beach, charter fishing and downtown areas in both Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg all within a short drive. Infielder Jose Peraza was among those Boston players who opted to stay in.

“It’s way different,” Peraza said through translator Bryan Almonte. “I just stayed in my room talking to my wife and my babies. Watched TV. We can’t do anything.”

Various reports suggested the Marlins and Cardinals engaged in unsanctioned behavior off the field, perhaps exposing themselves, their teammates and their coaching staff to the virus. The timeline would suggest Miami’s players contracted the virus while in exhibition action at Atlanta. Former major leaguer Jerry Hairston Jr., a 16-year veteran now in the broadcast booth, said St. Louis players had visited a casino.

“I walked last night — couldn’t believe how hot it was last night at about 7:30,” Roenicke said. “But I didn’t do much. I read some. I guess I can say I enjoyed it some and I got to read a little bit more.”

Boston is scheduled for another off day on Thursday before opening its next home stand — against the Blue Jays over the weekend to kick off a stretch in which they play for the next 17 days. Peraza has consistently worn a mask on the field and in the dugout to keep himself available, dropping it below his chin only during his at-bats.

“It’s extremely important for me, especially for my kids and my wife,” Peraza said. “Wearing it, that’s really why I do it — to stay safe. Until I feel like I don’t have to anymore, I’m going to wear it.”

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox, Nathan Eovaldi have unlucky encounter with Tropicana Field catwalk in 5-1 loss to Rays

Chris Cotillo

It took just a few innings at Tropicana Field for the Red Sox to be reacquainted with the quirkiness of the strangest ballpark in baseball.

With an assist from one of the catwalks dangling over the field, the Rays beat the Red Sox, 5-1, in the opener of a two-game series. Boston fell to 3-8 with the loss.

With the Red Sox up 1-0 after a Mitch Moreland homer in the third, a strange sequence of events flipped the momentum in the fourth. Two batters after what appeared to be a missed strike three call by home-plate umpire Randy Rosenberg on a 3-2 pitch to Yoshi Tsutsugo, Hunter Renfroe hit a two-out pop fly that looked like an easy inning-ending catch for Rafael Devers in foul territory. The ball hit one of the catwalks, fell in foul territory and gave Renfroe life with runners on first and second.

Renfroe then hit a two-run double to give the Rays a 2-1 lead. An inning later, Tampa Bay scored twice more off Nathan Eovaldi on RBI hits from Austin Meadows (triple) and Brandon Lowe (single) in the fifth and extending the lead to four runs on a Ji-Man Choi sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Three straight singles from the Red Sox brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth, but Rays closer Nick Anderson struck out Jose Peraza and Andrew Benintendi to end the game.

Eovaldi -- though unlucky -- took his first loss of the season, allowing four earned runs on seven hits in five innings. The righty struck out six Rays as his ERA rose to 3.94 through three starts.

Boston’s offense stumbled after a solid series finale in the Bronx, mustering just five hits before the ninth inning. Charlie Morton got the win for the Rays, striking out five over 5 ⅔ innings.

J.D. Martinez hit two doubles in the loss while Andrew Benintendi continued his struggles with an 0-for-5 outing.

Bradley Jr. makes spectacular catch

Jackie Bradley Jr. shined defensively in the third, robbing Brandon Lowe of a hit with a diving catch to end the inning. The play was originally ruled a hit that plated a run for the Rays but was overturned on replay review.

Perez on hill to finish road trip

Lefty Martin Perez will look for his second consecutive win Wednesday night opposite Rays southpaw Ryan Yarbrough as the Red Sox conclude their seven-game homestand and try to snap a four-game losing stream. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET.

Boston Red Sox victims of two quirky Tropicana Field bounces in loss to Rays: ‘When you’re going good, those things don’t happen that often'

Chris Cotillo

The Red Sox were victims of some tough luck in their 5-1 loss to the Rays on Tuesday night.

For a club that entered the day needing to turn things around in a hurry, Boston didn’t catch any breaks at Tropicana Field. First, the Sox lost a potential run when a J.D. Martinez double bounced over the wall and held Jose Peraza to be held at third base in the third inning. Then, an inning later, Rafael Devers was camped under a Hunter Renfroe pop up that would have been the final out of the inning when the ball ricocheted off a catwalk and fell in foul territory.

Peraza never scored. Renfroe hit a two-run double that put Tampa Bay up for good. The Red Sox never recovered, losing their fourth straight game and falling to 3-8 on the season.

With the Red Sox leading 1-0 and starter Nathan Eovaldi cruising early, Renfroe’s ball hitting the catwalk was especially frustrating.

“You think that ball, we would have caught, but you never know,” said manager Ron Roenicke. “It certainly changed things, no question. But that’s part of the game. When you’re going good, those things don’t happen that often. Obviously, we’re not going good and you don’t seem to get the breaks.”

Martinez, who had two doubles in the defeat, came to the plate in the third inning with Boston leading, 1-0. With Peraza on first, Martinez hit a line drive to left that bounced off the turf and over the left-field fence. The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, flied out to center, leaving two runners in scoring position.

“That kind of shows you the way it’s going right now,” Martinez said. “That ball hooks perfectly and hits off the wall and ricochets and goes over. That’s a run right there... that’s a big run.”

An inning later, Eovaldi got two quick outs and looked to have the third on a borderline 3-2 fastball to Yoshi Tsutsugo that was called a ball. After Joey Wendle singled, Renfroe came up and -- seemingly using his second life -- smashed a two-run double to center field.

Eovaldi, who made 10 starts as a member of the Rays before being shipped to the Red Sox at the 2018 trade deadline, is no stranger to the quirks of the Trop.

“I saw it hit the catwalk plain as day,” Eovaldi said. “I saw it start to come back, and from what I remember, I thought it was a dead ball so even if we caught it. The rules get all mixed up here.”

Eovaldi, who retired 11 of the first 13 batters he faced before Tsutsugo came up in the fourth, ended up taking the loss, allowing four runs on six hits over five innings. The Red Sox had only five hits before the ninth inning, when they brought the tying run to the plate against closer Nick Anderson.

The Red Sox had their opportunities, but America’s strangest big-league ballpark could be considered at least partially responsible for the loss.

“That’s Tropicana for you,” Martinez said. “You never know. It’s a strange place sometimes.”

Boston Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke not considering benching Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. despite slumps: ‘To sit them for a while doesn’t help'

Chris Cotillo

The Red Sox are not considering the possibility of benching Andrew Benintendi or Jackie Bradley Jr. for a prolonged period despite both outfielders struggling so far this season, manager Ron Roenicke said Tuesday.

Benintendi, who was 0-for-5 in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Rays, is 2-for-29 (.069) and Bradley was hitless in his last 20 at-bats before beating out an infield in the ninth inning against Tampa Bay. While Roenicke is likely to keep sitting either Benintendi or Bradley Jr. in favor of the right-handed Kevin Pillar against left- handed starters, the manager believes both veterans need to play through their struggles.

“We’ve got to play them to get them going,” Roenicke said. “I can sit them a game, but I really wouldn’t want to do more than that because I know what they can do to help this offense. I think when all those guys are doing what I know they can, then we’ve got a powerful offense and we know we can score a lot of runs.”

Though the Red Sox are 3-8 and will be 20% of the way through their season after Wednesday’s game, Roenicke doesn’t believe it’s in his best interest to have a short leash with any of his starters.

“To sit them for a while doesn’t help that much,” Roenicke said. “I don’t mind sitting them a game, but if you sit them longer than that, all of the sudden what they’ve been working on, you can’t see that transition into a ballgame and getting out of the little slump they’re in and getting going.”

With Pillar and Alex Verdugo added during the winter and J.D. Martinez still in the fold, the Red Sox have more outfield depth than they have in previous years. Though Pillar is hitting .394 with a homer and five doubles so far this year, he has made the fewest outfield starts of the group (6). Bradley Jr. leads the team in outfield starts (10) with Verdugo and Benintendi tied for second (8).

Heading into the season, Roenicke planned to start Benintendi, Bradley Jr. and Verdugo against right- handed starters and sub in Pillar for one of them against lefties. Pillar will be in the lineup Wednesday when the Red Sox face Rays southpaw Ryan Yarbrough in the final game of their seven-game road trip.

Benintendi, who was put back in the leadoff spot after Boston traded Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in February, looks especially lost at the plate. He has struck out 12 times in 34 plate appearances and was even dropped to the bottom of the order twice last week against the Mets.

“I think he’s trying to find his recognition of where that zone is where he does a lot of damage,” Roenicke said. “And then also, making sure he lays off pitches. Usually when he’s not going good, he’s chasing. He chases down, he chases up. So if he can narrow those pitches and get them back into the zone where we know he can hit, I think that’s probably more of it than where he is in the lineup.”

Not counting a 13-2 thumping of the Orioles on Opening Day, the Red Sox’ offense has struggled as a whole through the first 11 games this season. Multiple hitters have said they are having a hard time adjusting to baseball’s decision to bar players from visiting the video room to look at their swings during their games.

Slugger J.D. Martinez, who has served as a de facto hitting coach throughout his first two years in Boston, has been unable to help teammates as much as he would have liked so far. The league’s protocols regarding social distancing make it hard for teammates to work together.

“Honestly, in years in the past, I probably would have already been able to get in the video room, break (Benintendi’s) swing down and look at it with comparisons,” Martinez said Tuesday. “It’s what I do for most of the guys on the team. Anytime they’re going through some stuff, I dedicate some time either after the game or before the game, or during the game if I just hit.

“As you guys know, we don’t have any access to any of that stuff anymore,” he said. “It’s kind of everyone on their own.”

Boston Red Sox coach Carlos Febles away from team after inconclusive coronavirus test

Chris Cotillo

Red Sox third base coach Carlos Febles did not travel with the team to Florida for Boston’s series against the Rays after taking a COVID-19 test that came back inconclusive, manager Ron Roenicke said Tuesday. Febles’ inconclusive test came back Sunday, when the team was in New York.

“We’re pretty sure this thing’s going to come out negative but we don’t want to take a chance,” Roenicke said before Tuesday’s 5-1 loss. “We didn’t fly him down here with us in Tampa. He’s back in Boston. He’s got to wait for a test. He should get, tomorrow morning, another test.”

After the game, Roenicke said he spoke with Febles earlier in the day and that the test result was expected back late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. In the meantime, the Red Sox are having Ramon Vazquez coach third base for their two-game series against the Rays at Tropicana Field.

The Red Sox haven’t had any players or coaches infected with COVID-19 since the beginning of summer camp in early July, when four players -- left-handed pitchers Darwinzon Hernandez, Eduardo Rodriguez and Josh Taylor as well as infielder Bobby Dalbec -- registered positive tests. All four players have since been cleared to resume baseball activities but Rodriguez will not pitch this season due to a mild heart condition caused by coronavirus.

Other than Febles, the Red Sox are at full strength for their two-game series against the Rays. Coaches and players are due to be tested again Thursday after arriving back in Boston ahead of a seven-game homestand.

The Red Sox are being extra cautious after seeing the outbreaks that have impacted the Marlins and Cardinals in recent days.

“Everybody’s here. Right now, everybody’s good to go,” Roenicke said. “Hopefully, that’ll continue for the two days and when we get back to Boston. I know we’re going to test on the off day and just try to make sure we don’t have anything that comes up or could spread to other people.”

Bobby Dalbec on Boston Red Sox taxi squad for trip to Tampa: ‘We feel like we have everything covered'

Chris Cotillo

Red Sox infield prospect Bobby Dalbec is among three players on the club’s taxi squad for their road series against the Rays this week, manager Ron Roenicke confirmed Tuesday. Dalbec, catcher Jett Bandy and pitcher Mike Shawaryn traveled with the Red Sox to Florida but are not eligible to play in games without being activated.

To limit travel for potential call-ups, MLB teams are allowed to carry up to three inactive players (including at least one catcher) on road trips this season. Bandy was with the Red Sox during their five- game swing in New York and Dalbec and Shawaryn joined them for the trip to St. Petersburg.

If a Red Sox player gets injured or is ruled out for coronavirus-related reasons, the club can activate one of their taxi squad players without having to put anyone on a commercial flight. Boston chose Dalbec because they felt like they were light at the corner infield positions.

“We feel like we have everything covered,” Roenicke said. “We feel like we have plenty of outfielders. We didn’t need an outfielder. We didn’t really need a middle infielder because we have (Tzu-Wei) Lin and (Jonathan) Arauz. I think it worked out well with Bobby. He can cover first and third and obviously, a power bat, if something did come up.”

In an 162-game season, Dalbec would have been considered likely to help the Red Sox in the majors at some point this year. But the 25-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 at the beginning of summer training camp and was too delayed in his progression to be considered for the Opening Day roster.

Dalbec is part of Boston’s 60-man pool of eligible players and has been working out at the club’s alternate training site in Pawtucket. If a need arises in the infield later in the season, the Red Sox could theoretically call him up, though chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom is likely hesitant to start Dalbec’s service time clock in what could amount to a lost season for the club.

The reports Roenicke has received from Pawtucket have been encouraging.

“He’s swinging the bat better all the time,” Roenicke said. “When he first came back after having to sit in his hotel room for all that time, he was rusty, no question. I think we saw that in our intrasquad games. Been swinging the bat a lot better. Still, hard to tell because they aren’t real games that he’s playing in. We just get reports on how he does and hopefully that translates -- if we need to -- into good at-bats in the game.”

* RedSox.com

Bad breaks for Sox: 'That's Tropicana for you'

Ian Browne

Nathan Eovaldi was cruising. He was sailing. Better yet, he was mowing the Rays down.

But after there were two outs, two strikes and nobody on base in the fourth inning, a couple of breaks went against Eovaldi and it broke the heavily-slumping Red Sox in an eventual 5-1 loss to the Rays on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.

Bad break number one: Eovaldi poured in a 96.3-mph heater on the inside corner to Yoshi Tsutsugo that sure looked like it was going to be called strike three. Instead, home-plate umpire Randy Rosenberg signaled ball four.

"I thought it was close," said Eovaldi. "I thought his strike zone was really good tonight. You know, it's hard for me to tell balls and strikes. I think a lot of them are there and tend not to be, but I've just got to move on and attack the next batter."

Bad break number two: Two batters later, Hunter Renfroe popped up the first pitch and Eovaldi thought he was headed back to the dugout. Third baseman Rafael Devers was under it in foul territory and waited and waited for the ball to come down. But lo and behold, the ball hit the B-ring catwalk before coming down, and it was a dead ball. Two pitches later, Renfroe smashed a two-run double and the Red Sox were behind for the first time of the night at 2-1.

"That's Tropicana for you," said Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez. "You never know. It's a strange place sometimes."

"It's the only park that has those rules, but you have to deal with it," added Eovaldi, who played for the Rays in 2018.

Things worsened in the fifth when Eovaldi got in more trouble -- this time all of his own doing -- and was down 4-1.

When a team is going well, it can shake off not only those bad breaks, but also the one in the third when Martinez appeared to have an RBI double that would have made it 2-0, Boston, only for the ball to take an awkward hop over the short left-field wall for a ground-rule double.

The Red Sox are going anything but well. Through 11 games, they are 3-8 and already six games back in the American League East.

"Huge," Martinez said of his bad-hop double. "It kind of shows you the way it's going right now. That ball hooks perfectly and just hits off the wall, ricochets, goes over. It just kind of shows you. That's a run right there -- big run, too."

With their starting rotation so thin, it hurt doubly for the Red Sox to lose one of Eovaldi's starts for the first time this season.

"Well, I don't want to feel that way, but I know what you're saying," said Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke. "We count on Nate to keep us in games, which he has. Because we know he has a big arm, we know every time he goes out there we think we're going to win."

Eovaldi (1-1, 3.94 ERA) allowed six hits and four runs over five innings, walking one and striking out six.

"I feel like I have to go out there and do a better job than what I did tonight, for sure," said Eovaldi. "Regardless of what the outcomes of the game are for us, any time I take the ball, I hold myself accountable for my job out there. Tonight, I felt like I needed to do a better job."

Another offensive letdown The hope was that Sunday's seven-run output at Yankee Stadium, albeit in a loss, would get Boston's offense going again.

Instead, the Sox went back into a rut. Leadoff man Andrew Benintendi is hitting .069 after an 0-for-5 performance. Xander Bogaerts and Devers (.195 average, .616 OPS) went hitless after their Sunday productivity. Mitch Moreland's solo homer was the only significant hit Boston had against Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

The Sox did load the bases in the ninth and Benintendi came up as the potential tying run with two outs, but he went down looking to end the game.

At least Martinez, who later added another double, seems to be heating up.

"I've been grinding in the cage as much as I can," said Martinez. "But I feel like I found something today, maybe a little thought or something. I'm going to try to ride it out the next couple days, see what happens, build off it really."

The issue in this young season for Boston's offense has been the inability to sustain any momentum, be it inning to inning or game to game.

"I know we haven't scored enough runs like we're going to," Roenicke said. "I think we're getting closer to it. We had a lot of good at-bats today, and we had some opportunities. If we keep plugging along, I think the at-bats will continue to get better and I believe we'll start getting the big hits."

With just 49 games to go, Roenicke's belief must come true very soon for the Red Sox to stay in contention.

Taylor, Hernandez closer to rejoining Sox

Ian Browne

Plans are starting to come into focus for when key lefty relievers Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez will be able to help the Red Sox.

Both tested positive for COVID-19 at the outset of Summer Camp, but they have been working out daily at the club's alternate training site in Pawtucket, R.I.

Taylor threw a simulated game on Tuesday. The plan is that he will take two days off, and then throw again on Friday. After that, he will be on an everyday schedule.

Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said he'd like Taylor to throw in four more games in Pawtucket before being activated. Based on that schedule, Taylor could be back for the club's Aug. 14-17 series at Yankee Stadium.

Hernandez might be just a few days longer because he is getting stretched out for multiple innings.

What about stretching about Hernandez as a starter to give Boston's depleted rotation another option?

"Well, we'll see," said said Roenicke. "We'll determine that [depending on] where we are at that point, but if we can get him stretched out enough to maybe give him a couple of innings here [with the Red Sox], and then slowly depend on how the games go, maybe we can get him to three, four innings. And if we do that, we'll evaluate where we are with our staff, our starting staff, and then make decisions after that."

Roenicke will feel a lot better about his bullpen once Taylor and Hernandez are part of it.

"I think it's important that we have two lefties that we really like, but one of them has a little bit of length," Roenicke said.

Febles held back from trip Third-base coach Carlos Febles didn't join the Red Sox in St. Petersburg for their two-game series against the Rays due to an inconclusive COVID-19 test.

"When we were in New York the last night, he got an inconclusive [result] back on a COVID-19 test," said Roenicke. "We're pretty sure this thing is going to come out negative, but we don't want to take a chance. So we didn't fly him down here with us in Tampa. He's back in Boston and he's got to wait for [another] test, which he should get probably tomorrow morning. Ramon Vazquez will coach third base for the next two nights, so that's kind of where we are here."

The Red Sox have their second off-day of the week on Thursday and then start a homestand on Friday night against the Blue Jays.

* WEEI.com

Jackie Bradley Jr. makes his latest incredible catch

Rob Bradford

Jackie Bradley Jr. entered Tuesday in an awful offensive slump, not having managed a hit in a week.

But that doesn't mean he the outfielder didn't make his presence felt.

With two outs in the third inning and the Red Sox clinging to a 1-0 lead, the Rays' Austin Meadows stood at first with Brandon Lowe the plate. With count 0-1, Lowe lofted a slider from Nathan Eovaldi to the gap in right-center field.

Once the ball left the bat on the 83 mph line-drive it certainly seemed like the game was certain to be tied. And when it was initially ruled that Bradley Jr. had trapped the ball, that seemed to be the case. But then came a challenge from the Red Sox dugout and a minute or so later what we had was something completely different: another unbelievable catch from the Sox Gold-Glover.

Leaning on Nathan Eovaldi only Red Sox thing that resembles 2018

Rob Bradford

It sure seemed Ron Roenicke wanted to answer the query with a simple "yes."

The question: "It must feel like every time Nate is on the mound you guys feel like you have to win these games ..."

The actual answer: "Well, I don’t want to feel that way but I know what you’re saying. We count on Nate to keep us in games, which he has. Because we know he has a big arm, we know every time he goes out there we think we’re going to win. I know we haven’t scored enough runs like we’re going to. Put it this way, when Nate pitches we feel like we have a great chance to win. I don’t want to think that we have to win every time he’s out there. But we certainly feel like we have a great opportunity when he takes the mound."

The Red Sox do have to win when Eovaldi starts. It isn't complicated. That's why they were left with the feeling they had after dropping a 5-1 decision to the Rays at Tropicana Field Tuesday night. It's one thing to be 3-8, but it's another to wear the record while waking up after squandering your once-ever-five-days best chance at a win.

This isn't about blaming Eovaldi at all.

He is the same guy who took the mound at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 of the World Series for six relief innings during the wee hours of the night, resulting in the only clubhouse standing ovation you will likely ever see after a loss. That night Eovaldi had no problem throwing the team on his back, just like he isn't shying away from this challenge.

The numbers might not jump out of the page, both in his most recent outing and overall production since coming to Boston, but the Red Sox should feel lucky to have Eovaldi. He is one of the few elements on this Red Sox team that doesn't feel all that different than two years ago.

Sure, there is the feeling that there sometimes should be more. This was the guy whose introduction to the Red Sox, coming exactly two years before his latest start, was eight innings of shutout ball against the Yankees. Since then he is only 6-6 with a 4.72 ERA, making 26 starts. And his most recent appearance resulted in giving up four runs over five innings. Not exactly the stuff aces' resumes are built from.

But at a time the Red Sox desperately need someone to remind them it wasn't all that long ago they were actually world champs instead of one of the worst teams in baseball, Eovaldi has done his part.

He could have made excuses about not getting a key fourth-inning call or watching as a sure third out bounced off a catwalk, both of which ultimately led to Hunter Renfroe's two-run double which would prove to be all the Rays needed. But he didn't. Because that's not what aces do. And in this world the Red Sox have found themselves in there is no more sure thing than which pitcher is defined as their No. 1.

"We’re definitely struggling," Eovaldi said. "We’re trying to do everything we can to come back on top. Today was a big game. I felt like I needed to step up and do a lot better than I did in the fourth and fifth inning when I let in two runs each inning. We had a lead early in the game and I gave that up. I feel like that’s on me. I feel like I have to go deeper into games, I feel like the starter can really turn the tide for us and hopefully, (Martin) Perez can take the ball tomorrow and do that job for us."

Dave Dombrowski caught a lot of heat for signing Eovaldi to that four-year, $68 million deal after riding that standing ovation to a Duck Boat parade, both from the fans and likely, later on, the ownership group. And some might point to the deal as one of the pieces that made this organization so desperate to reach the end of the month for the much-anticipated resetting of the luxury tax threshold. But maybe Dombrowski was on to something.

Nobody was going to argue hanging on to Andrew Benintendi and here he is 2-for-29 with 12 strikeouts. The same goes for Jackie Bradley Jr., who broke an 0-for-21 skid with a ninth-inning single. Or how about Chris Sale? He went 6-11 with a 4.40 since securing that final out at Dodger Stadium, now having to wait until next May or June for a chance to find his old self.

The point is that leaning on Eovaldi a little isn't a bad thing, as history would suggest. Having virtually an entire organization count on him becoming a once-or-twice-a-week savior? That seems like a bit much.

Top Red Sox pitching prospect Jay Groome faces Jarren Duran, Jeter Downs, others in Pawtucket

Rob Bradford

It was just a simulated game with no umpires, no fielders and against players wearing the same uniform.

But still, Tuesday represented a big step forward for Jason Groome.

The Red Sox' first-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft got a chance to go up against some of the top Red Sox hitting prospects at the upper levels of the club's minor-league system Tuesday, throwing 20 pitches in a simulated game at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket.

The outing represented the first chance for Groome -- who missed all of 2018 and most 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery -- to compete in a game situation while spending time as a member of the Red Sox' taxi squad. (The organization had been easing him into action due, with the pitcher having only 20 minor-league starts under his belt.)

Groome acquitted himself well, throwing a fastball that clocked in at 94 mph while facing off with the likes of Jarren Duran and Jeter Downs.

A look at how the Red Sox are handling top prospect Jay Groome

Rob Bradford

Just when Jay Groome was finally ready to get going baseball stopped.

Now he is in somewhat of sprint trying to make up for lost time.

The Red Sox' first-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft has started just a total of 20 games in his minor- league career, having been derailed the last few years due to Tommy John surgery. But 2020 was going to be when he hit the ground running. That, of course, became not an option due to baseball's COVID-19- induced hiatus.

But the 21-year-old Groome has been given an opportunity by the organization to at least try and take steps forward this season.

The 6-foot-6 lefty is part of the Red Sox' taxi squad, rounding out the club's 60-player pool, which has been working out at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. But Groome, the least experienced of any of the participants, has yet to pitch in any of the intrasquad scrimmages or simulated games. Why? Pawtucket Red Sox pitching coach Paul Abbott explained ...

"He’s missed a lot of time, obviously," Abbott said of Groome, who appeared in three minor-league games in 2019 after not having pitched since 2017. "He doesn’t really have a routine and is probably one that you probably need to pitch in an upper-level. His bullpens are very conservative. They are very deliberate. We just kind of wanted him to get a little bit more aggressive in his bullpens before he goes up there because when he gets up there and pitches in an inning … he’s probably pitching in a five-effort level in the bullpen but we need to try and get him to a 10. We just want to see him get closer to a 10 in the bullpens. He’s looked good in his last couple of side sessions and he’s ready to take the next step which is a live BP and then an inning."

Abbott later explained what he meant about the increased bullpen intensity and its importance, "Not that he’s being cautious because of his past with his injuries, I think he hasn’t learned how to take his bullpens and let the intensity in his bullpens get closer to how he would be pitching in a game. … Nothing that he is holding back. Nothing that he is guarding. I think it’s just the routine that he had when he was younger. That’s something that we also haven’t been able to see in him development because he hasn’t been on the mound until now. We just wanted to have him get some more intensity in his side work and then get him on the mound so he’s completely ready."

Groome is getting closer to his big chance to face hitters in one of the group's simulated games, first throwing a live batting practice Tuesday.

"For him, for his own development, these six weeks we have remaining here is going to be really important for him to see how pitchers are working versus hitters," Abbott explained. "It’s been a long time since he’s been out on the mound in a consistent manner. He has to go through some normal pitching pains that when you get taxed and you pitch in a game with effort and you get a little soreness the next day and you’ve got to throw a side being sore and you get in a game, that’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve for him because he hasn’t done it in a long time. And then to see how his pitchers against Triple-A hitters, big- league hitters. It’s going to be good for him and also give us kind of a strategy or an approach to see what we need to do for him to take the next step. Obviously he needs to log innings. He has missed some valuable development period for him to get on the mound and learn how to pitch as you go every step of the way. Here’s a way how everything is looking, how everything is working so we have a good, solid idea going into spring training next year."

* NBC Sports Boston

10 things I hate about the Red Sox through 10 games

John Tomase

The Red Sox wanted to restore a bit of joy to our lives, but it looks like we'll have to settle for being mad about something other than the state of the world, which is its own form of escapism, I suppose.

Better than nothing.

Anyway, 10 games into the season, they haven't given us much to cheer, but they've provided plenty of reason to grimace. Here are 10 of them.

1. Openers Big-market teams should never use openers. Pay someone who can throw six innings.

This one is born of necessity, thanks to Chris Sale's Tommy John and Eduardo Rodriguez's COVID- induced heart condition, but it's not like ownership gave the front office the resources to address obvious depth issues this winter after saying goodbye to Rick Porcello and , and it certainly doesn't make it any easier to watch.

2. Starters not named Nathan Eovaldi Ryan Weber should be a long man. Martin Perez should be somewhere else. I don't blame them for their struggles.

They've been placed in an unfair situation, as the second and third starters on a signature franchise. We will look back at their brief tenures with confusion.

3. Ron Roenicke's slow hook To repeat: the pitching is terrible, so it's not as if he has A-1 options behind every door.

But when Matt Hall gives up a three-run bomb to Aaron Judge in the second inning, as he did on Sunday, maybe he shouldn't come back out for the third. The two runs he then allowed on doubles by Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela were just as decisive as Judge's eighth-inning homer off .

It's but one example — a day earlier, Zack Godley served up a grand slam to Urshela in the second and then returned for the third — in a season full of them.

4. Just play Alex Verdugo The centerpiece of the Mookie Betts trade hit .327 vs. lefties last year, but has fewer at-bats than Kevin Pillar because he mostly sits against southpaws.

Pillar is mashing the ball and Verdugo has yet to record anything other than a single, but only one of them is a viable part of the future. Start treating him like it.

5. Hitters complaining about the pitching The pitching is terrible. How many times do you want me to say it?

It's easy to understand how it would frustrate the entire offense to fall into 5-2 holes on a nightly basis.

But while Xander Bogaerts might be accurate to note that it's hard to score eight or nine runs a night, he should also look in the mirror at an offense that has only topped four runs three times in 10 games.

6. Watching Matt Barnes pitch Is he tipping? Barnes is teetering on the verge of becoming a one-pitch pitcher and that pitch is his curveball.

Judge was sitting curve on Sunday and he did not miss a 2-0 hanger. I thought the Red Sox fired pitching coach Dana LeVangie to implement an attacking approach, but guys like Barnes continue pitching around the strike zone, and the Red Sox rank 10th in the AL in walks.

7. Watching Rafael Devers chase Remember when Josh Beckett let his conditioning go in 2011 but kept pitching well and decided it was because he was lazing about and not in spite of it?

That's how I feel about Devers' approach at the plate. He hit a few bad-ball homers last year and abandoned the discipline that made him a monster. He's at his best when he stays in the strike zone, not when he plays Vladimir Guerrero.

All that chasing has him hitting .211.

8. Watching Andrew Benintendi be so mediocre The talent is there. Players don't reach the big leagues as quickly as Benintendi did or make such an immediate impact without talent.

But watching Benintendi scuffle yet again, with just two hits in eight games, makes me wonder about one of the unsung misfires of the Dave Dombrowski Era — choosing to keep Benintendi instead of five-tool star Yoan Moncada in the Chris Sale deal.

9. Hitting J.D. Martinez second The analytics suggest that the two most important spots in the order are second and fourth. There might not be more of a prototypical cleanup hitter than Martinez, but the Red Sox moved him up two spots, anyway.

They ignored that (a) he's a creature of habit who prefers a familiar routine, and (b) they already boasted a great 2-hitter in Devers. It feels like a needlessly overthought decision, and there are already signs they plan to abandon it.

10. Endless games The Red Sox have played in under three hours only once, and that 8-3 loss to the Mets missed the mark by a mere two minutes.

Baseball's pace remains problematic, and the Red Sox are among the game's worst offenders. Same as it ever was.

* BostonSportsJournal.com

With no one else to turn to, Red Sox asking a lot of Nathan Eovaldi

Sean McAdam

Nathan Eovaldi is not Pedro Martinez, not by any stretch of the imagination. Nor is he Jacob deGrom or Gerrit Cole, or even, for that matter, Chris Sale.

All of those pitchers are certified aces, top-of-the-rotation starters who can dominate even the best of lineups, and Eovaldi falls far short of that description.

But for now, he’s the best the Red Sox have to offer. It’s not his fault that he’s become the No. 1 starter on Boston’s staff. That’s a status earned by default as much as anything else.

Still, he’s about all they have. The rest of the rotation is filled with a back-end veteran (Martin Perez, like Eovaldi bumped up a few rungs through no fault of his own), an unproven journeyman (Ryan Weber) and an assortment of various reclamation projects.

It’s not how the Red Sox drew it up, of course. They had planned on having Sale and David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez lined up in front of Eovaldi. But then, a torn elbow ligament, payroll concerns and COVID-19, respectively, intervened, and Eovaldi was sort of the last man standing.

To his credit, Eovaldi had responded to the challenge in the early going, giving the Red Sox 11 innings combined in his first two outings, pitching effectively both times. How much separation was there between Eovaldi and the rest of the Red Sox rotation? In their first 10 games, the Red Sox were 2-0 when Eovaldi started….and 1-7 when anyone else did.

So you can see where this is headed. When Eovaldi starts, the Red Sox don’t just expect to win, they have to win since they can hardly count on anyone else. If they can’t get a victory out of the games Eovaldi starts, then they are well and truly in trouble.

That sort of expectation is fine when you’re talking about Cole, or deGrom or Sale. They’ve done it. They have the numbers to inspire confidence, the bold numbers on the back of their baseball cards. They’re established and know that it comes with the territory.

Not Eovaldi. He may possess elite stuff and a triple-digit fastball, but for one reason or another — injuries, inconsistency — he has never reached that level.

Only now, unfair as it may be, it’s expected of him. Which is why the Red Sox’ 5-1 setback to the Tampa Bay Rays stung so much. Particularly because they came in with a three-game losing streak and especially because the season is just 60 games long, every Eovaldi start feels like a must-win.

“I don’t want to feel that way,” said Ron Roenicke, “but I know what you’re saying. Put it this way — when Nate pitches, we feel like we have a great chance to win. I don’t want to think that we have to win every time he’s out there we have to win. But we certainly feel like we’ve got a great opportunity when he takes the mound.”

Eovaldi cruised through the first three innings, allowing just two hits while fanning five. But it all came unglued in the fourth. He got the first two outs without incident and seemed to be out of the inning when a 3-and-2 pitch to Yoshi Tsutsugo that looked to be a strike was instead called a ball.

Following a two-out single, Eovaldi again looked to get the third out when Hunter Renfroe popped up to the left side. Rafael Devers stationed himself in foul territory, halfway between the third baseline and the visitor’s dugout only to have the ball mysteriously land 30 feet away, inches foul.

The ball had struck one of the infamous catwalks that ring the top of Tropicana Field, and caromed away from Devers, giving Renfroe another shot. Naturally, he then slammed a two-run double to center.

It was more of the same in the fifth when Eovaldi invited trouble by hitting No. 9 hitter Michael Perez, the first hitter of the inning. A triple and single followed, scoring two more and Eovaldi didn’t return for the sixth.

Eovaldi offered no excuses and didn’t bemoan his bad luck. He blamed himself for the two-out walk in the fourth and the hit batsman to open the fifth.

“I’ve got to do a better job just turning the page,” he said.

Eovaldi was asked if he indeed now feels pressure to deliver a win each time he takes the mound, especially given the rag-tag nature of the remainder of the rotation.

“I’ve got to go out and do a better job than I did tonight, that’s for sure,” said Eovaldi. “Regardless of what the outcome of the games are for us, any time I take the ball, I hold myself accountable for my job out there. Tonight, I felt like I needed to do better.”

That’s vintage Eovaldi: competitive, responsible, great teammate. He forever proved his mettle in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series.

But times are different now. With nobody else to turn to, the Sox lean more heavily on Eovaldi if only because they have no one else. And if they can’t win the games he starts, then what games can they win?

BSJ Game Report: Rays 5, Red Sox 1 – Sox can’t catch break as losing streak reaches four

Sean McAdam

HEADLINES

Crazy fourth inning does in Sox: In the fourth inning, Tropicana Field turned into the Red Sox’ House of Horrors. The Sox got two quick outs before, on a 3-and-2 pitch that appeared to be a strike, Yoshi Tsutsugo worked a walk. Joey Wendle then singled, but when Nathan Eovaldi got Hunter Renfroe to pop up to the left side. Rafael Devers drifted over and appeared ready to catch a foul popup to get Eovaldi out of the inning. But the ball struck one of the catwalks in Tropicana Field and caromed away from Devers — in play, but foul. Given another life, Renfroe then slammed a double to center, scoring two runs. “It certainly changed things, no question,” said Ron Roenicke. “But that’s part of the game. When you’re going good, those things don’t happen that often. And obviously, we’re not going good and you don’t seem to get the breaks.”

Roenicke inclined to stick with struggling players: A number of Red Sox outfielders are struggling. Jackie Bradley Jr. snapped an 0-for-20 slump in the ninth with an infield single, but is unquestionably in one of his patented slumps. At the top of the lineup, Andrew Benintendi is just 2-for-29 for the season, and one of those two hits was a bunt. So, 12 games in, he has one full-swing hit for the season. He was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts Tuesday night. “We’ll continue to switch guys,” said Roenicke. “But these guys that we know can hit, we’ve got to play them to get them going. So yes, I could sit them a game, but I really wouldn’t want to do more than that just because I know what they can do to help this offense and when those guys are doing what I know they can. To sit them for a while doesn’t help that much. I don’t mind sitting them for a game. But if you sit them longer than that, then all of a sudden, what they’ve been working on, you can’t see that transition into game and get it going.”

Innings fly by: The Red Sox managed a run in the first, had two hits in both the second and third innings — and then seemingly went to sleep for the next five innings. From the fourth through the eighth, the Red Sox managed exactly one hit — a one-out double by J.D. Martinez in the sixth. In three other innings, the Red Sox went down in a hurry, retired 1-2-3. They finally scraped together three straight hits in the ninth and twice brought the potential tying run to the plate before both Jose Peraza and Andrew Benintendi took called third strikes for the final two outs in the game. Included in the five-inning stretch were six strikeouts. “As a whole, certainly the better pitchers you see, you’re going to chase more,” said Roenicke. All teams go through slumps from time-to-time, but there are times the Red Sox lineup looks overmatched, and trailing by multiple runs, sometimes a little disinterested.

TURNING POINT

This one isn’t hard – Devers was camped under what would have been the final out of the fourth inning. But when the ball struck a catwalk near the Tropicana Field, it caromed away from Devers and extended the inning, resulting in two runs.

TWO UP

J.D. Martinez: After slumping last week, Martinez has started to come alive at the plate. Tuesday night, he hard a lineout in his first trip before stroking two doubles.

Mitch Moreland: Moreland continues to supply power, belting a solo homer in the first to account for the only Red Sox of the night.

TWO DOWN

Jackie Bradley: Although he saved a run with a diving catch in the third, Bradley was hitless at the plate in his first three at-bats and has just one hit in his last 21 at-bats.

Andrew Benintendi: For the second straight year, Benintendi is struggling in the leadoff spot. He was 0-for- 5 with three strikeouts.

QUOTE OF NOTE

“The rules get all mixed up here … but it’s definitely frustrating, to say the least.” Nathan Eovaldi on the crazy fourth inning.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Dating back to last season, the Red Sox are 1-8 in their last tries against Tampa Bay. The Red Sox starting rotation has a 7.07 ERA through 11 games. Since Opening Day, the Red Sox have a minus-26 run differential.

UP NEXT

The Red Sox and Rays finish their two-game set at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, with LHP Martin Perez (1-1, 5.06) vs. LHP Ryan Yarbrough (0-1, 1.54)

* The Athletic

In an already trying season, is Ron Roenicke making the right moves?

Jen McCaffrey

With another loss Tuesday, the Red Sox are tied for the second-worst record in baseball with the Kansas City Royals. They’re a mere one game better than the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 2020 season always figured to be a tough one for the Red Sox, but not quite this bad.

How much of that has been self-inflicted?

Tuesday’s 5-1 loss with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound — games the Red Sox have to win — was peppered with a few balls that quite literally didn’t bounce the Red Sox’ way; they have certainly suffered their share of bad luck this season, and the COVID-19-related loss of de facto ace Eduardo Rodriguez (who himself took the mantle from injured ace Chris Sale) stings as a piecemeal rotation tries to grin and bear it through games.

But missed opportunities, short-lived rallies and too many men left on the bases have only made it worse.

“We’re definitely struggling,” Eovaldi said. “We’re trying to do everything we can to come back on top.”

The players certainly bear most of the burden for these failures, yet manager Ron Roenicke isn’t immune to criticism. When a team is scuffling everything is undoubtedly magnified, and that includes missteps by the manager. Overall, Roenicke has been handed a tough team to manage. Yet in some cases he’s made it more difficult on himself, perhaps overthinking things a bit too much.

Eleven games into his first managerial season with the Red Sox, Roenicke has fielded 11 different lineups, which feels like a bit too much shuffling. Players are creatures of habit, and in a season where nothing is habitual, perhaps a more consistent lineup structure would help the offense click.

It’s understandable with so many games played in a row (the Sox will play 17 straight after Thursday’s off- day) that Roenicke wants to ensure players don’t injure themselves, but at the same time, he’s talked about needing to come out hot in the first couple weeks so as not to fall behind.

There are at least a few players wielding hot bats. But with multiple off days already for Mitch Moreland and Kevin Pillar — two of the top-hitting players on the team — it’s no wonder the offense has been sputtering. Both players are locked into platoon roles, but Roenicke has kept those chains tight even in the face of their outsized production.

On Tuesday, the lefty-hitting Moreland provided the only offense for the Red Sox with a solo homer in the second. When the Rays lifted Charlie Morton for lefty Aaron Loup in the sixth, Roenicke pinch-hit Michael Chavis for Moreland. Moreland typically struggles against lefties, it’s true. But perhaps Roenicke could have considered leaving him in this time, especially with Chavis hitting just .143 on the year.

In three of the past five games, the Red Sox have faced left-handers, and Rays lefty Ryan Yarborough is starting Wednesday. Maybe Moreland should get the start anyway.

On the flip side, Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. have been struggling at the plate. Bradley broke out of a 0-for-20 slump with an infield single to load the bases in the ninth before Benintendi struck out looking, dropping his average to .069.

Roenicke doesn’t think sitting either or both in favor of the hot-hitting Pillar is the answer.

“We’ll continue to switch guys out,” Roenicke said. “But we also know that these guys — we know can hit, we have a plan to get them going. Yes, I can sit them a game but we really don’t want to do more than that because I know what they can do to help this offense. When these guys are doing what I know they can, we have a powerful offense that we know we can score a lot of runs. To sit them for a while doesn’t help that much.”

The pitching side is a little more complex, given that Roenicke doesn’t have many reliable arms. But there have been instances where pitchers have been left in a bit too long. That was the case with Ryan Weber last Sunday against the Orioles and with Jeffrey Springs the next day against the Mets. Each faced a few too many batters and exited after allowing home runs. The Red Sox can’t give up extra runs right now, and managing a little more aggressively might help.

No manager is perfect, and Roenicke has certainly been given a tough task with this roster, but with 49 games left there isn’t much more time for trial and error.

* Associated Press

Meadows 2 hits in return from virus, Rays top Red Sox 5-1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Austin Meadows got two hits after missing the first 10 games of the season with the coronavirus and the Tampa Bay Rays stopped their losing streak at five, beating the Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Tuesday night.

"Looked like he didn't miss a beat," Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Boston lost its fourth in a row, including a three-game sweep at Yankees Stadium over the weekend, and fell to 3-8 overall.

"No doubt there's frustration there." Boston manager Ron Roenicke said. 'They know that we're a better team than that, they know that it is important to win these games, especially early. So a lot of times, especially offensively, if you don't start out swinging the bat well, you start to press a little bit, because you know you've got to get it going, and you know that the whole team has to get it going, so you press a little bit different."

Meadows was an All-Star outfielder last year in his first full season, hitting 33 home runs.

"We're locker neighbors" Rays starter Charlie Morton said. "I wanted to give him a hug but you can't. You kind of just look at each other, say hi. It's so weird."

Meadows hit an an RBI triple in the fifth inning off Nathan Eovaldi (1-1) and scored on Brandon Lowe's single to put the Rays up 4-1.

"It's been like 10 months since I played an actual major league game that counts," Meadows said. "It's just good to be back out there with the guys. It's a long hard road this year for everybody in general."

Morton (1-1) allowed one run and five hits and struck out five in 5 2/3 innings. Hunter Renfroe drove in two to help Tampa Bay improve to 5-1 at home -- the Rays went 0-5 on their first road trip of the season that ended Sunday.

Mitch Moreland homered for Boston. Eovaldi gave up four runs and six hits over five innings.

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on Renfroe's two-out, two-run double. It came soon after he hit a ball that may have been playable between home and third that struck an overhanging catwalk in foul territory.

Moreland put the Red Sox up 1-0 on a second-inning homer. He has gone deep seven times in his last 12 games at Tropicana Field.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against Ryan Thompson before Nick Anderson entered and struck out Jose Peraza and Andrew Benintendi to get his first save.

Boston also threatened in the eighth with one out but Pete Fairbanks worked out of the jam by striking out J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts with two on.

GREAT D

Red Sox CF Jackie Bradley Jr. took away a hit from Lowe with Meadows on first and two outs in the third on a full extension diving catch. The grab had a video review that took about two minutes.

SAD NEWS

The Rays placed OF Manuel Margot on the bereavement list following the death of his father.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Red Sox: Roenicke told Boston reporters that third base coach Carlos Febles had an inconclusive coronavirus test and didn't make the trip as a precaution.

UP NEXT

The two-game series concludes Wednesday night when Rays LHP Ryan Yarbrough (0-1) is scheduled to face Boston LHP Martin Perez (1-1).